Full Size Electric Violin with Case and Accessories Review

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(More customer reviews)OK, right from the start, for this price you don't expect an Amati in yer mailbox, yes? That being said; this thing comes SOOO close to being a very nice instrument, and if you decide that the price and rather beautiful and intrigueing design make it a "what the hell, why not?" purchase, a few extra bucks spent now will save you a lot of pain and aggrevation when it arrives. Because right out of the box this thing is a BRUTE. I've played guitar, bass and violin for 42-odd years and so brought a certain amout of hand stength and callouses to this project and notwithstanding the difficulty this instrument posed at first I played my callouses off and back on a dozen or more times while adjusting to it and deciding what it needed. I shall try to address the questions and gripes I"ve gathered from chats posted about it and the suggestions I would make.
First; go ahead and order fine-tuners for all the strings - the pegs are synthetic and will slip and slip and after you've wrestled them into something near pitch you won't want to jack around with them much more. There seems to be a bulge around the end of the pegs that keeps them from seating well, but if you CAREFULLY shave that off with a good sharp knife and sand it so that it's rather rough the peg will be more manageable (worked for ME, anyway.)
Next, while you're still adding stuff to your shopping-cart, add one of those nifty self-adjusting bridges that Glaesel makes. The violin comes with a very high bridge that will pull the neck out of true and reqires a grip like an anconda to play, so get a medium or low bridge. I put a medium on mine and it works just fine. And the neck seems to be returning to straight with the more direct pull. Low just might be TOO low. The nut is fairly high anyway, but unless you are VERY good with tools I recommend that you just learn to live with it.
Right, the shoulder-pad. You'll want one, because this beast weighs a bit more than a standard fiddle. The pad it comes with will not stick with the included velcro pads, but a good stout elastic band or even a thick rubber band wrapped around the chin-rest will hold it on and keep you from looking (and feeling) like you've been hit with a tire-iron.
Now the good stuff about this fiddle- the electronics are very nice and produce a good sound both from the earphones and the main outlet. And though I've read some negative comments about the bow I've found it to be very nice indeed, worth the price of the whole kit. Too many of these "novice" packages come with a useless, flabby fiberglass stick with hair on but this Brazilwood bow I found to be responsive and well-balanced. Bearing in mind that bows are as individual as people and what works for me you might find atrocious. The design I still find as nice as at first sight, with the attention to detail and scrollwork paticularly fine for a synthetic.
Acoustically the tone is a bit strident, as you might expect, but a mute (odd as that might seem for a "silent" violin) will take some of the harshness out of the tone without rendering it too quiet for practical purposes. Every style of mute (heavy rubber, wood or wire) will change the tone in a different way so you just have to find what sounds best to you.
Finally, with all of the cute stuff available you might want to opt for a wood chinrest and tailpiece instead of the synth stuff on it, but ultimately that depends on how well you like this instrument and how much you like to individualize yer axe. (mine are on order as I write this.)
Long-winded as this has been, I hope that it has been of some help, or may spare some long-suffering parent the torture of hearing the groans, squeaks and howls of the novice fiddler...

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