Before writing a review I wanted to have a decent amount of time with the Sonata. I've had my violin for about 5 months now. The more I play it the more I like it. I haven't been playing that long, but the sound is so much better than the no-name violin I had for the first 3 months of lessons I noticed the difference right away. And I'm not alone, my dog started staying in the same room when I practice, high praise. Again, I'm new and don't really know the proper terminology for describing sound, but here goes my humble attempt. After playing it a short time I noticed when I played a G on the D string the G string starts to resonate along with it, same with the D played on the A string. It gives it a nice rich tone to my inexperienced ear. I picked up my other violin today and it doesn't compare. Originally, when I purchased the Sonata I had planned to upgrade to a better violin as I got better, and have even been saving for one. However, I like the Sonata so much I can't see a need for a more expensive violin in the near future.

I bought a 1/8 size Carlo Lamberti Sonata violin from Shar as a trade-in. I really didn't want my wife to know I had shelled out several hundred dollars for such a tiny violin! In retrospect, I think this 1/8 size violin is well worth the $500 list price. The violin top is hand-carved. The sound is astonishingly full for such a tiny instrument. There is just as much quality workmanship involved in building this little instrument as there is in building a larger size student violin. Most importantly, our 3 year old granddaughter loves "playing" on this little violin. We own smaller violins whose sound quality really tends to discourage little kids, especially when they hear an older person playing a big violin. This little Carlo Lamberti Sonata is a different story. Our year-and-a-half old grandson is as attracted to this 1/8 size violin as is his 3 year old sister. If I could put a dollar price on motivation, this little violin would be worth every cent I paid for it. I suspect that Leopold Mozart had a small violin of this quality for his son, Wolfgang!

What kind of wood?

I have been playing on this violin for 4 years now I love the quality and the tone it makes the music come alive when you play it i will be going to college this year so i have to say good by to the a really good violin. My teachers love my instrument the would recommend it to anybody.

I have a student who bought the Sonata 3/4 violin last fall. She "upgrades" every 2 years from Shar as she grows. She is getting an incredible sound out of this violin. I have recommended this violin to other students. It's a great "student level" violin.

Very mature, full sound. Pleasure for teacher; and will give much pleasure to an advancing student after playing a "tight" cheap violin. Thank you Shar!

I've had this violin for about 2 years now and I'm still loving the sound!!! I'm an advanced student and this violin performs like a $1,000 instrument. My teacher played it and was shocked when I told him I payed $500 for it. The G string is very rich and full and the D has a bright but mellow sound that is very pleasing to the ear. It also sounds great on the A, not so much in 3rd position but that's to be expected with any instrument, and E is verry bright, clear, and sweet, especially up in the high range/ closer to the finger board where the sound is very sweet with no harshness. How Shar can make and sell a $1,000 violin for $500, I don't know but I do know, that it is everything they claim it is and more. Both my former teacher, and current teacher love this violin as well and have commended it for its tone and value.

wonderful tone and has a great back

Iíve purchased two of these. One 3/4 size used for my daughter, and a full size for myself when I decided to take lessons myself. My daughterís violin was quite worn, but has a beautiful sound which impressed her teacher. Weíve been perfectly happy with her instrument. The new full size violin I bought for myself was terrible. At one point the bridge snapped in half, the sound was not good, and it was difficult to play. After six months our teacher recommended I upgrade. While this isnít the most expensive violin it wasnít cheap for a beginner model and I was disappointed at wasting $600.

The Carlo Lamberti Sonata violin is an excellent instrument for its price range. It was a clear and powerful tone. My student recently purchased this instrument and has enjoyed it so much that her practice time has greatly increased! I recommend this instrument to all my beginning to intermediate level students.

The "hook" for me was that I could trade this instument in for 100% on a step up violin. With that rationalization I plunked my money down. I then steeled myself for dissapointment; it's just the way I am wired. I am so pleased with the sound of this instrument that I don't think I will be trading it off anytime soon! Once the new strings settled the thing began to sing. I'm a novice but I know what I like and I like the timbere of this violin. I came with high quality strings, the fit and finish are pleasing pegs work smoothly and the thing is very pretty. The instrument projects well and when I play my other fiddle I can hear the Sonata vibrating in sympathy. I have a number of other string instruments some which want to be played and some which need to be proded. This instrument is one of the former; it responds like a sensitive and accomplished dance partner. I didn't have to look far to find others who spent a whole lot more and got less. I expected to be disapointed. I am not. Thanks Shar for this "keeper"!

