Mendini by Cecilio Violin 4/4 Full Size Kit For Beginners - Hand Carved Acoustic Violins Set - Fiddle Solid Wood Kit with Hard Case, Bow, Rosin, Shoulder Rest, Bridge and Extra Strings

I bought this violin back in July 2018, Mendini MV300. I am 63 and purchased it for myself. I did not want to spend a lot of money on a more expensive one and find my old body could not hold and bow it properly. I was able to.At first I wasn’t too impressed. I was hearing professional violin sounds in my mind (no, not senility!). I was hearing the tone, not talking playing quality, I wanted in my mind, but the sound from the violin was not it, it was rather scratchy and weird, and empty. I read up and purchased Pirastro Tonica strings for it and used my cello rosin instead of what came with it. Wow, 100% better. I really liked it.Then we, my husband and I, found a viola for sale rather inexpesively, about an hour away, so we went there to have a look. We bought the viola, it suited my purpose. While we were there, we were shown a Windsor violin outfit. It sounded pretty good (for a non-violinist test) and we bought it. I put the Celilio strings I removed from my Mendini onto my Windsor and it immediately improved in tone, but was not anything like the Mendini with the Pirastro Tonicas. Did not expect it to be, but it did sound better than the no name strings that were on it. It was a little brighter and little bit of a hollower sound than the Mendini, basically, not as good, but playable and gave a different sound.I wanted a better violin, and in my mind I am thinking a bright violin. So we went to a violin shop an hour away and purchased a way better quality violin. After I purchased a violin that had a bright tone, I decided that bright was really not what I wanted in a violin. I brightened my cello, but that has a deep sound anyway, so there was a difference that I did not think of.Now, this is the reason I have mentioned all of this and how it applies to my Mendini MV300. I am trading my bright good violin for a mellow dark toned violin next week, at the violin shop I purchased it at. I was curious, though. What was the difference in the sound between the three? I have learned “English Country Garden” and have it memorized. I played it on all three of my violins, and recorded them. I used the same exact bow, the one that came with the Mendini (I like it better than the carbon fiber one I purchased for the more expensive bright violin). After listening to all three, this is what I found:Naturally, the more expensive one had more depth, tone, etc. The Windsor sounded pretty good but was weak. The Mendini with the Pirastro Tonicas sounded very clear, and has as nice sound. It is hollow, though, but it is robust. That is not a complaint. It did NOT cost a lot of money and the wood is not the age and quality of the more expensive violin.This surprised me. It is hard to tell when you are playing it and it is right up against your ears. What I did change on the Mendini is the Celilio Strings, that were on it, to Pirastro Tonicas. I purchased a chinrest at our local music store that is more comfortable to me. It is not a center mount, it is side mount chin rest. I have no idea what brand it is. I also do not use the rosin that came with it, I used my Jade cello/violin/viola rosin (although I now use violin rosin I bought with the more expensive violin).Now, about this Mendini. I actually like this violin. I will be using it for songs that really need a brighter sound, after I get my mellow darker toned violin. I am not going to just put it away because I have a better more expensive one. It plays well. It is very comfortable to hold. It appears to be solidly built, just not the good quality aged wood of the more expensive violins. It is definitely worth the money and is definitely a quality that a student can learn on and them step up from.I really recommend changing the strings before using it for lessons. For some reason, from what I learned, sometimes an instructor will tell students that they need to get a better violin. They do not always realize that maybe the student can’t afford a better one and a whole can of worms is opened when (s)he tells her/his parents the instructor said I need a better violin. CHANGE the strings first! You will not believe the difference. Like I said, I did research and for what I wanted, the Pirastro Tonicas are beautiful!I use a washcloth folded in half for a shoulder rest. I do not use the shoulder rest that came with it. I had purchased a should rest, but found that for me, the washcloth folded in half on my shoulder up by my neck, with the chin rest I purchased, is extremely comfortable. I don’t use the one I purchased. This is different for pretty much everyone, so if there are issues holding it, etc, check out your chun rest and should rest options.This violin is simply wonderful for a beginner, and a little beyond, actually.The look (the least important factor as far as I am concerned). I have read where people are complaining because of the satin finish, not the shiny varnishy finish. It states in the write up and shows in the photos that it is a non-shiny satin finish. I really like it! I think it has charm and is so different from other violins.The bow. I love the bow. I love the weight of the bow. I purchased a carbon fiber bow to go with my more expensive violin that I am trading for a mellow dark tone violin. It is too light for me. Probably after I get lessons and get bow control, the lighter carbon will be nice. Right now, the bow with this violin is simply fantastic.The case: the case is great, but there is one issue, that I just let slide by. There is a slot for two bows. One of the slots is unuseable in my case. The black clip turns to hold the bow in bow in place on one was broken when I got my violin. The top of the clip was lying in the case beside the violin. Thought I could snap it back in, but it was not just unsnapped, it was broken. That is not a deal breaker for me. It does not change my rating or feeling about this violin. It is still worth more than I paid for, in my opinion.Bottom line, if you are a beginner or just want to see if you can actually hold and bow a violin, buy this violin. It is well worth the money and with the string upgrades and getting the shoulder rest and chin rest that fits you, using better rosin, you will have an inexpensive violin (not cheap - there is a difference) that will actually get you quite far into your violin learning. It has a great sound, although hollow due to the wood, and projects great with that string upgrade (that is key). The bow is perfect!

