Violinists over here please .....

[CushionFiller]

Just a few quick questions for you.
How easy is it to change the strings on a violin? Is it something I could have a go at myself with a quick youtube video? I have changed ukulele string before - how much harder will it be?

Can you recommend a particular brand of strings for a 3/4 sized beginner?

Is there a particulaly good book for a child beginner to use? (They will be teaching themselves). I have heard 'fiddle time starters' mentioned a few times.
Thanks

Piranito are very similar to tonica both made by pirastro, they'll be fine for now.

As others have said it can be hard to get them out of bad habits after awhile if they've learnt without regular lessons but not insurmountable. See how they go and find a teacher if they love it.

Dd now makes me cry when she plays beautifully 😳

Talking I guess if it was through a school, I could understand that the school was funding the day to raise interest, which is fine.

I teach privately in my home, and if someone gets in touch and is interested in lessons, I offer to meet them, give the child a mini-lesson, explain what I do, and see if lessons still appeal to them. I always do this for free. If someone pretended they were interested in lessons, but just wanted me to restring their violin, and give them a free lesson, but wasn't actually interested in lessons, I would think that it is not very honest.

However, if someone told me they couldn't afford lessons, but asked for a little help, I would be happy to go out of my way to help them. I have given lots of free lessons to people, and don't mind doing that.

fiddlerman.com is a great resource for self teaching. Also if you have any traditional / folk music clubs around they may do cheap group lessons. Another option would be to talk to school if your dc is already learning 2 instruments - my dc's music department are really good at supporting students exploring new instruments.

I think learning alone may be very hard work and frustrating.

Learning alone is not going to be ideal, but sadly finances dictate the lessons. Currently saving up to replace one of the current instruments - £2500 or there abouts, so violin is currently second priority for money!

Ouch. Some music shops offer the take it away scheme which is an interest free loan funded by the arts council which can help.

Or an assisted purchase scheme is an option, where you pay the local authority the net amount (without vat) and the shop invoice the local authority instead who pay the full amount. So that can also make it cheaper to buy but without a loan.