Violin purchasing

[Cream Soda]

A friend of mine is looking for an entry level child's violin, but doesn't really know where to look aside from ebay (where she thins she thinks that if she finds something cheap, she'll get ripped off and have it break right away)

So basically she wants the cheapest one that won't easily break. Anyone have any ideas of where to look?

[Yeargdribble]

Surely there is a music store in the area that has violins. Is her child taking Suzuki from a teacher? Surely the teacher can recommend not only a store, but an appropriate sized violin for the child.

eBay probably really isn't that scary for this type of stuff (compared to the way it is for stuff like woodwinds where you really need to play them first to know they are legit). Even if she gets a cheap, mostly intact violin from eBay, almost anything that isn't glaringly obvious from the listing can still be fixed. Seriously, almost anything is relatively easy to repair, though it's best if the body is intact. All the other parts are pretty easily replaceable... bridges, tailpieces, tuning pegs, fine tuners, strings, sound posts, etc. I could take a violin missing most of those parts and turn it around in about an hour, though parts could be costly if it's lost of stuff. But essentially, if it looks good, it's probably okay.

The thing that sucks about violins is that cheap ones for kids with cheap strings and horrible tuning pegs are the hardest to tune for beginners. Meanwhile, pro instruments often don't even have fine tuners because with nice strings and good pegs, you don't necessarily need them (though they are nice). But hey, usually kids taking Suzuki will have the instrument tuned at the pegs by the instructor anyway.

[Elizara]

I'd say Ebay or local pawnshops (Mind, when my family was looking for a violin for my youngest sister, Ebay wasn't very big, but that still is a option) is your best bet. If you're looking for one in pawnshops, if you got a friend who plays, bring them along.

Otherwise I don't have much else to say about it that hasn't been said.

[Cadsuane]

I bought a violin for 70 bucks once. It plays.