What should you look out for in terms of buying a new instrument?

Obviously the quality of instrument you are going to buy is primarily decided by the budget you have, but whilst it is fairly true that the more you spend the more you get there are some key pieces of advice that if followed will help guide your purchase and get you your moneys worth.

Ok lets start with Violins, I'll do this in brief, so hopefully it will be easier to remember.

1. There is a belief that is held by many people as regards violins, that an old one is better than a new one. This is not true, a bad old violin is just as bad as a bad new one, and a good old violin can require a lot of additional maintenance, which a new one should not need for some time. Modern makers are exceptionally skilled people working to the highest levels possible, in fact they are in some cases working to higher accuracies than "the great masters of the past".

2. Of major importance is that the wood used to make a violin has been seasoned. (Seasoning wood involves leaving it in carefully controlled conditions for at least 5 years.) This makes the wood far more stable in terms of shrinkage, or expansion caused by changes in humidity etc.

3. The bridge should be fitted to the instrument when you buy it, not lying down. Also make sure the sound post is upright.

4. The afore mentioned bridge, should fit well,look closely at the feet of the bridge, they should perfectly sit on the curve of the violin belly. The curve on the top of the bridge should approximately match that of the finger board, with the E string being closer to the finger board than the G string.

5. A very "cheap" Violin may not have a real ebony finger board and pegs, they maybe a pale wood covered in black lacquer, if you buy one of these instruments, you cannot have these parts re-worked when they eventually wear out, so always go for real ebony finger boards if you can, (pegs can be ebony rosewood or boxwood.) It is very much worth paying the extra.

6. The varnish applied to a violin can make a huge difference to its sound, though it has to be said that good varnish cannot make a bad violin sound great, bad varnish will ruin the tone of an instrument and make it very difficult to repair in the event of damage. Lower end instruments often come covered in a similar lacquer to that used on guitars, it is far from ideal, and again a little more money gets you a much better instrument. Proper Violin varnishes are either oil or spirit based, and have a very different look to the cheap lacquers.

7. The case is very important, luckily these days even the cheap end violin outfits come with fairly good cases, (in fact I often say that in some of these outfits the case is probably worth more than the fiddle!!) If you don't have a good case then you have no protection for the investment that is your violin. Even if you buy a Violin costing only £200 it is well worth buying a case for £80 as it will take any unforeseen damage, not your instrument and it does not take much damage to make a £200 instrument worthless! My recommendation is get a Hiscox case, I have had one for about 14 years and in my view they are virtually indestructible.

On the subject of Guitars:

1. Get a Guitar with a "solid top" this might sound like a bizarre statement but unlike violins which all have a top made from a solid piece of wood cheaper guitars tend to have a laminated top (this is akin to very high quality ply wood.) The solid top is an infinite improvement on almost any laminated top and can cost as little as £20 more so well worth looking out for!

2. If you are buying an acoustic guitar my personal advice is don't buy one with a pre fitted pick up, you are paying money for something that realistically you can have fitted later, and the extra cost of the electrics is much better placed in getting a guitar made from better materials.

3. Brand is not the most important thing when buying cheaper acoustics, as most of them have a label saying words to the effect of "made in korea" and some more generic or less well known brands are equal to if not better than more well known companies efforts. Please note obviously there is a big difference if you are buying the guitar of an individual maker, as his name on the guitar is his mark of personal quality and the integrity in his work.

4. Fret wear can be quite an issue on cheaper guitars, there are different hard nesses of fret wire and cheaper guitars will tend to have softer frets thereby the fret wears faster causing playing problems and the need to re fret the instrument,a highly skilled job, that is probably going to be disproportionate to the cost of the actual instrument.

5. The case, the same applies to guitars as violins so read point 5 in that section just replace the word Violin for the word Guitar!

On the subject of both:

It is a really good idea to take someone who knows what they are talking about with you when you go to buy a musical instrument, failing that even your mate who can play half a tune or bang out a few chords is useful to have there.

A lot of music shops are run by good honest people, but some aren't, also I have noticed over the years that the people serving you may not actually be able to play the instrument you are buying, which to be honest means that you cannot truly accept their input on which one to buy, they may also be trying to shift a backlog of a particular model that has not sold, or obviously trying to flog the most expensive one they have there, (for which you cannot truly blame them they have a business to run.)Having a friend there means a second opinion and also you can step back from the instrument and hear it from he other side and a few feet away thus knowing how it sounds to others and how it projects.

On the subject of internet buying, it has to be said that there are some very good sites out there now selling instruments direct top the public, BUT it also has to be said that you cannot judge a musical instruments sound without ever having heard it , and you cannot do that online. There are many places you can go to like ebay and it has to be said I have heard both happy and unhappy stories about buying online in equal measure but it also means if you have a problem down the line you cant just jump on the bus into town and say "excuse me mister shop keeper this doesn't work right".