It’s been very fun recalibrating my views of violin from unaware pre-professional to amateur musician. Yeah, I still think everyone should buy their violin by doing trials and buying the best–but not necessarily the most expensive–instrument for them (if for no other reason than it’s quite a bit of money to be spending and low end violins don’t recoup their sales price when you resell), but also like… no one is going to explode if they buy an instrument sight unseen from a reputable online retailer.
(I have seen a few people have a tantrum because Generic Instrument Purchase doesn’t match the extremely specific ideal in their head, but I also know people who never bought their ‘forever violin’ in real life because nothing was ever good enough, and they spent enough time and money travelling to have just commissioned something, hah.)
(Also people who don’t come from music backgrounds aren’t aware that like… 95% of actual violin shops and luthiers are chill because they’re all Quirkier than you. 3% are too snooty because they only deal with pro level fine instruments, which, good for them! The other 2% are people who just like musical instruments more than humans. Any place that isn’t welcoming a non-professional wants to go out of business and you should let them)
Amateur Bard 
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