Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Are You Ready For Electric Violins?

By Bob Randalph


There was a time when electric violins were strictly for rich and famous professionals. That time has gone the way of the dodo and now the variety and price ranges are broader. Certainly they come in nearly any color you can imagine. The cost is not much lower now, but it is at least within sight of someone with less than a fortune.

Once considered a toy, just like personal computers, now the electrified stringed instrument is used more often. It travels well, amplifies for outdoor venues and the sound can be tweaked with just like the electric guitar.

Innovation has not stopped with mere electrification. The shapes of the new violins has more the look of modern sculpture than carved wood. The new composite materials have made the instrument nearly indestructible which is a boon for all who travel. You can find them made of Lucite and therefore clear as glass.

Bluegrass fiddlers and jazz violinists can now plug in their instruments and have some small chance of being heard over the banjo and the saxophone. But alas the classical symphony orchestra at least the majority of them, have yet to embrace the electrified violin.

Parents of new string players everywhere will appreciate one particular feature of electric strings. They can be silent. Plug the output into the headphones and junior hears his every note and you hear nothing at all. True bliss.

The durability and mass production of the future may make better quality instruments available for amateur enthusiasts. And while not everyone is willing to jettison the acoustic for the electric, it is much more readily accepted now.

Weighing the pros and cons is a job best left to the consumer and his pocketbook or perhaps his sense of tradition. But make no mistake, you will be seeing more electric violins than ever before and one of them might just be yours.




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