All About Choosing and Buying Violins

[1girl1boy]

I am looking for a 15" viola. Either a synwin 3001, eastman va 80/100 or a yamaha va5s will be fine. If you have a used one for sale, I am keen on purchasing it.

Also, I am looking at importing one from US, but the delivery time is a concern.
Does anybody have any experience importing from US or Germany?

[bktan02]

Hi

Where can I buy bow for 1/4 size violin? My son’s second hand Synwin student violin’s bow is spoil so need to get a replacement. Is it expensive to get just the bow? Thanks!

[Honesty]

bktan02:

Hi

Where can I buy bow for 1/4 size violin? My son's second hand Synwin student violin's bow is spoil so need to get a replacement. Is it expensive to get just the bow? Thanks!

You can go back to Synwin (Marina Sq) to have the bow replaced. I don't really think it is very expensive to change.

[bktan02]

Thanks!

[phankao]

bktan02:

Thanks!

It's my practice for my kids violin case to always have a spare bow, by the way.
\"Just in case\".

Some years ago, I remember, you can find fairly acceptable quality small-sized violin bows from Synwin for S$20 each. Good enough to use as \"backup\", in my opinion. The similarly-priced ones from Gramercy were of inconsistent quality.

If any of you have a bow that you LOVE the feel of, but it's bowhair has just gradually gotten less and less over use... (\"botak\" bow. haha). Just send it for a re-hair. <http://www.singaporeviolinbow.com/>

[dasalo]

Do you know how much does he charge for normal full size bow?

[phankao]

dasalo:

Do you know how much does he charge for normal full size bow?

sent you PM

[peanut_butter]

1girl1boy:

I am looking for a 15\" viola. Either a synwin 3001, eastman va 80/100 or a yamaha va5s will be fine.

What is your budget?

[phankao]

peanut_butter:

1girl1boy:

I am looking for a 15\" viola. Either a synwin 3001, eastman va 80/100 or a yamaha va5s will be fine.

What is your budget?

We bought an Eastman 15.5\" viola from Music Essentials for less than S$1600 (more like S$1400), I think. Sound is good. And you can always bring it back countless times for free servicing.

[1girl1boy]

phankao:

peanut_butter:

[quote=\"1girl1boy\"]I am looking for a 15\" viola. Either a synwin 3001, eastman va 80/100 or a yamaha va5s will be fine.

What is your budget?

We bought an Eastman 15.5\" viola from Music Essentials for less than S$1600 (more like S$1400), I think. Sound is good. And you can always bring it back countless times for free servicing.[/quote]I was thinking of importing the Eastman model from USA but the differential is about $100 only. Eventually I got one when I was in Shanghai - a Yita T20 15.5\", restringed it with helicore strings and change the bridge for $600. The factory is in the outskirt of Shanghai, took 2 hour journey by train and cab. So far so good, the quality/sound is good.
They retail normally on Ebay and the review I saw so far are good which is why we went to check it out. We played safe by going to the factory to choose rather than shipping.