The Legacy is an intermediate-advanced violin with excellent adaptability for the improving player
Student violinists and those who play and practice often, advance quickly in their skills and knowledge as a violinist. This kind of player needs an instrument that can keep up with the speed of their improvement — a violin that supports their advancement. If this sounds like you, we think we have just the violin.
The Antonio Strad Legacy violin is a model we tested that seems designed specifically for players who experience a lot of growth in their talents. We are going to provide a detailed look into the Legacy so you can get a feel for if it’s right for you.
Defining Features of the Antonio Strad Legacy
The Antonio Strad site places the Legacy in the beginner violin category, putting it in the company of other models like the Antonio Strad Model 3, the Model 4, and the Model 5. However, the Legacy sits at the high end of this instrument spectrum in the intended player, quality, and price.
Materials – Like other Antonio Strad models the Legacy is made of aged spruce and maple. The Legacy sticks out from its beginner-category siblings by having the highest wood aging time, with some of the spruce and maple used in the top, back, and sides of the violin being aged up to ten years. This makes the Legacy distinct, because wood that is aged longer is more resonant, producing a warmer, richer sound. Therefore the Legacy has a more resonant sound and is the best violin from the beginner category, in terms of wood quality.
Aesthetics – The Legacy is a nice instrument to look at. A good antiqued finish (essentially “aging” the instrument with purely aesthetic signs of wear and time) is difficult to achieve, but the Legacy wears it well, and it’s complemented by the golden-brown varnish. It also has beautiful rosewood fittings and a classic ebony fingerboard. You’ll definitely never tire of looking at this violin.
Antonio Strad Legacy Overview
The Legacy is a handmade violin setup in the Antonio Strad workshop in Texas. It’s made of high-quality aged wood and is a beautiful instrument in its entirety. The violin’s voice is rich, warm, and powerful. Though Antonio Strad puts this model in the beginner category, likely in hopes of appealing to beginner students who know they want a quality violin for a long period of their studies, we feel that the Legacy would be best appreciated by intermediate students experiencing rapid improvement. This is because of its high adaptability and wonderful sound, which will inspire more playtime and thereby yet more growth from its player.
Priced at $789 (as of writing this) the Legacy is a great value especially for such a quality, handmade student violin that will improve and adapt to the growing talents of its violinist. It’s certainly the best intermediate violin available at this price.
Key Features:
- Comes in a complete outfit
- Pre-setup
- Hand-carved French Aubert Bridge
- Inlaid Purfling
- Handmade
- Strung with Zyex strings
- Sizes: 4/4, 3/4
What to Expect from the Legacy
Bow – The bow included with the violin is the Antonio Carbon Fiber Violin Bow. It’s a fairly standard student carbon fiber bow with real horsehair. It’s well-balanced and will accompany someone starting out with the Legacy well, although if you stick with the Legacy longer, you might want to upgrade the bow to match your advancement. Antonio Strad has several nice bows in their catalog, which you could upgrade to and likely receive a discount on by trading in your previous bow.
Outfit – The Legacy violin outfit comes with includes the bow mentioned above as well as a KPE Violin Shoulder Rest, Jade L’Opera Rosin, an Ultra Rubber Practice Mute, a Korg PC2 Tuner, and the Antonio Triangle Case. The case has space for two bows, a couple of storage compartments and pockets, a tube for your strings, and back straps. It zips shut and has a clasp with a lock.
Ordering – If you order the Legacy from Antonio Strad nationwide (U.S.) free shipping is included and depending on what time of day you order you can get your violin sent out on the same day. They also have a 45-day return policy.
Should You Buy an Antonio Strad Legacy?
The Legacy violin is suited to its name. This is a violin you can grow and improve with throughout your intermediate studies and beyond, and it will certainly be a violin you remember fondly if you ever move past it to another instrument. If you are an intermediate or quickly advancing beginner, you will find the Legacy supports your growth as a violinist, and its powerful, resonant voice will make you want to keep on playing.
The price of $789 doesn’t make the Legacy the cheapest violin on the market, but for the handmade quality and staying power, we would still consider it a deal. This violin’s value will become more apparent the longer you play; an instrument that can handle the ups and downs of intermediate learning and still sound wonderful even as its player learns new techniques is worth every penny.
For those on the beginner-intermediate cusp looking for a first violin, or intermediate players upgrading, we think you’ll appreciate the Antonio Strad Legacy very much and it is highly recommended.