How much costs a good violin?

Recently many violin lovers, amateurs and even advanced players ask me frequently these similar questions like “how much does a good violin cost”, or “how much does it worth”, or more detailed as “what is the price difference among China, America and Europe”… To be honest, though I have been playing violins for many years, knowing so many violin makers and violinists, it’s by no means easy for any one of us to tell approximately how much a good violin costs even just in terms of its sale price, let alone talking about how much it worths in terms of its precious value as an artcraft.

However, if we only blindly talk about its market sales price as a product, then simply speaking, it still depends on what level you are playing the violin, and what kind of violins you are seeking for. Professionals (say, players in a professional city orchestra) have instruments that are probably in the $3,000-$20,000 range. However, most mid-level students get instruments probably in the $1000-$3000 range.

To answer the question more precisely, first, let’s look at what does “good” mean to you. According to my limited knowledge, I would say a good violin is the one that really suits you and belongs to you, which means it should correspond to its playing conditions by the player. For example, for a 5 year old beginner, a good violin will cost very little, and parents could buy what we called “practice models” in the normal musical instruments shop or even more luxurily in the special luthier’s shop. However, compared to the sale price of a normal practice models, a decent violin will deserve a great investment cost for an advanced player going off to music school to be a violinist.

Generally speaking, the investment you put on a violin depends on your plan of using it and how much you love on this hobby and even career. You can get adequate violins for learning at realatively good prices and it is unwise to invest in a very expensive instrument just because it is better if you have no determination to continue playing it. My recommendation is no more than $1,000 before student gets very serious on performing in the orchestra as his future plan. Don’t forget that violins need to be played often to stay in good playing condition so it’s a waste if you just let a good violin sit if you decide not to play, besides the waste of money.

(For buying the normal models in the violins shop, you will get my tips about some websites as a reference in my next posts, please check my blog regularly.)

As for the advanced players (professionals) and the so-called violin “collectors”, I think there’s no need for me to answer you this question by quoting a price either. As we all know that when we drop in a luthier’s, or even suddenly meet a good violin by chance, we’ll give our fairly reasonable offer according to our feeling, experience, knowledge and fondness on its sound quality, wood material, art finess, and even model origin.

(For advanced players, maybe you would have more interest in sharing with me the experience in pursuing the violins origin, the famous violin maker families, brands, artcraft process, material selection, and how to recognize good bows, strings and other accessories? Then please also keep droping in my blog, I’ll keep updated posts for sharing and learning with you!)