I have always wanted to play violin, and a few weeks ago I decided what the heck, I'm going to just get one. I did some research on Amazon and came across this set; the negative reviews made me question if I should buy it or not, but the amount of positive reviews helped me decide to just go ahead and get it.When the violin first came, the strings were all set and everything, but (as expected) it was not in tune. I tried to tune it and I had some trouble. I've tuned a guitar before, so it's not like I was completely clueless- the problem was that I never used an instrument with a bridge before, so I knocked it over when tightening the strings. I wasn't 100% comfortable setting the bridge back up because everything feels so fragile and I didn't want to break anything. I took it to school (I'm a teacher) and had someone in the music department help me. If this is your first experience with tuning a stringed instrument, especially one with a bridge, I would highly suggest taking this to a music store or to someone who can help you. Tuning it after that initial setup isn't so hard; I purchased an awesome tuner to help me. I would HIGHLY recommend this tuner to anyone: Snark SN-5 Tuner for Guitar, Bass and Violin. It's easy to use and really helpful!!Next, I tried to assemble the shoulder rest. Lo and behold, I found that it did not fit...it must not have been made for a 4/4 full size violin because it wouldn't even reach across the bottom. Since the order was fulfilled by Amazon, I contacted them to see if they could replace the part. Amazon customer service is amazing and they said I could either return the whole set for a new one, or they would credit me for part of the cost of the violin so I could buy a new shoulder rest that did fit. I did not want to send the whole set back after the bridge/tuning business, so I had them credit me and I bought the Everest EZ Series Shoulder Rest for 4/4 Violin. It fits perfectly, is affordable, and I can tell it's more comfortable than the one that came with the violin would have been.After that, I took out the bow and began to work on that. I am not thrilled with the bow; when comparing all of the hairs on the bow, some of them were (and still are) more loose than others. However, when you buy a violin set for 60-70 dollars, you can't expect something mind-blowing and amazing. I used the rosin (you have to start it with some sandpaper or something) to get the bow ready to go. I actually ended up buying some better rosin because the stuff that came with the violin set seemed really cheap; after doing some research, I went with Pirastro Goldflex Rosin For Violin - Viola - Cello. I'm sure the cheap stuff is good enough to get by, but I wanted something of just a bit higher quality.The violin set does come with an extra set of strings and an extra bridge; I like having those extra pieces as backups just in case. As for the quality of the strings, I've seen from other reviews that the strings really make a difference in the sound the violin makes; maybe in the future, I'll get some nicer strings, but for now the ones that came in the set work fine. I have friends that play the violin and I know the one I bought off Amazon doesn't sound half as nice (and it never will), but this Mendini set is such a great starter. It's affordable and sounds pretty good, which is all I need since I'm just teaching myself in my free time.One last thing- I live in the middle of nowhere and do not have access to lessons (and the school I teach at doesn't even have orchestra- band only, so sad), so the book I've been using is Essential Elements 2000 for Strings Plus DVD: Violin Book 1. It's easy to use and comes with a DVD (which I didn't find too helpful) and a CD so you can play along with the tracks (which IS very helpful). I have also been using various YouTube videos for technique, like the bow hold, because those aren't covered as well in that book/on the DVD.I am very pleased with this violin and I would highly recommend it- especially if you're an adult looking for something affordable to putz with!