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Hi I was wondering if anybody could help me. I have been trying to look for a decent electric violin. Still a beginner so don't want to spend too much on the first time have got around £200 or $240 in dollars and just wondering if anyone had any ideas.
Have seen the Harley Benton it not too sure if that one is good or not.
Many thanks
theo
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tbomb said
Hi I was wondering if anybody could help me. I have been trying to look for a decent electric violin. Still a beginner so don't want to spend too much on the first time have got around £200 or $240 in dollars and just wondering if anyone had any ideas.Have seen the Harley Benton it not too sure if that one is good or not.
Many thanks
theo
Hi @tbomb - another UK member I see ! As it happens, I have a Harley Benton - in fact it was the cheapest in the range at the time I got it about 3 years back - the HBV840 FR ( "Ferrari Red" - LOL ) - at that time it was 110 Euros - somewhat less than £100 sterling. I have played it a lot since then (although it gets time-shared with other instruments) and it has been fine - no more and no less than I would have expected for the price. The OEM strings - whatever they were - although "playable" were swapped out within days ( ! ) - but instruments of that price, are hardly going to arrive with quality strings. After playing for a few weeks, I became aware of a little buzzing-rattling sound when playing aggressively. Thus was only heard under my ear, it wasn't picked up by the transducer and couldn't be heard when amped up. I tracked that down to a "spare" (unused) pin om the stereo 1/4 jack socket. A tiny spot of epoxy resin sorted it !
I'm happy with it. But - at the low-end of the market - well - I could have been lucky. Having said that - compared to acoustics - there is a lot less to go-wrong. Construction is simple, things like its sound / timbre / tonality don't really matter much - with added effects it's largely going to sound how-you-want-it-to-sound - and for silent playing - well - it doesn't matter what it "sounds like" - you'll get no body resonances to speak of, and very little inter-string resonances.
Final comment: At the price - I was well aware of what I might get - and had it been terrible (unless there was a structural fault / crack etc) I would have kept it anyway and experimented with it. It can't be THAT hard to get a bridge to sit on a piezo transducer ! LOL
Good luck with your EV journey !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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I have experience with only one electric violin, so far. The Cecilio CEVN-1BK. There are other models and colors Cecilio electric/silent violins to choose from as well.
The one I got was better than expected. It was a nice surprise. They did a good job on both the paint and the woodworking workmanship, better than what they did on my more expensive Cecilio CVN-500 acoustic violin.
Some of the pegs are a bit slippy though, especially the D string. I figure that in time that will settle down though. I think it is just that some paint got into some of the peg holes. In time, that should wear away, or I will get rid of it myself. However, this issue already seems to be settling down, and I have only had this electric violin for a couple weeks.
The bridge is a bit of an issue too though. It has a less than ideal arc. I have a similar issue with the bridge on my Cecilio CVN-500, but it is worse on the EV.
The chances are that if you bought a Cecilio electric violin, you might, or might not, have the same, or similar issues. One risk is that they are known to do sloppy paint/varnish work on their violins. My CVN-500 had a less than perfect varnish job, but my CEVN-1BK actually has an excellent paint job.
I do not know what Cecilio instruments are selling for over there where you are, but if they are in your price range, I feel they are worth considering. Even if you get one that is not as pretty as it should/could have been, it should still be a solid built and playable instrument.
MACJR
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