Re: [LAU] Electrical violin?

On Wed Jun 3 2015, Len Ovens wrote: I have one of these, for the very reason that I can practice on it when the wife and kid are in bed. It's not silent, but quite a bit quieter than an acoustic violin with a practice mute. What you should know if you're considering something like this: when I received this, the strings were too high for it to be easily playable (even the Chinese can't make a violin for this price and pay someone to set it up properly.) I spent about three hours lowering the bridge and reshaping the nut so it would play well. A professional luthier might do the same for you for $60-100. I also spent $20 on a new Wittner tailpiece so I'd have fine tuners that would turn easily. I then put an old set of synthetic-core strings on it, as I prefer those to the steel ones it came with. I'm now really happy with it as a quiet-practice violin. But I never plug it in. One reviewer on Amazon said it sounded like a sewing machine, and as soon as I tried it (through the headphones or an amp), I knew what they were talking about. Every time you change bow direction, there's a thump, and the sound from the strings is kind of thin, so as you're playing it's wheee-thump-thump-thump-thump. So you get what you pay for. I'd expect to spend $600 or more for an electric that arrives well set up and sounds halfway decent. Check out the Yamaha Silent Violins--I though even the low-end model was fairly decent. HTH, -Sean