-A quality instrument costs more but it saves money in the long run and it will make you practice more because the sound and feel of holding it is more pleasurable.
If you’re buying an instrument for a child, you can pick a cheap one but if you want a better sound and more of a chance for the child to want to practice everyday, you want something better. A $150 cheap violin is unlikely to last long and may not sound inspiring. It might not even play!! There's usually about $200 of work to bring it up to standards of the teacher and then you have a souped up poor instruments. And if it breaks down, you will have to buy another one because it's not repairable (basically you will end up spending more money than you would spend buying a quality, better violin). A $150 clarinet is disposable (can't repair it), probably won't sound at the same pitch as the other students in class, and it will be hard to play.
Really? You might ask yourself: "Isn't it okay for my student to have a cheap instrument? They're just starting out, what does it matter?"
Let's talk about SOUND:
Sound is made up of the Resonance and Timbre. Resonance will primarily affect the type and quality of the sound produced. The Resonance of an instrument comes from the artistry and workmanship built into it. The artistry and workmanship of Golden Music's quality instruments have over a 200 year history of how they are built/the history of their initial origin is over 2000 years.
Those cheap instruments are made by workshops without this depth of knowledge or practice, as well as purposefully cutting corners and using cheap materials to make it quicker and less expensive.
Sound "quality" or "timbre" describes those characteristics of sound which allow the ear to distinguish sounds which have the same pitch and loudness. While a cheap instruments is making the same "note" as the quality instruments, the timbre can be screechy, harsh, not pleasing.
Let's talk about PLAYING IN TUNE:
A big problem is that the cheap instruments can be very hard to make sound at the same pitch as the rest of the class. This is quite a burden for the young child to try to work with. Even a seasoned player has to struggle to make these sound on the same pitches as everybody else.
Let's talk about FEELING:
How It Feels To Hold It.
Think about a hobby, work or passion you have and a tool you use for that? Even gardening, a hand shovel form Walmart costing $3 is un balanced, might bend if you hit a rock, doesn't feel good to use... compared to the $40 one from Ace Hardware... You can compare this to cars also - the cheap $150 online instruments are cars that don't even run... our competition's instruments (those the teacher has accepted to come to rental events) are like Pintos - they run, but there's no finesse, no support, no style... they will get you there - then there's Golden Music's quality instruments. We give to you the finest student instruments made in the world - Yamaha and Buffet band instruments and strings instruments hand picked by the owners from small family workshops from around the world. Our instruments are like a very good Honda / Suburu - safe, comfortable, has features you need for a beginner driver...
Described by one seasoned musician from our community... "as a musician myself, I like to use the words "it feels like butter" - doesn't make a lot of sense, but when I play a good instruments every thing is easier, it feels good to use, it feels smoother, it feels like it's working with me to make the sounds I want to express..."