The Eastar Violin Set at a glance:

Eastar Violin Outfit

The Eastar EVA-1 Full-Size Violin Review: Is it a Perfect Choice for Students?

Violin outfits sometimes come with high price tags, and that’s fine if your child is going to keep at it. In that case, it may even make sense to buy a higher-end model, but if you’re concerned that your child’s violin might end up forgotten under the bed—another abandoned hobby— a budget model is the way to go.

The Eastar EVA-1 violin set is a perfect budget option. It’s priced under $100 and includes everything needed to start playing right away.

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About the EVA-1 Violin Outfit

Made by Eastar, this budget-friendly set was created with the cash-strapped consumer in mind. The primary goal when designing this violin was an affordable offering that still performed well enough to be useful for beginners learning to play. There’s no point in paying anything for a violin—cheap or not—if it doesn’t work.

Features that add to the EVA-1’s value include:

Real Wood Construction

The top is made from spruce, and the back and sides are made from Maple. The wood is aged for around three years before being shaped. The carving is all done by hand. The wood is varnished using an antique red-brown, and the fingerboard and pegs are made from ebony.

Overall, this creates a decent, durable instrument that should last well if taken care of properly.

Click Here to Read the Latest Eastar User Reviews >>

30-Day Moneyback Guarantee

Should you not feel that your violin is up to scratch, you have thirty days to send it back.

Great Extras

What really sets the EVA-1 apart from competitors in a similar bracket is the number of extras that are included. These include:

• An extra set of strings
• A brazilwood bow strung with Mongolian horsehair
• An adjustable shoulder rest
• A clip-on tuner
• Rosin
• An extremely nice case

The hard case alone is worth the asking price – so, even if you do feel you want to replace this budget violin at a later stage, you get a great quality case out of the deal.

How does the Eastar EVA-1 Violin sound?

EVA-1’s sound quality is pretty good, especially compared to other models in this same price range, it’s more than reasonable. Is this going to be the last violin that you’ll buy if your child keeps playing?

Probably not, as they advance, they’ll want to start playing on a better model. To start off with, though, the sound quality of the EVA-1 is adequate.

What’s the build quality like?

As mentioned earlier in this review, the EVA-1 is solidly built and made from durable materials. It’s only known weak point is its strings. Should you settle on the EVA-1, we advise that spend a bit extra to replace the stock strings with Prelude replacements as the orginals are prone to breakage.

Speaking of replacements, many have also expressed issues using the included tuner, so you might want to purchase an additional one of those as well.

Despite this, the build quality is still good, and the EVA-1 is one of the best budget options in its price range.

Read What Others are Saying About the Eastar EVA-1 >>

Pros and Cons

Eastar EVA-1 Violin Review

Are Eastar EVA-1 Violin Customers Happy? >>

A Reasonable Return Policy

We do like the fact that the company does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. That means that your child can try out the violin for a good while and still return it if they decide the violin is not for them or the EVA-1 is not living up to your expectations.

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Summing it up: Is the EVA-1 Outfit a good choice for students?

Overall, this is one of the better budget options that we’ve seen. This EVA-1 model is hand-crafted and solidly built. It comes ready to play with a nice range of accessories included even if a few are less-than-stellar.

So, should you buy it or not? That is going to depend on the player you’re shopping for. If they are serious about playing, and already have some experience, this is probably not going to be the best option for them.

If, on the other hand, they are a complete beginner, this could be a good choice. You’ll be especially pleased about saving money if it turns out that said player decides not to continue playing the violin.

Want some alternative options? Check out our post on the best violin brands for beginners for more excellent budget violins to choose from.

What Do Eastar EVA-! Violin Owners Think? >>

The Mendini MV300 Outfit at a Glance

The Mendini MV300 Violin

Our Mendini MV300 Violin Outfit Review – Read This Before Buying

Mellow tone, soft satin finish, and warm, clear sound on a budget!

Simple yet elegant with its traditional-looking design. The Mendini MV300 solid wood violin outfit delivers a lot of value for the price. This makes the MV300 a solid choice for the best violin for students new to the instrument, or anyone wanting to try it out for the first time.

