Cremona4-String Violin (SV-800)

I bought this one for my daughter. It's a really good looking instrument and it's easy to play. However,it sounded smooth but boring and quiet with the Dominant violin string and my daughter was not interested in the quiet violin. We were thinking to return it,but after we changed to the Vision string, it's better now. Still, it's not a loud violin,so if you want a loud violin, do not buy it. It is a nice intermediate violin. Maybe a new violin need to be played more to make it louder? Anyway, it is not a bad violin, just hope it could be louder.

I bought this violin as a backup for my late 1800s Mirecourt. I travel between two locations due to my job and was tired of lugging my violin on a plane every few weeks. Well, now I have a bit of a problem because this violin is kinda sorta my favorite right now. I didn't want it to be this way. I also have a student violin, which I was using as my backup, though it was not up to the task so I decided to buy another one. I did NOT expect the SV-800 to be so amazing. The SV-800 sounds fantastic with a nice rich, warm tone. It contrasts with the strong bright tone of my Mirecourt. This violin responds very well and all notes are spot on and crisp. The spacing of the strings above the fingerboard is exactly where I would expect them to be. Not only does it play extremely well, it looks quite amazing too.The purfling looks fantastic. Some things to beware of with violins, especially from China, is the claim of having inlaid purfling, which usually turns out to be drawn on instead of cut into the violin. This is the real deal. In fact, I am not sure I have seen any violin in this price range with real purfling. But it is legit real and I took some pictures added below. The color is nice, with a bit of antiquing, plus the finish is wonderful. One would assume the varnish is sprayed on, but you can't tell, meaning there are no runs or heavy spots. It likely isn't hand varnished, but if it were the price would probably have another digit someplace. The description is a little vague in that area, saying... "attractive golden brown imitation-old hand applied varnish." I admit it may be hand varnished, but it would be hard to imagine so in this price range. Either way, they did it right and it looks fantastic without looking like a think heavy glossy clear coat. Instead the wood grain comes though quite well, with a slight orange hue. It looks exactly like the photos honestly, described as a dull patina and I could not agree more. The back and sides are a beautiful flamed maple and the top is good quality spruce. It really looks gorgeous, just like the photos.The strings are excellent quality Thomastik Dominant with a French-made Aubert bridge. Both are excellent quality and I was quite happy to see them on this violin! Those are signs of good quality and are not cheap by any means. In fact just those two items are about 5-7% of the purchase price of the violin. The fingerboard is ebony, which can often be faked by other manufacturers. Nice quality materials matter and it shows on the SV-800.There are a few things they need to take care of to really step up the game. The decorative disks on the pegs were loose when my violin arrived. It is not a big deal, and I just added a bit of epoxy and secured them in place, but you expect everything to be secured at the factory. I will add a few photos so you can see what I mean. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but if not secured they tend to buzz when playing the violin.The pegs are nice and quite decorative. I wished they exited the pegbox on the ends, rather than terminate slightly inside. It would add quite a bit to the look if they protruded a bit. Instead you see the raw wood which sticks out to my eye as a new violin rather than looking like the antique patina they are striving for with this model. Minor comment that really doesn't matter much but the minor details count when trying to portray quality.The most important item that needs to be corrected is the bow, which in the description says, "deluxe Pernambuco bow." It is actually Brazilwood in the kit I received. They come from the same tree, but the Pernambuco is very tightly grained and comes from the center of the tree. My bow is very clearly Brazilwood and that was a huge letdown. I was really looking forward to the bow!Enough about the negatives... the case is quite nice and there is plenty of room for music books on the outer zip pocket. Inside the colors are nice and there is plenty of support for the violin body so the neck does not have to bear any of the load. There are spots for 4 bows, a large pocket for a shoulder rest, plus rosin and other odds and ends. There are carry straps on the sides and one on the end so it can stand vertically, which is quite nice. One of my little support feet fell out right away, and I took a photo of why. Not that big of a deal to me, but the little things matter if you want to appear to be top notch. The violin sounds top notch in my book, so a few odds and ends polished up and this violin can compete with others at easily twice the price. It is that simple!This is a 5-star review because for the money I paid, this is an amazing instrument that sounds just beautiful. It looks great and is wonderful to play too. I am extremely satisfied. It makes me a little sad that my real antique violin is now in the position of second fiddle.

The quality on these violins is extremely variable. The first one I bought was excellent - really good value for the price: a nice sounding, attractive, and very playable violin, a decent case, and a perfectly usable bow - so I bought another one (I live in several places and it saves traveling with the violin each time). The second one arrived (from the packaging it was obvious it was a previous customer return), and when I attempted to tune it the A string immediately snapped, then I realised they had shipped it with the A and G strings swapped (!!!) so of course the G string could not support being tuned over an octave higher. So much for being set up at the workshop - it had obviously never even been tuned. Also part of the case was missing. The violin itself looked ok just the setup was wrong and piece of case missing. So I sent that one back and got a replacement. The replacement was really poor quality: terrible varnish (they completely missed large areas), very sticky pegs (untunable really), and the bow could not be tensioned more than 1/3 of the way before jamming. It's a real shame, because if you get a decent one, these can be very good violins for the price. If they had all been like the first one I would not hesitate to give it 5 stars, but the quality control deserves a zero. Being amazon, if you have the patience and stick with it you can return the bad ones and end up with a nice violin (I did, in the end), but it's a pity they can't get it right from the start.

The case was damaged when I received it in a very clean box, however it was obviously missed in quality control before shipping. The bow came loose and scratched the lower bout of the violin in transit. I asked for a replacement, amazon sent one just as quick, however the case was broke in the EXACT same spot and the violin was NOT a Cremona. I tried to leave a more descriptive review of that fact but Amazon censored my review. I ended up keeping the first violin and sent the "second" one back. I will say, Its a BEAUTIFUL sounding instrument but BE CAREFUL you honestly get your Cremona SV800. It will have a Saga tag on the Scroll/Neck area when you receive it and it will have a manufactures label inside. I am very happy with it, scratches and all. Just know, there is NO QUALITY control buying from amazon in this purchase I fear.

I've been a violin teacher for 20 years and for the first few years this model was made, I was happy to recommend it to students. But this latest batch is a major step down in quality. The varnish looks like it was spray painted, and the tone is incredibly weak and tinny. Nothing at all like the ones they were making a year or two ago. Neither is the price - $200 more than last year. Saga has made a big misstep here.

Took it to a violin shop locally to have it looked at. The fingerboard was warped. Returned the instrument immediately.

The bow alone retails for $350. The violin sounds and looks good, responds well, and easily satisfies my intermediate-advanced skill level. Mine came with an unraveled A string and the post missing from one of the pegs. I will say the pictures looked a lot better than what I got, but I can live with that considering a blind violin purchase is kinda risky. In the future I will only buy violins that I have an actual picture of the violin I receive or I can play it in person.