Hey Fiddlerman, what a great site you have here, I have been eager to get my hands on a new hobby since my tenor sax is far too loud to play in my apartment building. I was looking at the cecilio electric violin and I've heard wonderful and sometimes smug \"get yourself a yamaha\" replies all over the internet regarding quality.

Now I recently stumbled accross someone who makes EVs on ebay known as 'song-maker'

Here is a link to the violin I was interested in – New 4 string electric…..

and a link to his store- Song-maker violins

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So obviously without playing these you cant tell the quality, but if you have any information regarding the hardware- or better, if you have tested any of these I'd be greatful to hear your opinion. They dont look any better or worse than the cecilio brand violins, maybe this particular model looks a little heavy, but I find it reassuring to hear the seller can modify the EV to your specification, which means he's close to the manufacturing process.

So any advice is greatly appreciated

thanks!

Hey and thank you for the warm welcome.

I am against purchasing from china knowing the shipping costs if I by any chance recieve a lemon of a violin, with a bent neck or something. Its one thing to spend 120 with free shipping and quite another to go with $250 or $350 violin of questionable quality.

I have placed a bid for a Yamaha sv-120 for $280 (reserve) it ends in 24 hours so heres to hoping nobody out bids me.

That is a little out of my budget, but it looks like I am either going to buy a really cheap possibly crappy violin from china in which case I am going to probably just get the cecilio featured on this site ($129.00 outfit) or a known brand like yamaha for a bit above my budget from an american seller.

What do you guys think should be the maximum bid for this item? I am aslo keeping in mind I have to put money aside for a bow, neck rest, a case, and possibly a mute (depending on how horrid I sound at first haha) . My maximum bid is $300 but I think $350 is more than reasonable for a yamaha silent violin (even if it is an older model)

Is this a wise path? Can I get similar quality out of the cecilio for half the price?

I am actually trying to avoid the acoustic-electrics, since making noise will most likely impeded my ability to practice freely and make the necessary mistakes and exploration of the violin.

It looks like I am going to just bite the bullet and go with a yamaha silent, whether it be my camera hobby, sax or guitar I've never been able to settle for the cheap counterparts, and have always been happy with that decision. I'm sure I will be more than satisfied with the yamaha silent, the built in reverb and decent electronics has me sold.

Now to see how high the bidding gets… what do you think the max one should pay for a good condition sv-120 lower end yamaha silent electric?

Hey mad wed and everyone I just made my purchase. picked up a yamaha sv-120 for just under $400! I probably could have got it for $350 if I held out a couple weeks and hunted down other ebay auctions but what can I say, I work hard and I'm itching to make music again!

i generally love ebay and have never had a bad ebay experience, often sellers go out of their way to change or alter things ive bid for so i hope the trend continues. Im very excited and am just exploring how well I remember reading music and transfering my knowledge of the sax over to this new devil of an instrument. I expect much screetching!

now to find a good teacher in the toronto area to get me started, any advice on seeking an adequate tutor?

oh and I will be sure to share my experience when it arrives with pics.

Now it does not come with a bow, what to look for in a new bow, budget is slim maybe $60 max

Hey guys, so I've done a little reading on carbon bows in general, and as wonderful as they sound I'm not quite convinced they are suited for an electric violin. My fear is it will only heighten the 'cold' tone of an electric. I'm not experienced with the violin so I value the opinion of anyone who has used both bows on their electric or acoustic.

That said, the general concensus seems to be that  a carbon bow will outperform a wooden bow of the same price.