A.    Solid hand carved spruce top, (not ply-wood).
B.    Solid maple back and sides, not (ply-wood).  Solid Maple Backs - Not kiln dried - it is best to have it aged, as indicated by heavy tiger stripes.
C.    Beechnut necks - thick ebony fingerboard
D.    Fittings made from ebony, fingerboard, pegs etc., (not painted hard wood).
E.    a fitted European maple bridge
F.    a non metal tailpiece
G.    Comes with four fine-tuners
H.    quality steel strings
I.    "Set up" on violins is very important. This includes proper bridge and string nut fitting so that the strings are a proper height from the fingerboard, fingerboard planing to make sure the strings don't buzz, peg fitting so the pegs turn smoothly and stay in place, and setting the soundpost for proper tone adjustment, etc.
J.    pegs should be made of ebony or rosewood because most other woods are not dense enough to retain the smooth roundness that is necessary for easy tuning.

Ask seller:
where and how was the instrument made?

Used: no cracks in the top or back. Examine the ribs (sides) of the violin to make sure that they are not bulging out beyond the edges of the top or back.  Check to make sure that the neck of the violin is straight.   Make sure the bridge is centered between the f-holes, then sight up the fingerboard to see if it aligns with the bridge. If the bridge must be off-set toward one side or the other to make the strings and fingerboard line up you have a problem.


Not Good - mass-produced violins = the instruments commonly categorized as Trade-Name or Trade-mark.  They lie and say they are: Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Amati, Maggini, Stainer, Klotz, Hopf, Schweitzer
From:  China, Korea, Bulgaria, Romania and Sri Lanka

Better - Master-shop instruments = constructed with a Master supervising, imitations of a great master such as Stradivarius, Guarnerius, Klotz, Roth, Lang, Sandner, Poehlmann, Hausmann, Aschauer, Teller, Leclerc, Neuner & Hornsteiner, and Heberlein,
From:  Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, and to a small degree, Italy

Best - master-made instruments, handmade by a certified master