So from time to time Aldi sell violins….yes thats right violins!. The brands (and colours) vary this time they are selling the Huxley brand violin (rather than the blue abomination they were selling a few years back) . So what do i think? heres my aldi violin review!
TL;DNR Don’t buy these and expect your violin teacher or ears to be happy, if the budget is tight I usually have secondhand violins for just a bit more that will serve you much better.
. At $99 bucks its amazing value…and while playable its something a violin teacher will likely wince at. Why? well firstly its not a wooden violin but a plywood violin (thats is thin sheets of timber glued together) this enables them to be pressed into shape rather than carved – so cheap to make, but all of the cross grain layers and the glue make it too stiff and adsorbant to produce great tone. The fittings themselves aren’t ebony, so will wear quickly (pegs and fingerboard) and the pegs eventually will split and be difficult to tune. The bridge itself has to be fitted…by you so the string heights will likely not be right so might be hard to play. But hey you won’t notice ..until you do. So a good violin to have a quick dabble on perhaps …but unlikely to be on your learning journey for long.
If you want to see what they look like on the inside see my article on “inside a cheap $99 violin” which I take apart one of these violins . But to get the full unboxing experience see Shannons video below.