You cannot go wrong purchasing this violin. i purchased the LV11 as a second instrument for travel. I did not want to take an extremely valuable instrument traveling, so selected this Carlo Lamberti model. I am very impressed with it. It works well with double stops and sounds very pleasing in all registers with very rich resonant tone. I would recommend this instrument for anyone who has a tight budget, but yet wants a good sounding violin. It makes a great gift for that special someone who is desiring to start or even advancing in their musical skill.

I am very impressed with the sound quality of this violin! I just bought a 3/4 size for my grandson, and just loved playing it myself. The sound is deep, rich, refined and more. I have bought 5 different types of violins from Shar, and even though some others were far more expensive, I feel that this one sounds the best of all. No 2 violins will ever sound the same, even though they may be of the same trademark, so maybe I was just lucky with this particular instrument?

I have been playing the violin for two years. My first year of violin I took with a man who knows the violin, but is not a teacher, and I would go for lessons once a week. My violin playing never got any better, and I hated playing it. My second year I took with a college professor, and my playing skyrocketed! By the end of that year, my old violin was not making the sound I wanted. I bought a used Lamberti Sonata, and noticed an immediate change in the tone. It is far easier to tune and tell whether I am on pitch or not. I am a high school student and paid for the violin myself and think it is well worth the money.

I bought this for my beginning daughter because I didn't want to go through the grit-your-teeth stage where both the violin and the playing are screechy, thin and annoying. I wanted to avoid struggling with tuning pegs that weren't really made to move, and strings that slipout of tune often as you play. This violin fits her perfectly. The tones are clear and uncomplicated in the way that helps a beginning student learn pitch, but not thin and uninteresting. We all like to hear her practice. I think it's an excellent value as we are sure she will keep with it, and she will be able to keep this for longer than a more basic violin.

I have been playing for four years, and this is the best violin i have ever seen! It is even better than one that I tried for 1,890 dollars! Top notch:)

I am an adult beginner and I upgraded to the sonata violin and I absolutely love it. It has a really nice sound. I'm mainly a clarinet player/band teacher but recently began teaching orchestra and I have fallen in love with strings. My private lessons teacher ( a MS string teacher) also really liked the instrument when I showed it to her. It's a great instrument for a great price!

I have two boys that play violin. One has the Franz Hoffman Maestro, and the other has this violin. We really like both, but both of my kids say this violin has a 'strong' sound and my 8 year old likes it better (6 year old doesn't seem to care). Teacher says the same thing. Though I really don't know much about violins, I do think this violin sounds great.

highly recommend for advancing student. Thx Shar!

I'm thinking of getting this violin.. its the right color and the right look. i love it

Superficially, the violin is good-looking, strongly figured wood grain, which I like, and a nice thin reddish brown varnish. On my next violin I'll get planetary tuners, but for now, I appreciate having 4 fine tuners. On closer inspection, I have found numerous small careless flaws in the varnish, the carving and the assembly. But the bottom line for me is, IT SOUNDS AWESOME! I still can't get over its gorgeous vibrance and ringing tones. So I'm going to keep it. Maybe in a year or two I'll try out a more expensive model, but my teacher said this instrument sounds almost as good as the $15,000 one she plays. Maybe I got lucky, but I've read other reviews of this model that noted the beautiful way it sounds. For the money, it's a really great deal I believe.

I started to learn to play the violin on an inexpensive model from a music store. After two months I could not stand the tinny sound so I bought the Sonata. I should have done this in the first place. The sound is wonderful! My teacher is also so impressed with the Sonata that she will be recommending it to her students. When she and I play together it now sounds beautiful. Shar is not exaggerating that this is the best $500 violin!

together with Vision strings we have used this violin for our older child as well as for the younger one (currently playing on the 1/4 size, and we also have used 1/2 size which is waiting for the younger child) *pictured: Lamberti Sonata 1/4 size while on the trip in the Czech republic

I bought this violin and when i played it, the sound was rich and vibrant. This is what i was looking for in my violin. This is a great choice to buy, its not expensive and has a rich tone. I recommend this violin to other violinists who are searching for a new violin.

We are very happy with this violin, it has a beautiful resonant sound! Exceptional for its price! Highly recommend it!