Everything these days can be bought online, right? We buy clothing, tools, necessities, and even wine online! So why wouldn’t we think to purchase our child’s violin or double bass online too? Shopping online is convenient, we know, but here’s why any beginner should never buy a musical instrument online. If you’re needing to buy a beginner string instrument, we promise you will waste less time and money if you start this journey with a trusted local luthier shop instead.
This article is ideal information for the beginning-level audience looking to buy a beginner string instrument.
If you made a purchase online, bring your instrument into our Miami String Luthier Shop to have it checked or the setup adjusted. We offer free assessments!
There are way too many bad musical instruments online. You may not be able to tell the difference.
So, you’re shopping on eBay or Amazon for a violin and you’re not really sure what brand or even size to select for your child. These are very common questions to have especially if you’re new to this world. Oftentimes, the instruments online are also pre-owned, fakes, built with low-quality materials, or damaged. As a parent or student looking to purchase a new musical instrument, we recommend finding a local shop to help you. Often, private music instructors recommend a certain brand of instrument. In order to locate the instrument, we suggest calling a local luthier or string shop to find out who carries the brand.
You may end up spending more money on repairs than it’s worth. The instrument is likely unplayable in its current condition.
What do we mean by that? We have many customers bring in their cello or viola, which they purchased online for a big discount. We, unfortunately, had to give the dreaded news that the repairs or setting up the instrument would cost them more than they spent initially to buy it. Other times, the instrument comes in set up and playable, but the construction of the item is just too poorly made to be worth the investment. It’s very difficult to know what you are truly buying online. Even an authorized string instrument shop may send you something that still needs a proper setup.
If you buy from an authorized seller online, try to order from a shop within your state.
Why is this so important? As the “Southernmost Quality String Shop in America,” we pride ourselves on knowing our instruments and understanding how they react to the climate we have in South Florida. Much of the year, we are facing very high temperatures and humidity levels that exceed 50 percent. Due to this climate, we deal with instrument wood expansion like no other place in this country. When you import or ship an instrument that you buy online from a place with extremely high humidity (like Florida) and ship to Colorado where the climate is very dry, for example, you will encounter some major issues with your instrument that only a luthier can fix.
We are very experienced with this since we often order and ship instruments from around the United States and worldwide. With that in mind, since we are located in Miami, we expect the wood on the instrument to swell out by the fingerboard, the soundpost to have issues, glued seams to open, and other common shifts to occur. That’s why we offer all of our customers a one-year repair coverage when they buy an instrument from us because we want to take care of these changes for you free of charge!
When you buy local, you always have a local resource to call or visit when your instrument needs a tune-up.
Musical instruments, especially string instruments, need special attention and tune-ups often. Young musicians or students pop strings sometimes when learning how to tune and need to have replacement strings installed. An experienced luthier will be your best resource all around for helping with necessary adjustments on the instrument and they can even recommend specific strings or bows based on the musician’s needs. You’ll be most satisfied if you buy your beginner string instrument from an authentic luthier shop.
Choose an instrument from an authentic luthier shop like ours. Thank you.
In short, thank you for visiting our resource page and reading our article entitled: Here’s Why Any Beginner Should Never Buy a Musical Instrument Online. It is our hope that you found this content useful.
We hope you’ll visit us if you’re looking for an authentic luthier shop in the Miami or South Florida area. At Miami String, we specialize in all string instruments including violin, viola, cello, and bass. Our shop offers student and professional rentals and repairs along with bow re-hairs. If you’d like to visit us, please make an appointment directly online by visiting this link.
From all of us at Miami String – Musically Yours