For a beginner, you don’t

For a beginner, you don’t need to buy a very good one. When my daughter started learning violin, we bought a cheaper one from a website (violinmenson.com?? or check this site: http://store.yahoo.com/musiclandcentral/crprnouvi4.html) for about $80 (size 1/4). A couple months later we bought a better one for her from China. You can buy a very good one from China with lower price, if possible. In general, learning violin in the USA has better chance to get scholarship in the future than learning others such as piano.