Suggestions for first silent violin

August 28, 2011 at 12:35 AM ·

Light! make sure it is light. Some of them are too heavy for beginners and it does cause problems.

August 28, 2011 at 12:46 AM ·

You really are in a pickle.  I mean I can see why you want a silent instrument - but if thats the only instrument you have how will you ever know if you are playing it right?  Better I think to buy a real violin and teach your child to 'take turns' - surely 15 minutes on a real violin is far more productive than 30 on a silent one.

Wish I could invite you over to my house to play!

August 28, 2011 at 05:25 AM ·

One real challenge; the balance, weight, and heft. Silent violins that are not acoustic/electric (the ones I have seen, anyway) are much heavier in the body than an acoustic. This will make a significant difference in your mechanics, and when you do decide to play an acoustic, you will basically need to learn a new instrument to get any intonation of value.
I would suggest renting an acoustic for a few months,just to see how it feels and plays. Then, when evaluating silent violins, compare them against the acoustic. This is fairly risk free. If the acoustic is only mediocre, then you will still have a sense of the balance.

August 30, 2011 at 12:25 AM ·

I'm also considering a electric violin.  One of the things I've done is to go on You Tube and search for electric violin.  Many great sounding players out there on electrics.  I actually decided to learn after hearing the posting where a girl was playing "May it be".  After hearing that I was hooked.  She is playing an expensive Yamaha.  I've also seen videos of other playing cheaper electrics like Ceclilos that are around $160. 

BTW - they aren't really silent.  I tested one in a practice room recently and you could hear it outside the room, and it wasn't connected to an amplifier or even turned on.  I also tried it with a rubber mute.  That made it so quiet I needed to use the headphone.  Unfortunately, didn't much care for the sound of it thru the headset when muted - but that could have been my playing (complete begineer)

August 31, 2011 at 08:54 AM ·

Ive bought a couple of electric violins. One is handmade here in the UK by a Bulgarian guy. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330588178136  Its very light, just a single piece of wood set up with a finger board and a pick up. Its very quiet indeed. It handles more like a guitar than a classical violin really but it is easy to play and sounds ok through an amp.  

The other is this model : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electric-Silent-Violin-Full-Size-Practice-silence-/180715074338?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Sting_Instruments&hash=item2a13753322  It is also light and very quiet and handles more like a classical instrument. It allows me to practice in the mornings before I go to work or late at night when the neighbours kids are in bed, so is ideal.  Neither of them have soundboxes so are very quiet indeed. Both were easy to play right out of the box.

Another interesting side effect is that when I go back to my classical instrument I actually play better. I think having to work a little harder on the electric violin helps to make me articulate better on the acoustic instrument.  I highly recommend them to anyone who has neighbours or family that dont want to hear 3 hours practice of the same tune :)

September 2, 2011 at 04:37 AM ·

Ggreetings,

a few years back but last  time I looked at the Yamaha silebnt violins they were horrible,  heavy,  akward and bore little resemblence to violin playing as we know and love it.  By the real thing and try to solve your problems in another way,  I would venture to suggest.

Cheers,

buri

September 3, 2011 at 05:23 AM ·

I found a used Yamaha SV-110K electric violin that appears to be in good condition for $375. I've also been looking at the Mark Wood SV4 electric violins ($599) as they are less expensive than some of the others I've read about here and are said to be lightweight.

For those who might have experience with either, both, or none of the above instruments, which might be the better choice? If I could fashion a 2x4" stud with a bridge and strings I do it, but I'm not that talented.

Thanks in advance.

September 3, 2011 at 08:04 AM ·

Hey there, I own the Yamaha SV-130 and I can tell you it has the feel of a real violin in every single way, the distance between fingers is 100% accurate and it sounds awesome, you can wear headphones and listen to it several ways, like "hall", "concert hall" with echo, without echo, etc...the drawback is it's heavier than a real violin but if you learn good holding technique -the way you are supposed to grab the violin leaving both arms free to move-  you won't have a problem. And once you learn how to hold the violin I assure you ,you won't struggle to find the sounds or move the bow, and when you grab an acoustic it'll feel exactly the same just lighter. Several of my teachers were very impressed by my electric violin. Also you will need to shop around for a shoulder rest to find one that will fit, I've found Wolf rests work better with this violin.

Another thing you really have to consider is noise. I must say I am in the same boat. Neighbors had learnt to hate Kreutzer #2, 4,7, 9 and 12, and all of the scales of course,  but the silent violin took care of that, it is quieter than an acoustic with a metal mute on it, if you play during the day people in the next room won't be able to hear you, but I don't know how likely it'll be that it won't sound at all at night. I think it will depend on how the place you live in is built... sound travels in funny ways sometimes... but I can tell you if you want a silent violin it doesn't get any quieter than this. If you own a house I would say go for it, your family won't hear you as long as you stay away from the bedrooms.

My advice to you is to have both, an acoustic and an electric and use them both according to your circumstances, playing in an acoustic is , of course, awesome and you shouldn't deprive yourself of it.

And cheer up about starting to learn violin now. I've met several great amateur violinists , one in particular started at 35 and plays now first violin in an orchestra, so , quoting Tony Horton: " do your best and forget the rest"

October 20, 2011 at 12:57 PM ·

Thanks for your replies and to welcome me.

In the mean time some weeks have passed (I "own" a new 3 weeks old kid now).

I didn't stop playing violin and now I can play Kuchler Concertino Op. 14 from start to end by memory. I am satisfied, considering that I have no  more than 30 minutes per day (per night) to practice.

Finally I bought an acoustic violin (my teacher suggested me the AV-5 from Yamaha). It is much better than the one I had before, anyway I already feel its sound limitations (also the bow is not high quality but I cannot feel that yet). But for now it is ok.

I tried to buy a mute but not only it doesnt' mute enough, but morover the sound it produces is impossible to hear. It seems like I play with the head underwater. I mean it is not fun to play with a mute.

Going in the last room of my house (3 doors away from the room where all sleep) I can play at night my acoustic violin, anyway they can still hear it at night (even if they can sleep quite well anyway). I leave in a totally silent place.

Still I feel that a silent violin would be great for me. I checked the ones on ebay that have been linked above. For such a low price I see not much trouble in trying one. 

THe Yamaha SV-150 is attractive because it weights like an acoustic, but the others are just 150g more. And for a beginner like me I don't know how much difference there could be. And buying a violin that costs 90% less and makes the same work is much attractive.

I make an example: just after my wedding I was worried that the wedding ring could "unbalance" my finges and remove dexterity in my piano playing. After 1 week I watched a great performer perform with the ring and I was convinced that the ring is not the problem. Ok this is an extreme example, but I think it is not so unappropriate, please correct me if I am wrong.

I still am afraid of buying an instrument that costs less than 100 euros or about 100 euros, but if it makes the work it should make...

October 20, 2011 at 03:09 PM ·

I purchased the Yamaha SV110K that I mentioned in my above post. It is a little heavier in the tail than my acoustic but I can practice on it at 2am and be reasonably sure I'm not disturbing anyone. Bought it from a woman on Craigslist and paid $340 for it locally.