there is one called Amadeus violin in Section 14 PJ, near Digital Mall

well... if you are in KL then the one i heard recommended here is Euro music. its near times square, about 5min walk only. never bought anything there, but some sifu here mentioned it

well... mute goes anything from a few ringgit to rm 20 or 30. got mine free from the owner when i got mine. there are 2 mine kinds, orchestra and practice mute. get the practice one.

btw, will stuffing sponge into the f holes work to dampen the sound?

well well... budget?

you mentioned Helicon right. not too sure about that, but it sounds like Euphony's house brand, i know they sell piano of the same brand.

anyway, the brand is secondary in your case, choose on a individual violin basis rather than brand name. subang i only know of Vibrante Music in usj 19. if you do drop by pj then i can point u elsewhere....

Well... how long is a lesson? if half hour then might be a little high, but depends on the teacher. could be cheaper.

400 for yamaha violin? never seen a yamaha violin, but for brand name it seems a quite cheap....

no la, that wun happen (unless ofcoz u are so so so unlucky) coz the strings are winded in layers, so even if the core breaks the outer part will not allow it to fly. jz like if u twist a hard wire and break the wire inside but the outer insulator will hold it.

atleast to winded strings la, solid strings i can say for sure. but then again, i am four eyed. haha

I believe the problem is you lifting your shoulders to clamp the violin instead of dropping your neck. as u said, u have a long neck (thou i duno how long is long to cause the problem so i gonna assume its pretty long)

u just have to learn to relax your shoulders, u may even change the position of your chin rest to find a sweet spot, no one said they have to be at THAT fixed position. or try to vary the lengths of the shoulder rest legs to find a good compromise.

as for shoulder rest:

http://petermach.com/

this looks pretty nice. saw a similar design by FOM selling in shops. 50 bucks i think, cant remember.

this is very comfortable if you managed to find one that fits the curve of your shoulders.

disclaimer: no expert on the violin but did study about the human body a little.

but little ice, dun you think a comfortable shoulder rest reduce the potential for you to stress yourself? i agree the prob is posture, but i tink a shoulder rest can aid in correcting it.

well... different brands lo, branded kun, less branded fom. fundamentally no difference. but for the price of a kun u can get two different types of fom. or some really high-end looking carved wood fom which i tink is value for money over the kun la.

but at the end of the day, if you tink a 1.8l beemer is better than a 3.0 honda, i say go for it.

one thing about FOM is that they blady imitate everyone. haha... they have the one like KUN, another one after the WOLF and one more like the Mach One i pasted earlier. basically the different brand design rolled into one. haha

yes, loosen after playing or risk damaging your bow.

as to how tight is based on estimation and preference lo, some prefer tighter some less so. jz make sure its not too tight or loose now, after all, different bow different stiffness also.

all this talk about tightness and stiffness. hmmm

haha... waiting for my new g-strings to come (and ofcoz D, A, E too). keke...

go online google metronome and time from there lo. but i highly doubt it will be out la, its electronic after all, unless the chip is screwed up or something la. maybe its due to the different sound "ding, tok, tok, tok" that gives the idea lo.

wat brand anyway?

well... good brand, shld be fine lo. if u really think is wrong then take it to the shop to have it looked over

wah.... respect! the bus terminal is now in bkt jalil right? i mean u will be alighting in bkt jalil?

wat i meant is you should have some specific areas that is more convenient for u right. no point i recommend u ampang or pj or shah alam blah blah if its a hassle to get there. so i guess its better if u have a target area that is easier for u to get to before asking

klang and bkt jalil not really my hunting ground. anyone to help out here?

welcome welcome. hope u have success wid your lessons

jz follow watever your teacher says and practice more lo. the action of vibrato is pretty different from what muscles are used to - unless u are michael jackson

it takes a couple of months to get used to it. so no point rushing.

and freakfingers, i dun tink u are supposed to even use you fingers in initiating vibrato