Which violin for Grade 3

[lolalita74]

Hi,

Which violin between Yamaha v5sa and Stentor Conservatoire II.

I will be upgrading the strings to Dominant and probably the bow, too

After spending weeks with my child , we narrow it down to the 2 above unless you guys think otherwise, please.

I will be buying from Castwells string

Thank you

Surely it doesn't make much difference at Grade 3?

Which ever is cheapest. Grade 3 won't benefit from an expensive violin. Wait until grade 6 plus for that.

Thank you but if you were to pick between the 2 I mentioned which one is better?

Maybe not but having dominant strings definitely it makes a difference.

If you’re buying online and brand new then the biggest difference you can make is getting it set up by a qualified person - they don’t just put the strings on they adjust the sound post and shape the bridge to get the right action etc. makes more of a difference than the strings.

I’ve not come across Yamaha violins but stentors are pretty reliable though. It sounds like you have reasonable budget - take a look at violincompany.co.uk - they come professionally set up already. Or somewhere you can play the violins in person would be even better.

Are you after a full size or fractional? I’m making an assumption that at Grade 3 level, you are on a fractional size? If not apologies!

Dd1 had a 3/4 Stentor until Grade 3. A fractional size will never have the same quality as a 4/4. Even if play by a child prodigy. We then went to a Gewa 4/4 (which was a nice violin) at around Grade 5.

For us, it made a difference. At grade 2, dd being 10 that time, she could hear the difference and thought that the ‘recommended’ standard of violin for grade 3s sounded muted. At that time she was playing Andreas Zeller 1/2. We considered Yamaha V5 and Stentor Conservatoire when we sized up to 3/4 in preparation for grade 3 but in the end we settled for Gliga Gems. I think, yes it may not be completely necessary but in her untrained ear she could hear the more complex tones which she puts as ‘sounding better’. It made her appreciate the pieces more. Stentors seem to do well with synthetic strings such as Dominants and Tonica. But Gliga Gems that we have sounds better with steel strings over Dominant.

But I must add, both V5 and Conservatoire are already considered intermediate standard violins (grade 5). At grade 3 they will both sound a lot better than majority of violins for the pieces that they would play. I’d say choose whichever is better priced between two.

Match the strings to the instrument. Is the Conservatoire II a dark sounding or a bright sounding instrument? If it's dark sounding then use a set of bright set of strings and if the instrument is bright then use strings which are dark. This makes a difference in the sound, Dominants are neutral. Check the diagrams on Google for an image of the dark and bright strings.