Cremona SV-1220 Maestro First Violin Outfit - 4/4 Size

I've been playing violin for over 30 years since I was 10. My violin teacher was a member of the NY Philharmonic. I now have four kids. Two play the violin and the others play the cello and the viola. All my kids go to a very good music school in Boston. I've been around music teachers, music schools, and musicians all my life.One of my kids needed a violin to keep at school. I wanted one that did not cost a lot but had reasonable sound. No VSO (violin shaped object.) For fun, I bought a $39 1/8 sized violin from Amazon a few years ago and it was a toy not a violin. Totally unusable for any student. This time, I decided to spend about $400. This was significantly more than the toy but significantly less than the least expensive violin at a very reputable string instrument store in the Boston area. I decided to buy a Chinese instrument because that's where I thought I would get quality at a low cost. I choose Cremona after a few hours of on-line research. Despite reading mixed reviews, I crossed my fingers and hit the buy button. I figured I could return to Amazon if there was a problem.The violin arrived promptly. It was beautiful in a kind-of-perfect not antique way. Orange brown varnish, ebony fingerboard, brown tailpiece and chin-rest. Looks great. But how would it play? Before I could test it I had to replace the strings. The factory strings were of poor quality. I replaced them with a set of Dominants, rosined the bow, and gave it a whirl.Before I tell you how it sounded, let me tell you what I compared it against. I have a French Breton Brevette that my parents bought me 30 years ago from a fancy violin dealer in Brooklyn. It's a nice violin. I also have a less expensive violin that my NY Philharmonic violinist teacher said sounded great. My daughter has a $4k german violin from that reputable string instrument store in Boston. We also have a bunch of quality rental violins from the same store.The Cremona for less than $400 sounded pretty damn good. It did not sound as good as the violins that cost 10X as much but again, it sounded pretty damn good. It was on par or better sounding (and definitely better looking) than the quality rental instruments that we had around. The Cremona SV-1220 is totally acceptable as a student violin. No beginning student would have a problem learning on one. In fact, a reasonably gifted high school student would probably be fine with this instrument. For a serious conservatory student, this violin might serve as a "knock-around" violin but would still sound pretty damn good. I would describe the sound as medium bright with reasonable projection. My more expensive violins sounded "sweeter" and projected more. The Cremona was easy to play, the bridge fit, the neck felt fine, and the string/fingerboard spacing was normal.One great aspect of the violin is that the pegs worked very well. It is easy to tune. My better sounding much more expensive instruments always have finicky pegs. These pegs were easy to turn and they held firm. Tuning is a pain for students and this instrument will not cause additional problems.The bow was very reasonable (light, straight, good horsehair) and my daughter loved the case because it was not heavy.I wanted to write this review because I had a lot of questions buying a violin from Amazon made in China. I can say that the Cremona SV-1220 is an excellent value for the money and will serve a violinist well. Bravo Cremona!

I just bought this violin based in the other customer review. The customer rated a 5 star purchase and described all the qualities of this item. I'm not sure if i had a bad luck, but the violin don't look like in the picture, and don't have all the qualities as described. At first glance, it's look like a cheap toy violin under $70, and the sound is not very good.Beside that, the case is very nice, and the bow is ok. I bought a lot of acessories to upgrade the violin (bridge, pickup, rest, tail, fancy string) but i decided it will be a waste of time, since the violin quality that i received is very low.Well, i will buy a violin in a local store (luthier) so i can test everything. One other thing is that one of the strings comes untied when i opened the case, but no serious thing, just had to put it back in place.

I purchased this as my first violin ever and am disappointed because I opened the case and the strings were broken... I now either have to purchase new strings and figure out how to string it myself or I have to take it to a music store locally and have them string it... Really upset I spent to much money and Cant even take my first lesson as planned.

The violin is beautiful and has a full, sweet tone. However, I was incredibly disappointed that the bow was delivered with carton sealing tape wrapped around the tip and half of the hair detached.

This is a great violin. Very good sound even with the Prelude strings that came installed with it. The bridge is pre-fitted so it didn’t take many efforts to set it, fits excellent. Again, sounds great. On the down side, there are two points where quality is compromised: there is a peg too long (by 4mm), and there is a repair (puzzle patch) on the top of the violin close to the edge near the chin rest. It catches your eye, but it doesn’t compromise the sound. I really like this violin even with its small flaws, since this item was discounted significantly. For a person like me, who prioritizes the sound for esthetics, I am very satisfied with this product taking into consideration what I paid for this violin. I can live with the other details. Excellent instrument for an advanced student.

The media could not be loaded. The violin came mostly set to go. The bridge needed to be adjusted but that is to be expected of any violin that was just shipped. The bow has a nice weight to it. The tuning pegs lock well in place after tuning the strings. The instrument has a very nice sound, to me completely unexpected for a violin this price. I am extremely happy with this purchase!