Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I ordered this hesitantly after reading the horror stories of "internet violins" and "VSOs" but figured I'd return it if I didn't like it.
When I opened the case the first impression was not awe inspiring. The finish is not as refined as the picture, and there are some small light spots where the oil didn't penetrate the wood as much, but overall it's a decent looking instrument.
The second disappointment was a broken fine tuner. I suspect this violin was returned by someone because of the broken tuner and resold to me. The sticker on the case says "Amazon Returns". Not encouraging so far.
After tuning it up and playing it for 30 seconds my initial concerns about the quality of the violin quickly melted away. This violin sounds great. It's bright, it's resonant, it's warm - overall a very organic full bodied sound. Contrast that with a Chinese model I bought from another website that looked beautiful but sounded awful. I sent it back along with others and kept this one.
The tuning pegs stay in place and the violin has held its tuning for several days now with light play. When you tune one string the others stay in tune - not so with the Chinese violin that tunes like a guitar with a whammy bar.
For $13 I ordered a replacement set of German made fine tuners, and for the $350 I paid, this Romanian violin would probably compete with instruments several times the cost if purchased in a high overhead music store. It's an oiled (not varnished), aged wood Stradivarius copy so if you want a nice shiny new looking violin look elsewhere. But if you want a violin that was built by someone who knows what they're doing at a bargain price and your main concern is the sound and playability of the instrument you really can't go wrong here. As long as you can live with replacing the fine tuners and possibly having to live with a semi-defective latch on the case I don't think you will be disappointed.
I also compared the sound with several other much higher priced violins and to my ears there is a difference, but it's not much and it's difficult to say which is actually better. I don't think I could find a violin for $350 that sounds as good as this one - that's the bottom line.
If you have the credit and the time and would like to get a violin at a reasonable price, order several violins like I did, keep the one you like the best and send the rest back. In this case there was no contest. I suspect the wood used to make some of these Chinese violins came from trees that were cut down last month. It's obvious from inspecting this Romanian violin that a great deal of hand labor went into making it and the wood that was used was much higher quality than any other I purchased costing up to $500. The $500 Chinese violin was a joke compared to the Molinari.There' no risk here. Buy it, compare it to the $500 (or even $1000) violins in your local music store and if you think it's not a great deal send it back.
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Molinari Romanian 4/4 Size Intermediate Violin Outfit (Oil Finish, Wood Bow, Oblong Case)For the Advanced Player!This Molinari MILANO SERIES violin is hand-crafted in RomaniaIt features an OIL finish, hand-carved solid spruce top, solid Lightly FLAMED maple back & sides, ebony fingerboard, pegs, chinrest, endpin, & deluxe tailpiece.Includes an octagonal Brazil wood horsehair wood bow and a deluxe plush oblong canvas case.Size: 4/4 Only
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