Electrolin

Electric Violin Electrolin

Who said the electric violin doesn’t have a soul ?

Do you play a bowed string instrument? Do you play amplified? Then you have the choice between a decent sound without effects but with feedback, or a mediocre sound with effects but no feedback.

Yes, but that was before! When the electric violin didn’t have a soul [in French, the soundpost is called « soul » !] Because – how do you fit a soul into a solid-body? That’s why the Electrolin has a resonant body that VIBRATES but doesn’t produce sound.

What does that mean? It means that we can pick up the vibrations of the body with pickups and reproduce a true acoustic instrument sound, but the instrument itself doesn’t produce any sound. As a result, it doesn’t react to the sound emitted by the amp that the musician hears. So goodbye to feedback. Also goodbye to unwanted noise pickups (who said “drums”?). And above all, goodbye to the poor, artificial, and limited sound of solid-body instruments.

Instead, we have a rich, warm, lively, and natural sound. We have an instrument with the dimensions, weight, and most importantly, the “feel” of an acoustic instrument that vibrates and communicates with its musician. With a real bridge, a soundpost, and a soul. So it can be adjusted by a luthier to fit the musician’s expectations perfectly. Everyone has their own style and sound!

So much for the “direct” sound of the Electrolin. It has other advantages. Having a very rich sound, the sound of effects is also changed compared to solid-body instruments. Effects become warmer, richer.

Where solid-body instruments are limited in their range of expression, a whole range of sounds and genres is available to the Electrolin musician: Blues, Rock, Funk, Electro, Hip-Hop, Metal, but also Trad, Contemporary, Old Time, etc. The electric violin is no longer just a pale copy of an electric guitar played stuck under the chin, it’s something else. New sounds.

The resonating body also makes a whole range of percussive effects possible that are impossible to obtain from a solid-body instrument.

And when your ears (neighbors, parents, or children…) have had enough, you can simply unplug it and use it as a mute study instrument, playing with headphones… until the next concert at the local bar, city venue, or Carnegie Hall.

The Zef 1. not plugged in, 2. direct sound without equalization et 3. with distortion.
This video is just a little teaser, to reward you for having read all the presentation text.More videos of the electric violin Zef here.