Best beginner violas

The viola is the instrument school orchestras are permanently short of, which makes it one of the better bets for a student who wants to play in an ensemble: violists get into groups that turn violinists away.

It is also the instrument whose sizing catches out nearly every first-time buyer, because it does not use the fractional system everyone has heard of.

We have not played these instruments. What follows is our reading of what each maker publishes about woods, fittings and what comes in the case, and the method is on how we pick. One thing we will not do: two brands that dominate the cheapest end of this category have no working manufacturer site and no spec sheet anywhere we could cite, so they are not on this page.

Sizing, which is the whole first decision

A violin is a 4/4, a 3/4, a 1/2 and so on. A viola is a 16 inch, a 15 inch, a 14 inch. The number is the body length, and there is no such thing as a full size in the violin sense — professionals play anything from about 15.5 to 17 inches by preference.

The fitting method is the same as a violin’s: extend the left arm out at roughly 45 degrees with the palm up, and measure from the base of the neck to the middle of the palm. That measurement in inches is the body length to look for.

Shar’s published sizing ladder runs 11 inch for ages five to seven, 12 inch for six to seven, 13 inch for seven to nine, 14 inch for eleven to thirteen, 15 inch for a small adult or a child of twelve to fourteen, 15.5 inch for an average adult and 16 inch for a large adult. Treat those as starting points, not rules.

One extra consideration the violin does not have: because the instrument is bigger, the spacing between fingers is wider. A player with small hands may be better on a slightly shorter body than their arm length suggests.

What to insist on at student prices

Carved solid tonewoods. A spruce top with maple back and ribs, carved rather than pressed or laminated. Both Stentor outfits and the Cremona publish this.

Ebony fittings, if you can reach them. Pegs and fingerboard take constant friction. Solid ebony wears well; ebonised wood is a cheaper wood stained black, and it wears faster. This is the main difference between the two Stentor tiers here.

Four fine tuners. A composite tailpiece with integral adjusters lets a beginner tune without touching the pegs, which is the single biggest source of broken strings and frustration in a first year.

A setup, from somewhere. The bridge has to be fitted to the instrument, the soundpost positioned and the nut slots cut properly. Only the Cremona publishes a workshop setup claim; for the others, budget for a shop visit and treat it as part of the price.

How we ranked these

Setup quality first, because it decides whether the instrument is playable as it arrives. Then sizing range, then how complete the outfit is, then the quality of the fittings, then room to grow.

The picks

The Stentor Student II viola outfit (1505)#ad is the one we would buy for a student who is going to stay with it. It is the same carved solid tonewood construction as the cheaper Stentor, with inlaid purfling and a gold brown varnish, but the fingerboard is solid ebony and the pegs are ebony rather than pau rosa. On an instrument tuned by turning pegs and pressed on a fingerboard for years, those two parts are where wear shows.

It runs the full ladder from 12 to 16 inches, and the composite tailpiece has integral adjusters on all four strings. Two honest notes: Stentor does not list rosin in this outfit even though the cheaper Student I includes it, and retailers list it as special order rather than stocked, so delivery timing is not guaranteed.

The Cremona SVA-500 Premier Artist viola outfit#ad is the one for a player who has stopped growing, and it is the only viola here that publishes a setup claim: set up to educational standards in Cremona’s US workshop, with a French-made Aubert bridge. Hand-carved solid flamed maple back and sides, a select solid spruce top, hand-applied oil varnish, African ebony fittings, four built-in fine tuners and a named J. LaSalle bow.

The catch is size: it comes in 16 inch only, so it does not serve a child at all. Saga also positions it for the advanced student, and it costs considerably more than either Stentor — on the Starter Path this is where overspending starts for a true beginner, even though it is a genuinely better instrument.

The Stentor Student I viola outfit (1038)#ad is the entry point to the same size ladder, and for a first year it is enough instrument. Carved spruce front, carved maple back, ribs and neck, inlaid purfling, integral fine adjusters, a wood bow with an ebony frog, a lightweight case with a music pocket, and rosin included.

What you give up is the fittings: an ebonised straight-grained fingerboard rather than solid ebony, and pau rosa pegs. For a student who may switch instruments in a year that is the right trade; for one who will still be playing in three years it is the reason to stretch to the Student II.

What else the first year needs

Rosin, which the Student I includes and the other two do not publish. A bow without rosin makes no sound at all, and this catches out more first-time buyers than anything else.

A shoulder rest, sized for a viola rather than a violin. The instrument is bigger and heavier and the gap between shoulder and chin is larger.

A tuner, because tuning a viola by ear is a skill that takes months. A clip-on chromatic tuner reads C-G-D-A as happily as a violin’s G-D-A-E — the options are in best clip-on tuners.

Alto clef patience. Not a purchase, but worth knowing: viola music is written in a clef violinists do not read, and that is the real adjustment for a switcher. The full comparison is in violin vs viola for beginners.