Need advice with making an electric violin... :)

[SkinnyBoy]

basically.. 2 friends of mine are making an electric violin.. father, and daughter.. anyway.. he has started work on the body of the violin, but I'm not too sure if it will work.... its going to be made of polypropylene (I think.. lol) poured into a silicon mould, then rotated to give the "walls" of the body (understand?) anyway.. I feel that this is going to act very much like a normal violin, except very poorly tuned... most electric violins don't have a body as such.... another problem is the pickup... there are 2 types.. piezo, and mangetic.... the question is, which one should be used on this violin? the problem is going to be that it will act like a normal violin.. in which case a piezo is required.. except its a badly make violin.... :S:S: lol THANX!!

[Jarno]

Hello,

Making a hollow electric violin out of Polyprop doesn't seem like a good idea, it's simply to weak. If they insist to make it hollow, using glassfibre or carbonfibre with a wooden skeleton seems like a better idea. But, usually people want a massive (solid) electric violin because feedback is much less of a problem, practicing is much easier (if neighbours are giving you a hard time), and a solid piece of wood is damn nigh indestructible. There are also people of course, who go for a particular sound. I can imagine making a few chambers in a solid instrument to add an acoustic touch to the electric sound (look for guitars and basses made by Godin, or the Fender Telecaster Thinline). But making a complete hollow violin is a disappointment a think, plastic doesn't sound as nice as wood does. Regarding the pickups, magnetics only work when all the strings are metal of course. Usually, piezo's under the bridge are used to "electrify" instruments (although, at one time I had plans to put a small mike in a hollow chamber in a bass to add the aforementioned "acoustical" character).

Hope this is useful.

Regards,

Jarno.

[SkinnyBoy]

ok.. maybe to plastic I said was wrong.. I dunno.. lol but either way I know it will sound bad.. I personally think he should just stick with a skeleton body... so just the outside shape of the violin is made... and make if from wood... even just MDF.. and use a magnetic pickup

[SkinnyBoy]

something like this...

*stolen without the permission of some person on ebay *

[Jarno]

Well, I would go for a nice piece of wood like ash or maple.
Making the magnetic pickup should also prove hard, I think. A piezo pickup is easier implemented. Just buy a couple of piezo buzzers, crack them open and place the piece of piezoelectric material under one, or both the legs of the bridge, add high-impedance preamp, et voila!

Greetings,

Jarno.

[Jarno]

Think that's a Yamaha, right? Very nice instrument indeed. I myself have been drooling quite some time now over the electric double bass made by Yamaha. I do think these instruments are overpriced though (at least they are in the Netherlands). Acoustically the only active part is the middle bit. You can actually remove the esthetical parts from the double bass, I am not sure if this would make the violin unplayable.

These instruments are probably all equipped with piezo transducers.

Greetings,

Jarno.

[SkinnyBoy]

Originally posted by Jarno
Well, I would go for a nice piece of wood like ash or maple.
Making the magnetic pickup should also prove hard, I think. A piezo pickup is easier implemented. Just buy a couple of piezo buzzers, crack them open and place the piece of piezoelectric material under one, or both the legs of the bridge, add high-impedance preamp, et voila!

Greetings,

Jarno.

well.. can a piezo be used with a skeleton type violin?

[SkinnyBoy]

so you think a piezo is quite possible?? but won't that pick up any time you bump the violin or whatever??

[Jarno]

Of course, because a electric violin has also got a bridge. String tension is the "sound-creating" factor, and string tension is the same for an acoustical or an electrical violin.

[Jarno]

By the way, in lots of shops where they sell musical instruments they have piezo transducers for guitars. I think these have a higher fidelity than your average cracked open piezo buzzer.