Violin Forum/Message Board

Mat Roop · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 12:19 am Post subject: How many violins

I am curious... how would one find out how many violins are in use in north america and how many new ones are sold each year?
Has anyone hazarded a guess or is there statistical data?
Cheers, Mat

Gizmo · Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:31 pm Post subject: How Many ?

This is really not a good answer to your question but I'm not sure that data is available to the general public (Sales people tend to hide details of their sales, customers, etc.)

However, just for fun and a sense of what's happening ........... some real figures for violin/guitar manufacturing around mainland China ..... yearly factory capacity for "big" supplier, 280,000. If it's just you and a few family members, the number drops to about 50,000 per year. Sad

Of course, I have no break-down on how many of these instruments are for U.S. sales. I believe that one distributor on e Bay claimed 75,000 violins sold.
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Mat Roop · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:24 am Post subject:

I have heard that the Canadian number is in the order of 8000/yr and if that is 10% of the american number then 80,000 sounds about right.
That means 800,000 over a ten year periond and if 10 % stay in use, that is 80,000 violins in use .... hmmmm. I think this is still conservative

Gizmo · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 8:49 am Post subject: In Use

Is ANY significant number of factory violins made in the U.S.?
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Gizmo · Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:04 pm Post subject: Violins Sales

Part 2 of the original question. I see that the volume of sales per year is going to be a very difficult number to obtain particularly since most of those sales originate in China or Europe.
Another Chinese manufacturer, Pearl River, says they make 6000 /mo. with a staff of 265 people and the flood is just beginning. I wonder if the $149 violin offered by Shar is Chinese ? (I think so).
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woodwiz · Junior Member Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 9

Gizmo · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:32 am Post subject: China

Wiz,

My SHAR site shows Shar violin HV100 which they say is made in China and sells for $119 (?).

I think that the bottom line here is that very few of the violins sold in America are made in America .......... not counting the imported "kits".

It is inevitable that Chinese string products will/do enjoy distribution by larger, main stream, suppliers. The Chinese items fill a major market niche and that's all you need.

Of course this has nothing to with Luthiers making custom instruments because that is just a different world altogether.
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kel · Member Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 73 Location: Asia

Different markets, different players need different violins

For a beginning violin learner, it is a good idea to buy a very low price one as no one knows how determined this learner is going to be

I think the high end market violins are NOT from China
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