whitepawrolls said
I have one of those as well (was my very first) and a Cecillio CEVN. Trying both those electrics side by side the plastic cheapy is quite a bit louder than my solid wood Cecillio.

Yeah, the body is hollow with some cross-bracing, so it does have a bit more acoustic sound than a more solid design would.  It is still, however, definitely quiet enough for practice any time. 

For being about the least expensive electric I've ever seen, I have to say that mine has been a trooper.  It usually "lives" on the kitchen table, and has sometimes been knocked off the table and fallen to the floor, small children have run off with it to play it rather rough as if it were a tiny guitar.. It's a tough little thing.

I do have to say though, that is wasn't great right out of the box.  The bridge needed trimmed, the factory set of strings were awful, the tuning pegs slipped and the one fine tuner it had was broken.  But those are all easily fixable and seem to be about typical problems of any violin in that price range.  To a degree, "you get what you pay for".  Use a little sandpaper on the plastic pegs to give them enough "tooth" to be able to hold, put on a somewhat better set of cheap strings, trim the bridge a bit, a nicer set of fine tuners doesn't cost much, and it's been a dependable little instrument.

I also did a few changes most people wouldn't.  I replaced some of the electronics with circuitry I built.  The electronic "innards" weren't very well made, and I didn't feel they'd hold up or perform as well as I would want.  I tuned the afterlength, which led to a problem since the vibrations  through the instrument got stronger, and some places where the back meets the crossbracing started to rattle.  So I went through and put in dabs of silicon caulk at some of the trouble spots, others needed a bit of thin foam until the instrument was sufficiently rattle-proofed. 

But that sort of treatment isn't really unusual for any instrument to get it ready for gigging or recording.  You can end up having to do many of the same things on a brand new electric guitar or keyboard if you want it to be really reliable and good for studio or stage.  "Boutique" shops charge plenty to do such things for musicians who do tours or studio work, and it is common practice.  In normal student or home type usage, though, it isn't usually necessary.  But with all mods and parts (including strings) I've still only paid a little over 100$ for this instrument and that is dirt cheap for an instrument where I wouldn't hesitate to take it to a jam, gig or recording session. 

I would definitely buy another, if I can find the same model.  It's a nice little "battle-axe" that I'd definitely take onto a stage or into a studio, and I like it enough that a back-up or two wouldn't be a bad idea.  LOL  But I have also been thinking of buying something like one of the CVNs though, to have an electric that is more violin shaped and where I might not need to use a shoulder rest, where the balance and the upper and C-bouts would be more standard in shape. 

I had been thinking that the solid wood frames of the CVN types would probably have less acoustic vibration (which is desirable in "solid body" type electric instruments), so thank you, whitepawrolls.  Great to hear it from someone who actually has both.  I have to ask though if there is anything that you do *not* like about the CVN electric violins?

Some differences in design and fittings, but yeah, my electric is plastic.  According to a friend who knows plastics, it is glass filled epoxy mostly with different parts and sections being made of carbon composite this and yadda-yadda that.  Maybe I'm naive, but I think of all that stuff as plastic and wasn't really pleased to find out the only wood on my electric was the bridge.

I personally expected it to bend just as you described or just break fairly soon.  But actually, it has stayed good and straight and solid.  I did take off the factory strings almost immediately, and put on medium strings.  That might have made a difference.  

But if the instrument can't physically handle nasty dead sounding strings that feel like coat-hanger wire when you play, then they really shouldn't ship them with those installed. LOL

Both my electric and my old Mendini came with strings that were pretty awful, and I have a theory that really crappy strings are one of the main things that make inexpensive violins sound and play bad.

I've always been of the opinion that the first thing to do when getting any brand new stringed instrument is to put on new strings, and that the ones they put on them in the factory are just to hold the parts together or keep a minimum amount of tension while the instrument is in a warehouse or shipping.  They will usually at least be so dead that the instrument will sound flat and lifeless without a string change.