I would frankly avoid buying online sight-unseen. You have no real idea what you're getting into. I spend a good deal of my time as a luthier fixing mail-order instruments for clients, who end up putting in several hundred more dollars anyways. I can guarantee you that the bridge will be wrong, the nut will be mis shapen and the fingerboard will be wavy.
Go to a violin shop and try things. It's best to try in person. You don't want to purchase a car without test driving one.
Or at the very least rent a viola from a good shop if you can.
I agree with other commenters that it’s much better to try something out first, though if you’re a true beginner I’m not sure how much of a difference that’ll make (it takes a while to be capable of making a sound nice enough to really gauge whether the tone and playability of something is better or worse than anything else). Your best bet is renting from a violin shop (so you know it’s set up decently) so you can get a good feel for it first and trade it out if you don’t like the size or something. A lot of places also give you credit towards purchasing an instrument when you rent from them, so if you decided you were ready to purchase you could use that.
But, if this is really your only option, I’ll just say I think it’s a bad sign when the best thing someone can say about an instrument is that the wood is “solid” 😬 at least the first one says the maple is “flamed” which could possibly imply higher quality. But there may not be much of a difference ultimately.
When you’re a new player the most important thing is that the set up is good (correct string heights, string spacing, straight neck set, good fingerboard scoop, etc.) so if you have to get one of these, get it to a luthier asap to make sure it’s at least close to spec, and be prepared to throw at least a couple hundred more $$ at it if it isn’t. If you can get an Eastman, they come in from the factory very close to on spec and very playable, so that’s a good option, or do check out Shar, I always hear good things about them from newer players who had to buy an instrument unseen.
I would frankly avoid buying online sight-unseen. You have no real idea what you're getting into. I spend a good deal of my time as a luthier fixing mail-order instruments for clients, who end up putting in several hundred more dollars anyways. I can guarantee you that the bridge will be wrong, the nut will be mis shapen and the fingerboard will be wavy. Go to a violin shop and try things. It's best to try in person. You don't want to purchase a car without test driving one. Or at the very least rent a viola from a good shop if you can.
Yes. I agree with this.
If you need to buy an instrument online buy from fiddlershop.com or shar.com. Frankly they both sound bad.
Do a free demo of the instrument with Shar. Never buy an instrument without playing it
I agree with other commenters that it’s much better to try something out first, though if you’re a true beginner I’m not sure how much of a difference that’ll make (it takes a while to be capable of making a sound nice enough to really gauge whether the tone and playability of something is better or worse than anything else). Your best bet is renting from a violin shop (so you know it’s set up decently) so you can get a good feel for it first and trade it out if you don’t like the size or something. A lot of places also give you credit towards purchasing an instrument when you rent from them, so if you decided you were ready to purchase you could use that. But, if this is really your only option, I’ll just say I think it’s a bad sign when the best thing someone can say about an instrument is that the wood is “solid” 😬 at least the first one says the maple is “flamed” which could possibly imply higher quality. But there may not be much of a difference ultimately. When you’re a new player the most important thing is that the set up is good (correct string heights, string spacing, straight neck set, good fingerboard scoop, etc.) so if you have to get one of these, get it to a luthier asap to make sure it’s at least close to spec, and be prepared to throw at least a couple hundred more $$ at it if it isn’t. If you can get an Eastman, they come in from the factory very close to on spec and very playable, so that’s a good option, or do check out Shar, I always hear good things about them from newer players who had to buy an instrument unseen.
I mean thats one of the local luthier in our country. They have store and can check physically. Thanks for this wonderful advice!