Note that the Mendini MV200 and MV300 models have very similar specifications. However, the finishes are different and other tweaks differentiate the character of each one’s sound.

The MV300 tends to be on the mellow side while the MV200 leans toward a more vibrant tone.

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What’s included when purchasing the Mendini MV300?

This relatively lightweight instrument—on the order of just 4 lbs.— comes with hard case to protect it. The bow is Brazilwood with unbleached Mongolian horsehair.

The set includes some rosin, two bridges to choose from, one extra set of strings, and the adjustable shoulder rest.

Now let’s dive into the details on the Mendini MV300 model…

Fit and Finish:

The spruce top is solid and hand-carved with maple on the back and sides. The fingerboard also is maple stained to appear ebony, but it is not ebony. The chin rest has an alloy tailpiece and there are four fine tuners integrated into it.

While much better than plastic, perhaps pau ferro or rosewood could serve better than maple and have given the Mendini’s fret a slicker feel—something closer to ebony. This is a beginner’s instrument, so it wouldn’t be fair to expect a costly tone wood, but we can always hope…

The pegs also are maple and the rosin cake does have a glaze on it, which prevents it from powdering up in the case during shipping. This hints at the reality of buying a new instrument—any new instrument—which is you need to be patient and take time to set it up.

Read the Latest Mendini MV300 Customer Reviews >>

This is not a toy or something you can just hand over to your future prodigy player, expecting him or her to jig and reel.

For example, you’ll need a nail file or a little sandpaper. You sand off the glaze from the rosin until the cake gets powdery.

You need to follow the steps to prepare a violin before playing it. Some people go online and complain about this or that with Mendini and other beginner models—and it is just that.

Sorry, but it is people unaccustomed to buying an instrument for the first time who can really damage the rep of an otherwise decent product.

Fuel for thought: even a new lawn mower needs oil and gas, then you may have to prime and pull a few times, before you can fire it up, right?

The Mendini MV series is also available in a wide range of colorful finishes:

Check Availability:

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How Does the MV300 Sound?

How to Set Up a New Mendini

So, a new violin will not hold a tune out the moment you take it out of the case. Take off strings and apply the powdery rosin onto each peg. Then put some rosin to the holes at the headstock where you put the pegs into place. Now put the peg with the string back into the headstock.

You’ll feel a kind of stiffness when tuning the string this time. This kind of initial step can prevent strings from slipping—so they hold their tune longer and truer.

While it seems a fragile instrument, you may rap the heads of each peg with your knuckle. That gets it to seat itself in the holes. Just do it lightly, like knocking on a bedroom door.

Please note: do not try to tune each string as you do this. Get each of the string on, the pegs seated, rapped into place, and then you can begin tuning as follows…

Tuning Your Mendini Violin

First, don’t wind up one string and hastily tune it. That puts stress on the fret and joints. Start with the G-string, then tune from low to high. You’ll find that the bridge moves around.

That’s okay, that’s what it does and you just keeping gently nudging it into place. And you’re not trying to tune each string perfectly, not yet.

What you’re doing is applying tension on each string, working them one at a time, low to high and repeat, nudging the bridge. Voila! The bridge suddenly stays in place. Now you can tune your Mendini true to pitch.

And the good news is, this is only done with changing the strings or needing to re-rosin the pegs and holes. That lesson is for another time…Just enjoy the ride that got you this far!

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Conclusion: Is the Mendini MV300 a Good Deal?

The Mendini MV300 Violin qualifies as really a good buy for violin students. It features classic design and a mellow, rich tone.

The choice of woods isn’t perfect, but you simply will be hard-pressed to find a new violin or a used one in very good condition that comes decked out with ebony and all the trimmings for this price.

Follow the steps to properly set up the instrument, and you or your little maestro will enjoy it rather than find it frustrating.

That is very important to a beginner—to have an instrument like this one, set up properly, so it holds its tune. That way, they can hear and feel success when they hit those notes!

What are Owners Saying About the Mendini MV300 Violin? >>