Welcome to our first monthly newsletter in a modern format!

We worked hard to include only requested names in our subscription list, so accept our apologies if you did not want to receive these once a month or so. There is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of this page. For those who want to spread the news of electric bowed strings, please forward to other folks. Thank you!

Blaise, Chris, Matt, Paulo, Dave, Laurel

Ever Want to Put a
Practice Studio in Your Pocket?

The trend to miniaturization continues in the electric violin world. We are amazed as ever smaller and lighter amplifiers produce great tone and prodigious volume for bowed strings. Now there’s an electric violin as light as your acoustic! Moving the electronics to an external control module (about the size of the original iPod), brings the weight of the new Yamaha SV-150 violin to one pound – 4 to 8 ounces lighter than most solid body electric violins.

A sleek black box controls volume, a digital tuner, a metronome and 24 very entertaining electronic effects. Yamaha’s Silent Practice Plus Violin expands the concept of “silent” practice way beyond what was possible in 1997, the year of the first SV-100. An SD memory card reader allows you to play along with an existing MIDI, mp3, or .wav file. You can even change the playback speed without altering the pitch! Since Yamaha provides no output cable, we had some made - 1/8” headphone to one-quarter inch instrument jack.

How Did We Sound?

Have you ever polled a friend or the parent of a student after a performance to see if your amplified sound was OK? Now there is an innovative solution that allows the performers to hear exactly what the audience hears – easily and without a sound engineer. The Bose L1 linear array speaker system has shifted a paradigm. Portable and lightweight, it replaces your instrument amplifier, the house PA system and monitor wedges – and does it better for bowed strings! Lower on-stage volume is kind to your ears, yet your audience hears you with sparkling clarity, even in a challenging venue, like a gym. The Bose L1 systems can even provide sound for a large electric ensemble, by using a separate mixing board.

Follow this link to see how 2 Bose L1 towers served 12 electric violins, plus rock band, in an outdoor high school concert.

Q. Why is my wireless getting more interference lately?

A. In anticipation of 2009, when all TV channels will be transmitting digitally, the FCC has opened up some frequencies used by cordless mics and instrument transmitters to broadcasting. This encroachment makes it harder for your wireless transmitter to send and receive cleanly. Older units that are set to one frequency are most vulnerable - they either work or don’t. Rural use is more reliable than in a city.

We now recommend a unit that is frequency agile, meaning it can seek an unused frequency and lock it in. This pretty much eliminates the tiny size of the AKG Bug type of units. To get professional tone and signal flexibility, consider the Audio Technica 3000 series wireless. You can select from 200 frequencies, and comes with a belt pack transmitter. It is compliant with 2009 DTV standards.

Please send us questions you’d like to see answered here

Gratitude, Excitement - and Pass it On

Blaise Kielar

Having Laurie Anderson visit Electric Violin Shop September 18th demonstrated how our role is a two way street. She has been a pioneer of advanced technology with the violin for decades now. I am still inspired by the bow with audio tape instead of hair. When she ran the bow over a tape head on the instrument, you could hear fragments of words at various speeds, until finally she played the whole phrase - “Listen to my heart beat.”

Given the complexity of electronic effects she performs with, I had some trepidation about her visit. What could we possibly turn her on to? Well, it was something to see her face light up as she played a Jordan 7 string violin. As she reveled in the extreme low tone of the F and B flat strings, I could feel her excitement at the creative possibilities.

This is why I still feel engaged after 30 years in violin shops - it is an honor to help fan the creative spark in my customers, whether beginners or touring professionals. Whatever you do with music, realize how widely you can influence others. Like a pebble dropped into a pond, your enthusiastic ripples spread in all directions! Keep inspiring each other!

We welcome your inspiring story or a favorite quote for this section.

Musical Quote

We have included a musical quote in every email newsletter we’ve sent since 1999 - so, let the tradition continue!

“The mantra of a musician
is that you’re playing something
that is bigger than yourself.”
Yo-Yo Ma, cellist, b. 1955