Franz Hoffmann Vienna Violin Outfit 4/4 Size

We bought this violin for our 10yr old daughter after more than five years of lessons on small squeaky used violins. It looks very nice and the tone is lovely. Her teacher also commented on how good of quality the bow is. My daughter’s only complaint is that it did not come with a shoulder rest.

I love this thing. I’ve been playing/learning on and off for about 7 years, never on anything special, but certainly functional violins. Wanted to step up and took a gamble on a German made antique from around 1890s. It turned out to be a chore to play. It’s tough to get proper tone and absolutely sucks to tune. So, after researching beginner and step up violins, I narrowed it down to a few of the major ones comparable to this Franz Hoffman, and what sold me was that Shar makes it super easy to compare the sound of everything in the Franz Hoffman line. The concert series gets amazing reviews, but the tone seemed too sharp or harsh to me. The Vienna worked for me, though. I will say I’m not love with the bow, but it’s their bottom line, $30 to $40 bow, I wasn’t the least bit surprised on that. I have a half decent carbon fiber I’ve been using for a few years, and didn’t buy the Vienna with the expectation of anything special from the bow. The factory strings, are however, much better than I expected. They can definitely be stepped up, but from previous experience buying a violin online, I expected complete garbage, and they are a far cry from that. As for the Vienna itself, it plays like a dream. I’m playing better because of it. And I’m playing more because it’s a joy to play.

Franz Hoffmann Vienna Violin Outfit 4/4 Size

I wanted to leave a fair review. I am extremely happy with this violin for the money I paid for it. It was on sale and so I feel I got a good deal. It takes a while for the strings to warm up but when they do it sounds alright (I'm around grade 2-3 level
so I'm not awesome but I can get a good tone from the violin). Before I start listing off the flaws I noticed, I am going to list off the positives. I loved that this violin was from Europe, it's hard to find well made genuinely from Europe violins in this
price range. The wood that it was made from was flamed at the back and you can clearly see the grain. I think this was either oil or varnish but it looks nicer than the pictures on the website in my opinion. I was very surprised with the quality of the violin
when I opened the box and I was very happy with the finish. The bow is beautiful, it's the nicest beginner bow I have ever had the pleasure of using. It doesn't look cheap, it's solid and a good weight. It glides across the violin easily. I am very happy with
this bow! Here are a few of the things that bothered me, as other people said in their reviews some of the varnish is not even. Areas of my violin on the scroll got missed when varnish was applied, there is one small dot on the body where the varnish left
a small mark (this doesn't bother me too much as won't affect play-ability). In my very personal opinion had I the money to do so straight away I would change the strings to something like pirastros or dominants. This is a quality enough violin for you to
get the benefit of a better string, the factory strings aren't the worst I've ever heard. But I will only be keeping them until they need a string change, they are a student quality, you can find nicer strings at an affordable range. The main thing stopping
me give this outfit a 5 star is the case. I have ended up putting a piece of paper over the violin hair as I place it on top of the clip. Because you have to be so very careful placing the bow in the case or the hair gets snagged, I am lucky mine did not get
damaged as I was careful. The music also does not fit in the music pocket as the pocket is too small. The zips snag on the case and eventually it's going to break.... I will buy a new case when that happens. It looks nice but it's not a practical quality case.
It protects the violin well.

The instrument is bright and responsive. At times the instrument has nuances of coarseness but in general it is a nice instrument. The top of the violin really impressed me. The grain is fine and uniform which is sometimes hard to find. The corners and
purfling are very well done. The set up is well done. Nice work done on the bridge, and sound post. The violin is easy to play. I was also impressed with how the peg box and pegs were fitted. This is a detail that can be overlooked easy especially when selling
string instruments online. The pegs are perfectly fitted. The tail piece is excellent (wittner tail piece). I saw that one reviewer mentioned the chin rest was uncomfortable. Don't trust this person he's crazy. The chin rest is fine and I have used it for
hours. The bow it came with is also very nice. It's responsive, stable and resonant but can lack clarity during fast passages. The quality of the horse hair on the bow is also decent. Over all the bow is well cut and nice to look at. The case is nicer than
I expected. It's it's styrofoam construction is extremely light. The handle looks and feels durable. This case even has a suspension for the violin which is a nice inclusion in this price range. The zippers on case however fails to impress. They are slightly
difficult to open and close and I feel like after a year or two they will surely break. No biggie tho in my opinion. Things I didn't like about the violin... On the sides/corners of the violin the varnish is a little uneven. It also appears that a different,
more glossy varnish was used for the scroll instead of the oil varnish used on the front, back and sides. Using two different varnishes makes it look a little cheap in my opinion. I don't think many people will care or see this and the beautiful quality of
the grain of the wood makes up for this slight idiosyncrasy. The violin was put together well but there are slight areas of hide glue build up on the seems. Unfortunately when my violin was shipped someone had left a piece of paper towel glued underneath the
label of the violin. I have a difficult time understanding how someone at quality control missed a giant piece of trash inside the violin. Were they asleep? Anyway I was able to take it out with tweezers after about 5 minutes of shaking my violin. You must
put on new strings as soon as you receive your violin. The strings it comes with will do if you have nothing else but the quality of the strings is bad. I do not expect Shar to put on $100 violin strings, so this is fine. I recommend vision or dominant strings
for $50/$60. Nice strings are very important. If you have a nice instrument and bad strings, it's like putting a Prius engine in the body of a Lamborghini... Nobody would do that. You shouldn't either. Over all this is a great instrument. If the quality is
anywhere near mine you should be happy. Of course you should limit your expectations as this is a affordable violin but it is really of good quality. The quality of this violin should be THE standard of any student beginning the violin. It is the minimum investment
needed to be able to achieve good results. This violin should last a student 2 to 3 years before they need to upgrade to a more complex sound.