Cremona SV-150 Premier Student Violin Outfit - 4/4 Size

I purchase the 2011 model which has boxwood fittings (pegs, tailpiece, chin rest, button) and ebony fingerboard, all fittings are fine to me -- pegs and tuners all turned smoothly. The bow is a LB-13 octagonal brazil wood with ebony frog and unbleached white horse tail, the bow is straight and usable. The case is a TravelLite TL-33 with hygrometer (durability is ok for me as I don't lug the case around that much and use it mostly as a dust cover). The bridge was easy to install, but takes patience as tightening the strings require re-positioning so the bridge stays perpendicular to the table. I recommend purposely positioning the bridge a bit closer to the tailpiece (say 1/16" to 1/8" from it's final position) that way when you need to make the bridge vertical just slide the feet of the bridge toward the neck instead of sliding the part that contacts the strings toward the tailpiece which can be hard to do as the string tension builds. Bridge seems to be properly cut and the action seems fine (at least from first position the string height feels good). The stock rosin is deep amber and hard: I couldn't get any rosin on the bow until I scratched the rosin which opened the rosin up and then it took a good 20 minutes just to rosin down all the slippery parts of the bow (yes, the rosin is that hard and the temperature was about 55 degrees F so that may be a factor) -- well 20 minutes of rosin a little and test play a little, not 20 minutes continuously grinding away like grating cheese. By test playing you help evenly spread the rosin powder on the bow and prevent over rosining. You'll know when you have enough rosin as the bow will have the right resistance without feeling gritty (too much) or slippery (too little). Bottome line: the stock rosin is usable in a pinch, but I bought a Bernardel rosin ($6) to replace the stock because I want a more consistent rosin. The stock strings are Anton Breton VNS-150 perlon: E sounds warm and bright but the A sounds hoarse and muted when fingered (a brighter A would be better to match the E), G and D are nothing remarkable. Unit seems promising and will probably sound even better with better strings. Overall very pleased with the quality for the price (I got an additional 15% off during Amazon's promotional). Good starter package for a student. The weight of the instrument is 1 pound and 2 ounces with chin rest (average for a factory made). I also bought a cheap copy of Kun's shoulder rest for under $7: Anton Breton VP-70K and a rubber Ultra Practice Mute $3. Also, I use a Korg TM-40 tuner/metronome ($23) to tune the violin and verify my intonation. UPDATE: I replaced the tailpiece with a wittner composite tailpiece. I want to have fine tuners on each string, yet have the correct after length. The G and A string sound better with the correct after length. UPDATE: I bought this instrument in 2011. Since then (It's 2015 now), the folks at Cremona has improved this student instrument by replacing the individual fine tuners with a composite tailpiece with fine tuners built-in. In my opinion, the composite tailpiece with built-in fine tuner is better for a student instrument because it allows each string to be fine tuned while keeping the correct after length for proper harmonics.

How many bridges does she forword with? Mine only came with one ☝🏾.

Bought this directly from Amazon (who has the best price for 1/4 size), was expecting it not set up. seemed decently packed, but one of the screw tuners had fallen out, found it in case and rescrewed it in. It is very easy to install the bridge yourself (youtube videos). Violin seems of very decent quality, good finishings, nothing looking rough, unfinished, or crude. Bow works well. It comes with a beautiful case with built-in hygrometer. I am waiting to see how the pegs and strings settle in and hold tune. I was considering buying a used instrument of higher quality from ebay or locally, but now that I have this I think this was the right choice. My six-year old who is very serious about starting violin will be so excited to have this bright shiny instrument with very nice finishings. Because it is widely marketed with a known retail price, it will be much easier to sell for about 1/2 price when my child outgrows it. No-name violin will have no value at all in the used market. Even the initial trial rental from a music store, which is usually heavily discounted, will not be as cheap.

So the violin has a beautiful sound and it a nice varnish, the strings are not bull but the pegs are poorly fitted like any begginer violin of this price so i do recomend buying peg chalk or peg compound on the pegs so it stays in tune. The rosin is great just scratch it with a needle rock or anything sharp to open it. The bow is slightly more arched then normal and it comes untightned which is a good thing so you'll need to tighten it till taught. The soundpost is in place when it came so it most likely wont give you a problem and only thing is that i recommend searching up a video on how to align the bridge correctly. The case has padding inside so the violin doesn't shake too much. The case has a big pocket on top too. I recommend if you live in a humid place or area, that you put silica gel packets so the pegs wont get stuck, and the violin wont crack or a humidifier if you live in a dry place. as long as the hydrometer is 40-60 your fine. Do be careful when tuning the strings there new so there prone to snapping. Overall beautiful begginer violin for people on a budget.

It's over priced for its quality. Fresh out of the box the bridge was not fastened to the violin. All four strings were very loose. The music teacher helped me to tune it and commented that one of the strings was either used, old, not enough tension and won't last long. So only after 1 week of playing, 20mins per day, that weak string broke. Now I need to go to a local music store to buy a string. There's absolutely no quality inspection on this product coming out of amazon. I don't recommend to buy this model. Very poor quality.

I'm no expert on violins, but my kids were taking piano and guitar lessons and expressed an interest in strings, so I browsed Amazon and settled on this Cremona. It comes in an attractive green felt- (or some synthetic material) lined carrying case with an embedded humidity detector, bridge, strings, bow, and rosin block. I watched a YouTube video to install the bridge, downloaded a violin tuner from iTunes and tuned up. The pegs slipped a bit, so I bought a bottle of peg drops a few weeks later and now they hold firmly as intended. Embarrassing but I learned a violin makes no sound except scratching noises until you rosin the bow! Now everything's set up, and while I couldn't tell a Stradivarius from a Cremona to save my life, this violin sounds just fine for a starter, and kid's are comfortable with the 1/2 size. Paid $136.50 in March 2011.