JohnInKansas, that was a very good and thorough discussion about violins. I agree that a child would probably not be given an expensive violin to learn. In fact, since the violin is 4/4 size, it would probably not be played by a child under the age of 12.

I don't agree with you about the bow. I seriously doubt that the bow is any good at all for a couple of reasons. First, a child would probably not be given a good bow to learn with. Second, if the bow was not stored with the hairs completely slack, it wouldn't remain in good shape for long at all. Also, since most people don't realize that a good bow can cost as much as a good violin, people who don't know any better won't spend a lot of money on a bow.

Kat, my experience was different from yours. I started playing the violin in the early sixties, and my first violin was absolutely horrible, and not because I was a beginner. When I started taking private violin lessons, I got a better violin on the advice of my teacher. My family then called my first violin a "cigar box."

A lot of reasonably good violins were made in France or, especially, Germany around the turn of the century (1900). I own a few, including the one I got from my dear teacher way back in the 60s.