Stentor SR1500 Violin Student II 4/4 Reviews

Complete Beginner review

I'm a complete beginner in violin, but still an educated musician. I was able to produce a nice sound (at least to my ears), And assume it is good for the price point. hence 5 stars for sound. I guess it has to do with it being made all out of solid woods. mine has a small dent on the broader bottom side of the fingerboard, and the nut near the head (where the strings meet the neck on the top of the instrument) seemed to have been glued a bit off. there is also a tiny chunk of something sticking out on the finger board near the top. not sure how this affects playability as i am a complete beginner so take everything with a grain of salt. It does seem to me that quality control for this product may not be the best, but i guess it is understandable for the price. The case is nice and includes bow and resin. I did rip the E string trying to tune it. as a guitar player i'm not used to pegs not holding tune. i've been told there's ways to fix it and maybe i was doing something wrong. Overall i think, after i figure out how to tune it, it will serve its purpose of being my first violin that will be able to satisfy my musical needs with it's decent enough sound until and if i want to upgrade to something better.

Great violin - I wish I could actually play it.....

Just started learning violin so I'm unable to review it with any 'authority'. However - first impressions: 1) the (red) case is very functional - it protects the Stentor well. The top pocket is perfect for housing your spare set of strings. 2) The violin itself looks terrific - it's much lighter than I thought it would be. 3) It's far from annoyingly loud but remember - as a beginner the best I can do (for now) are the initial screechy notes. 4) No problems whatsoever with initial setup/tuning - it is indeed an ideal learner/starter instrument - I'm happy with it. Recommended. Happy screeching.

warm sound

I'm in love with my violin

Sehr gut für Anfänger

Gutes Instrument für Anfänger. Nix zu bemängeln bei dem Preis/Leistungsverhältnis

Love in first sight

love it! perfect for learning and intermediary players.

As a total beginner to the violin, I was looking for a budget-friendly violin that's easy to play and which I could use to learn the basics on without getting frustrated. And it has been exactly that. It stays in tune long enough that you don't have to keep tuning during a practice session, the bridge has the right curvature (as far as I can tell) so isolating strings or doing double stops isn't too hard, and it doesn't feel like the fingerboard is restrictive to get around. Main complaint is that the fine tuner for the E string is a bit hard to turn.

As for the sound and the look, it sounds and looks like a violin. I wouldn't say it has any sense of character though. 'Plain' would probably be a good word to describe it.

All in all I am happy with the instrument. It has allowed me to get started on the violin and it has made me find out that I want to pursue it further.

Vfm student violin

The violin feels good.The construction looks robust and does not feel cheap.The sound is ok maybe if you change your stings you ll get better results.

good

a great one for a beginner, but bad rosin

Great little fiddle!!

I bought this for a student and was expecting much lower quality for this price.

It sounds good, it feels good and stays in tune.

The bow is also quite nice for the price.

The fine adjusters are a little stiff but they work.

This is an excellent choice for a beginner or even a second fiddle for gigging. It's not going to be a professionals first choice but for what it is, it's Ideal.

Excellent starter violin

Perfect for beginners at a very reasonable price.

satisfied

using this until i buy a new one which will probably take a while but am very satisfied so far

No Problems

This is the first violin I have had or used. It sounds good and is solid enough.

It seems well made and I have made progress with learning it.

The action is not high and the tuning holds ok if the pegs are in properly. The fine tuning is made of plastic parts, I would prefer natural, but it's not topmrange.

The case is good and comes with detachable shoulder straps, it is sturdy and reliable, no zips bust yet, but DARK RED, which I wouldn't have chosen if there was an option.

Best student violin!

This violin was recommended by online teachers and students alike, and for the few extra pounds, its worth getting the student 2 over the student 1. I also spruced mine up with a set of dominant strings, but its honestly not necessary and plays great with the standard strings it ships with. It is important to understand that in order to learn, progress and advance as a student violinist, you need your instrument to be able to sing for you - if you are fighting with your instrument to make it sound somewhat like it should (tuning every session or non resonant sounds on certain scales) then it will be difficult to progress - this violin won't fail you, and instead you can work on what YOU are doing wrong instead of figuring out what's wrong with your violin. Don't make the same mistake that I did and buy a "violin shaped object" as a non committal way of deciding if you want to learn to play. Buy one of these, and if you decide not to continue, i guarantee there will be someone out there who will buy it from you in new condition elsewhere!

recommended by an online violin teacher

Bought this as my first violin. came in with a case, the quality of the violin is alright.The sound is not too scratchy, I was happy to discover it produced a descent sound

It was recommended as a strarter violin by a well know online violin teacher.

The rosin isn't any good and the bow is a little bit heavy i am planning on investing in another one.

Also I was advised to change the factory strings for dominant or pistrato tonicas.

Overall Satisfied :)

excellent value

We bought these violins for our daughters when they started playing many years ago. Not only were the specifications spot on, there were also reviews available online by violinists stating these were excellent value.

As it turned out, these violins were good enough that our daughters violin teacher, who was initially a bit sceptical about us ordering these, started advicing her students to get these as opposed to the low-cost alternatives from Yamaha which had previously been their go to recommendation.

Now that our middle daughter has progressed further she has moved on to a rather more expensive instrument but the Stentor SR1500 served her well and we would not hesitate to recommend this to someone getting started or even an intermediate violinist on a tight budget. Considering the price, it's really hard to fault it.

Had to reshape the bridge but overall sound quality really good!

I have been playing on my Stentor 2 for 1.5 years now. I must say it never ceases to amaze me. I have been told that the sound quality is unexpectedly good for a violin in this price range and it responds well to sound projection.

My only complain about the violin would be that i had to lower the bridge a bit to make it actually playable. The strings it came with only hold up for 3 months of beginner violin playing. The bow it came with is not that good, which is expected. And i had to make the case repaired after a year of carrying the violin around. (It was tearing from the point where the straps were attached at the violin)

I have no regrets regarding my decision to pick up Stentor 2 and start learning the violin. It offers everything you could ask of from a student violin, and much more!

Perfect value for money

Do not expect a virtuoso sound, but I bought it as a study fiddle for Irish music, and it's perfect for my use.

Very nice violin for this price range!

Besides some minor issues for the bridge (should be a little bit shorter and the G string is closest to the D string than it should me as my teacher mentioned) and the scroll (not so fine made but it does not affect the playability of the violin), this violin have really nice and clear shound an it is easy to tune, as it holds its tune even as a new violin. Very nice case and bow also, absolutely the right violin for a beginer.

Good violin for a beginner.

Usually a very good violin will start on a much much higher price level, so do not expect any revelation, but I must admit that, as it was stated in some reviews this model is really probably one of the best for beginners. It is playable and sounds nice. I bought it for my ex girlfriend and her teacher also admitted, that this instrument was good enough. Anyway, there is a lot to learn, before You get a pleasant sound and some skills. It is definitely worth investing in this instrument for learning time, before You will decide, You really wanna be a pro violin player and go for pro and very expensive instrument.

Very good for beginners!

I'm an adult beginner (21) and I spent hours comparing a number of beginner violins. I decided to go with this one since it had a lot of positive reviews. When I went to my first lesson I was nervous about what my teacher would think of it. Fortunately, she said it's one of the better instruments for under 200$ and even asked me to send her the link. She played a little on it too and I was amazed how good it sounded! Of course, my go on it wasn't anything less than awful but I'm motivated to keep practicing after hearing what's possible. If you're looking for your first violin, you can't go wrong with this one! :)