Many instrument manufacturers employ gimmicks in some of their ranges to make them more attractive to beginners and a younger target audience. In essence, purple violins are no exception. This article is going to discuss whether these funky coloured violins are actually great instruments in their own right, or whether they are just a way for their manufacturers to earn a quick buck.

When you begin looking for purple violins over the internet, a rather worrying trend begins to emerge. All of the ranges offered by manufacturers are budget instruments which rarely exceed Ј150, very strange for a violin of any sort. Logic dictates that an instrument of this price won’t be performance quality, but let’s take a look at one or two in turn.

The Blue Moon 4/4 purple violin is the most popular and widely produced violin of this kind. It comes with a violin case and retails at around Ј75. Ј75 for a violin is laughable, you’re certainly not going to get great sound quality from this model, it may be adequate for practice sessions but even that would be pushing it. The blue moon purple violin feels very flimsy in your hands and the whole body just looks of dubious quality, I would think twice before purchasing this model.

Unfortunately the purple violins produced by Antoni don’t appear to be much better. These are actually specifically marketed at younger players who want an instrument will a little more spunk. This violin feels very light and its maple back and neck seem as though they would break under the slightest knock. Alas, at Ј65, I must confess that I reached the same conclusion with the Antoni range as I did with the Blue moon purple violins, they are merely children’s instruments designed to add a little more thrill to learning to play the violin.

If you are a collector and simply searching for violin which will act as a centre piece then by all means purchase any of the two aforementioned purple violins. However, if you are a serious musician who wants to learn on an instrument which is a bit more quirky, I regret to say that you may be best off getting a higher quality violin painted purple instead.