• Violins

• Violas

• Cellos

• Bows

• Cases etc.

Trying an instrument

How to buy a violin, viola or cello

Basic school instruments are easy. They can be bought off the shelf in most towns. They don't cost much, and it's not a disaster if, as often happens, they are damaged beyond repair. But what if a child shows aptitude for their instrument, and wants a better one? No problem for the flute and french horn players - these things are technology, and made in factories. As a general rule, the more you pay the higher the specification of the instrument. You want one like your friend's? Just buy the same model.

String players, though, are suddenly confronted with an entirely different market. Their instruments command fine art prices. They are hand-made and no two are alike. Pity the poor parents who are suddenly expected to look at violins in the same way as an art connoisseur looks at pictures . . . and, as often as not, to pay the same sort of price. How did this state of affairs arise? The answer's a long one, and starts at the end of the 18th Century.

Until then woodwind and brasswind were just as expensive as violins and cellos, but changing musical fashion altered this forever. Orchestras became bigger, instruments became louder, and the actual pitch became higher. The baroque of Bach and Handel gave way to the classical of Mozart and Haydn, which in turn was replaced by the romanticism of Beethoven and Brahms. Bassoons and trumpets kept pace with advances in technology, but violinists were stuck: apart from chinrests and shoulder rests you can't add anything to a violin to make it easier to play, or acoustically more perfect. So violinists (and violists and cellists, of course) started using stronger strings. It didn't do their fiddles much good, and so these instruments were modified in various ways to accept the far greater strain of modern strings tuned up to a higher level. Thus, an 18th Century piece of woodwind or brasswind can't cope with 19th Century music - and these old instruments were neglected and became worth very little. But stringed instruments, after modification, worked very well - old master violins simply shot up in price, and have never looked back. Today, a historically-fascinating 18th Century clarinet, for example, commands a "collector's" price, whereas a violin of the same age, typical of tens of thousands of others, fetches a "fine art" price.

The expertise necessary to judge old violins and cellos largely rests with the people who sell them. This can make a visit to a violin shop an intimidating experience, and the potential for fraud is huge. In what other field would somebody pay so much without knowing the first thing about the subject? And is there another marketing area where help is so hard to find? Trying a new instrument should be a pleasure, not an ordeal. Judging tone is an unscientific business at the best of times, but there are a few commonsense rules which should make a purchase simpler and safer.

1. Ask for a pricelist before anything else. The instrument should be within the budget. Unscrupulous dealers tend to make their instruments' prices astonishingly close to their buyer's maximum figure.

2. Try not to consider the pricelist when actually trying the instrument - that way you will not be influenced by the prices, and you may find that you prefer something less expensive. Buy it because you like it.

3. Bring the instrument you're familiar with. There's no sense changing it unless you can find something better. Without it you can't make an immediate comparison.

4. Play with the bow that you're used to. A new bow and a new instrument will certainly cause confusion. Change them one at a time.

5. Bring your friends. They can listen from some distance away, and, if they are players, can give you the opportunity to do the same thing.

6. Don't be put off by accessories that can easily be altered - strings, chinrests, tailpieces and so on. It takes two minutes to change a chinrest.

7. Don't be afraid to ask how the price of the instrument was defined. Why (for example) is it £3,000 instead of £300?

8. Ask about repairs and damage, and look carefully for yourself, under a good light. Check what is guaranteed.

9. Always take your choice home for an extended trial. Show it to your teacher, and even to other dealers. You must expect a different dealer to belittle whatever you have, in an effort to sell something of their own stock. And that's fine: if you're shown something that you prefer for the same money, buy it.

10. Finally insist that you have a written "buy-back" guarantee. It maybe the only safeguard you have against buying a fake . . . and beware, no other field of the antique market is as faked as the old violin market.