Not sure how you classify cheap, but the violin you were playing I was just about to put up on ebay with a reserve of £300 (to cover the money I've put into it), having FINALLY had the crack in the peg box of the violin fiddle I learnt to play on fixed. (I want my violin as a fiddle not a classical violin). It was valued by the people who redid bridge and soundpost at Christmas as worth £600, the gallery music shop however said they'd sell it for 400-500quid, and buy it for 100, hence my plans to ebay as I can't afford to lose money on it.

You definitely improved as the evening went on, you could tell that you used to be able to play to a much higher standard and were catching frustrated glimpses of it. It's a shame that you gave up on it really. It is nice to have a good crowd of 'lets make a noise and have fun' rather than either being judgemental or selfconscious! Much more fun, inclusive and liberating! :)

Anyway, on the offchance if you happened to like it, it's there, for now, and I was just about to take the photos and try my luck with ebay...

Hang on, which violin was that? I think I was playing on two different ones during the course of the evening (just for added confusion). The first one I tried was the one that started off sitting on top of your piano, and then later on I think someone else was using that so I picked up one out of a case in the conservatory. I seemed to be getting a better sound out of the latter, but I'm not at all sure whether that was the quality of the violin or just that I was getting the hang of playing it better by then :-)

First one was Cat's, second one was mine, and the one I'm selling. I suspect the difference in sound was more you than the violins though, as I'm fairly sure Cat's is a 'better' violin, whatever that means. But I agree you were making a better sound on mine...

I can't make it sound like that! But then I'm sticking to my old fiddle which anyone knows anything about violins hates! Sentimental or what I'm used to I'm not sure! I can't play much anyway, unlike you I didn't have years of lessons!

Mmm. I think that if I were sure I wanted to take up the violin again, I might perfectly well be interested in yours, but £300 is a bit much when I haven't the faintest idea whether I'll play it for an hour or a year :-/ At the moment I'm more inclined to take up lizzip's offer of a loan, which suits my state of total indecision better...

makes sense :)