Glarry GV102 4/4 Acoustic EQ Electric Solid Wood Violin White: REVIEW
Scott A. Johnson
First a little personal music history. When the angles were handing out musical talent I was standing in the Curiosity line for the second time. It is true that I am not a very good musician, I only play for the fun of it and haven't played in front of people since I played second chair tuba in my 5th grade band... and I was the only tuba player in the band and still only rated 2nd chair. Even with no music ...
Glarry GV102 4/4 Acoustic EQ Electric Solid Wood Violin White: REVIEW
Scott A. Johnson
First a little personal music history. When the angles were handing out musical talent I was standing in the Curiosity line for the second time. It is true that I am not a very good musician, I only play for the fun of it and haven't played in front of people since I played second chair tuba in my 5th grade band... and I was the only tuba player in the band and still only rated 2nd chair. Even with no musical talent I started playing Bass guitar about two years ago at the ripe old age of 60. I took a few lessons at the start, but mostly I learned on my own. Then a couple of weeks ago I decided to buy a violin just to see if I could play it. And that is where this review starts.......
About a week ago I was shipped, from the nice folks at Glarry Music, my order of a white Glarry Acoustic/Electric full sized violin. The violin, or fiddle if you like, comes in three colors, White, Black, or a stranded matte stained finish. Everything you cm buy at Glarry Music comes with free shipping and the only extra charge is the State sales tax. I would have paid $59.95 for the violin but I found a coupon online and even got a few bucks off.
The first thing I noticed was that the violin came in a plastic shipping bag, not a cardboard box like all of my bass guitars came in. even my jazz bass I ordered from Glarry two years before, came in a cardboard box. With just a plastic bag, I was worried that there could be some damage. I opened the bag and took out the included violin case and opened it up. I did a quick scan of everything and was happy to see there was no visible damage. This shows that the case will do it's job and will protect the contents from normal handling or even UPS shipping.
Next, I took the violin out and looked it over a best as I could. Everything looked OK with only a few minor cosmetic issues. On several places there were little bumps made up of dust or paint buildup. And there was a spot where the paint smeared on the neck. These little defects Do NOT affect the violin and can only be seen if you look very close. Considering the cost of this violin, these are really not a problem. I have seen this on some guitar costing hundreds of dollars.
Overall the paint job and pinstripe detailing makes the Glarry violin look tremendous! The chin rest, fingerboard, and pegs are made of Ebony wood and make a perfect contrast to the white body.
Inside the violin hard case, I found everything needed to play the instrument. An extra set of strings, a shoulder rest, electric tuner and microphone, a block of rosin, and a horsehair bow. I don't know how old the rosin was but I ended up tossing it out because it was all broken up and mostly powder. (I ordered a new block of rosin from Amazon for around $4 and it was delivered the next day. I have learned getting a broken up rosin block is common in many brands of violins because weather conditions and storage times can make the rosin crack. So, this again was not an issue....
The electric tuner that comes with the kit is really nice. The display shows everything you need to tune the strings. I only wish the display was bigger because I am blind in one eye and poor vision in the other. I found my bass guitar tuners work better for me but the one that comes with the kit is very VERY nice. If you look up a tuner like it online, you would find them selling for around $30, or one half the price of the whole violin kit.
Next, let me talk about the strings. Glarry encloses one+++ set of strings on the violin and ads another set free with the kit. You get TWO sets of strings. The extra set came in very handy. When I was first tuning it I think I stretched out the tiny E string because it made a sound like an old spooky door on a Scooby-Doo cartoon. I asked my friends on the Facebook violin page what happened and was told that the string was bad. (my fault NOT GLARRYs)...I also found out that many, if not most people brake or damage a string or two the first time they try to tune a violin. Maybe that is why Glarry sends out two sets of strings. A Gold Star for Glarry.
The last thing that comes with the kit is a nice looking horsehair bow. The bow is the one thing that I wish I got to pick or upgrade when I bought the violin. Again, I went on the Facebook page to ask questions about violin bows and even posted a few pictures. I could not tighten the bow hairs so the hairs touched the shaft of the bow. One of the answers I got was, try to force the bolt on to see if you can loosen it. They said it was a cheap bow and not working so if it brakes, you haven't lost anything. What that I forced the bolt and after playing with it, I got it to work. I rosined it up, with my new rosin and got the bow to work, but I spent another $40 and ordered a nice student carbon fiber bow and plan to keep the Glarry bow as a back up! I must say though:.. I did get it to work and again, given the price of the whole violin kit, forcing the bolt was not a problem. When I told Glarry about it in a Facebook post I was told that their costumer service would have worked with me to fix the problem. Again Glarry gets another Gold Star.
I would suggest that anyone buying a Glarry violin watch several HOW-TO videos on YouTube on setting up a new violin, One very important thing every violin needs is a good, properly setup string bridge. The bridge that comes with the kit is not ready to snap in and go. I had to sand it down some and file the groves that hold the strings in place. This was not an issue for me and I liked working on it but not everyone would want to do this on their own. The instruction sheet isn't enough to get it up and working. My guess is most first-time violin owners would go to a music teacher and have them set up the fiddle. I made one last outside order and had Amazon send me a few bridges so I could cut them down to fit the violin. Again I like doing that kind of work but I know I'm not normal!
My final recap of the Glarry GV102 Violin is This ….
Dollar for dollar there is nothing on the market that comes close to the quality of the Glarry GV102 Violin. It isn't a pro-class, top-notch Stradivarius, but isn't meet to be one. It is a good quality Student level violin that is still above others in its price range. The company will work with its customers to help them get the most out of their instruments. The violins look great and with a little time and effort will play as good as any it their class.
I Certainly would recommend This violin to anyone wanting to start out On a well-built instrument. . One more Gold Star for the Glarry GV102 Electric Violin!
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