*Finished* Solid electric violin build

DartmoorHedgehog

Ah, thanks - I thought you meant somebody had played it and didn't like something.  We'll find out in a few weeks if mine is nice to play (eek!).  I haven't weighed mine but it doesn't feel ridiculously heavy (but obviously a lot heavier than an acoustic violin).  My headstock will be heavier than yours once the hardware is on because I'm using guitar machine heads rather than the traditional peg box, but so did the original.  All a bit of an unknown though at this stage!

DartmoorHedgehog

Bit more done today.  Decided on the layout of the electronics and the jack sockets are going to be in an angled recess in the back, so the cable comes out forwards and over the player's arm.  After practising on some bits of scrap wood to get the shape right I had the courage to attack the real thing with chisels today.  Not too bad - bit of tidying up needed but the shape is pretty good.  Next job is making the holes for preamp and battery without going all the way through (there's not that much extra depth to play with...)

DartmoorHedgehog

All the scary deep holes are cut now, so battery, preamp and jacks all have their place.  I've given the body a purple ink stain and a coat of varnish to protect it - pretty happy with the colour.  Had to buy a long drill to get the wire through from the battery box, so as soon as that turns up all the drilling will be done and I can stick the fingerboard on, finish scraping the sides of the neck and stain the neck.

lysander

That is a bright colour Wouldn't have been my first choice but great work nonetheless, can't wait to see and hear the final instrument.

DartmoorHedgehog

It had to be purple - daughter (and myself actually) likes purple, and the original I'm loosely copying is purple (although I think mine's probably come out a slightly more vivid colour than his)

:

Legionreturns

You might possibly be getting the coolest dad award after this build! I am watching with highly piqued interest! 

DartmoorHedgehog

Legionreturns said:

You might possibly be getting the coolest dad award after this build! I am watching with highly piqued interest! 

Thanks
It is looking quite cool - I'll have to leave it up to her to play it though, my violin playing is firmly in "strangled cat" territory.

Funkfingers

DartmoorHedgehog said:
violin playing ... "strangled cat" territory.

This remark reminded me of a small side room at my primary school where musical instrument tuition was inflicted on the children of pretentious parents. 

DartmoorHedgehog

Funkfingers said:

DartmoorHedgehog said:
violin playing ... "strangled cat" territory.

This remark reminded me of a small side room at my primary school where musical instrument tuition was inflicted on the children of pretentious parents. 

I always enjoyed my music lessons at school - perhaps I'm odd.  Violin is a very bad instrument to play badly though...  Thankfully my daughter passed that stage a long time ago  
I occasionally "play" her violin when setting up new strings or something but it's not a nice sound.
My "main" instrument is clarinet, which also sounds horrible in the hands of a new player, so perhaps I should thank my parents retrospectively for putting up with it!

(BTW, your mini Schallers are an excellent fit on this)

Funkfingers

DartmoorHedgehog said:

I always enjoyed my music lessons at school. Violin is a very bad instrument to play badly.

My point exactly. To the untrained ear, the sounds emanating through that door at my school suggested vivisection.

DartmoorHedgehog

Last holes drilled now using my newly-acquired long drill bit (4.5mm x 300mm - bendy as a bendy thing, hand drill only I think!) and got the fingerboard glued on.  Last night I scraped the sides of the neck down flush with the board and gave the neck its coat of stain.

Here's how it looks now (look away now if you don't like purple)

DartmoorHedgehog

Starting to look close to finished now.  

I gave it another thin coat of varnish yesterday evening then spent today making a nut and wiring up the electronics.  I hoped to use the ebony offcut from the fingerboard to make a nut but it wasn't thick enough, so it's maple instead.  Thought about trying to stain it black but it matches the maple bridge so I reckon it looks OK as it is.

I've fitted the tailpiece (must admit I cheated and bought that ready-made) and strung it up with three old strings so I can check the string alignment and shape the bridge.  Bridge needs to come down about 4mm on the bass side and 6 or 7mm on the treble side, so that's the next job.  Piezo and preamp are working as they should.

So all that's left now is to sort out the bridge, find some screws for the preamp cavity cover and fit the chin rest (also bought in).

It's about twice as heavy as an acoustic violin, so we'll have to see how that affects the playability.  I'm not too worried because Ed Alleyne-Johnson's violin is all hardwood and said to be very heavy so it must be possible to get used to a heavier instrument.

Andyjr1515

Wow - that was quick

Looking good - how does it play?

DartmoorHedgehog

Thanks Andy - spent quite a bit of time on it today.  Should finish the bridge shaping tomorrow then we can see how it plays...  I've given it a few quick pings to test the electronics but nothing more than that.  Just remembered I haven't actually bought a C string yet (apparently the C string off a 3/4 size viola is the right length for a violin scale), so first test will have to be with normal violin strings and a very slack spare G string (ooer) in place of the C.

It certainly looks the part - the request was for a 5-string "like Ed A-J's" but without the hole in the middle and stained rather than painted so you can see the wood grain.  I reckon I've got the general shape pretty close.  Let's hope it plays well...

DartmoorHedgehog

It works!

Finished shaping the bridge, fitted the chin rest and strung it up with the rest of the old violin strings and a spare guitar string standing in for the viola C string.

It apparently plays very well - Alice seemed to adjust to the weight and extra string after a couple of minutes.  Sounds pretty good as well, even with the random set of manky strings.  When the C string arrives I'll put a proper set of strings on and perhaps post a couple of sound clips.

So I think I can claim success

Here's how it looks now (with tatty strings)

paulnb57

Good effort, look great!

DartmoorHedgehog

Grrr.. Viola C-string turned up but they sent me a full size one instead of a short one.  Looks like it'll have to wait a bit longer for proper strings.

DartmoorHedgehog

Proper strings on it now
When the strings have settled and she's a bit more used to it I'll make a couple of recordings - it's sounding pretty good.  Sort of wish I could play it now...

Andyjr1515

Bravo!  Looks the business

Rox

We just need to hear Alice playing it...