Get in early! After years of development and finally getting the patent application filed, I am now ready to start taking orders for my double magnetic pickup'ed electric violin! WooHoo!! Contact me about hand crafting one for you!
<<::>>
It all started with a dream I had that I was playing electric violin to the Tom Petty song "Running down a dream" (I recognize the irony of dreaming about a song about dreaming, weird... especially when I was living in Petty's hometown of Gainesville, FL!) ...in the dream tears of joy streaming down my cheeks, creamy electric guitar-like distortion giving me goosebumps...
then waking and realizing that the sound I had heard did not yet really exist!
I had to find a way to make it.
I did 100's of experiments in my garage, trying everything I could dream up... including even trying to magnetize my bow! (very problematic). I eventually got to my "eureka moment" with the concept.... only to have it soon squashed finding that it had already been done!!... by, of all people, famed guitar designer, Leo Fender back in the late 1950's!!
But wait... why wasn't this wonderful and far superior way of amplifying a bowed instrument now standard practice on every electric violin?
Very curious. The giant manufacturing powerhouse Fender himself started, Fender Musical Instruments, who interestingly also sell an electric violin of their own, do not use this technology!?! Hmmm... very strange indeed.
Digging a bit deeper, it seems that historically the violin community in general, just wasn't ready to "Rock n Roll" like the guitar community was. Violin was too stuck in the Classical or acoustic fiddling traditions, and when Fender put it on the market, got so few orders for it that he abandoned the whole idea! The 7 or 8 prototypes Fender made are now more rare than a Stradivarius!
I quickly realized that my task was to improve and modernize the concept.
While working a "day-job" as an education manager at our local Guitar Center store, I had the opportunity to take my prototypes to work and try them through various amps and compare the output to the most modern guitars, seeing and hearing if my efforts would compete in today's musical landscape.
I would sometimes be encouraged, sometimes discouraged, but was determined. My goal was to be able to plug my violin into any existing guitar amplifier on the market with one cable, no preamp or special electronic effects or EQ needed, and have it produce enough output to compete with any heavy metal humbucker designed electric guitar on the market. I also wanted it to sound beautiful and dynamic when played cleanly. A tall order, but I finally refined it with countless small tweaks to get it where I was satisfied.
I first wanted one for myself. If I loved it, others might too.
I did have some help along the way that I'm super grateful for. Ben Heaney who posted pics of the internals of his now antique Fender violin on his website for study, my friend Eric Aceto of Ithaca Stringed Instruments (who I think is probably one of the worlds greatest instrument makers) spurred me on saying I "was really on to something," My retired robotics engineer friend Dave Kaufman who got me started on the computer aided cutting manufacturing angle, and a Navy electronics specialist/guitarist friend Chris Hannah who would listen and suggest changes and talk me down from the ledge when things were not going as hoped.
All-in-all, I'm super excited to see where this new venture might take us all... all electric violinists! I'll be posting more as I make more. If you want one, feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Fitz
<<::>>
It all started with a dream I had that I was playing electric violin to the Tom Petty song "Running down a dream" (I recognize the irony of dreaming about a song about dreaming, weird... especially when I was living in Petty's hometown of Gainesville, FL!) ...in the dream tears of joy streaming down my cheeks, creamy electric guitar-like distortion giving me goosebumps...
then waking and realizing that the sound I had heard did not yet really exist!
I had to find a way to make it.
I did 100's of experiments in my garage, trying everything I could dream up... including even trying to magnetize my bow! (very problematic). I eventually got to my "eureka moment" with the concept.... only to have it soon squashed finding that it had already been done!!... by, of all people, famed guitar designer, Leo Fender back in the late 1950's!!
But wait... why wasn't this wonderful and far superior way of amplifying a bowed instrument now standard practice on every electric violin?
Very curious. The giant manufacturing powerhouse Fender himself started, Fender Musical Instruments, who interestingly also sell an electric violin of their own, do not use this technology!?! Hmmm... very strange indeed.
Digging a bit deeper, it seems that historically the violin community in general, just wasn't ready to "Rock n Roll" like the guitar community was. Violin was too stuck in the Classical or acoustic fiddling traditions, and when Fender put it on the market, got so few orders for it that he abandoned the whole idea! The 7 or 8 prototypes Fender made are now more rare than a Stradivarius!
I quickly realized that my task was to improve and modernize the concept.
While working a "day-job" as an education manager at our local Guitar Center store, I had the opportunity to take my prototypes to work and try them through various amps and compare the output to the most modern guitars, seeing and hearing if my efforts would compete in today's musical landscape.
I would sometimes be encouraged, sometimes discouraged, but was determined. My goal was to be able to plug my violin into any existing guitar amplifier on the market with one cable, no preamp or special electronic effects or EQ needed, and have it produce enough output to compete with any heavy metal humbucker designed electric guitar on the market. I also wanted it to sound beautiful and dynamic when played cleanly. A tall order, but I finally refined it with countless small tweaks to get it where I was satisfied.
I first wanted one for myself. If I loved it, others might too.
I did have some help along the way that I'm super grateful for. Ben Heaney who posted pics of the internals of his now antique Fender violin on his website for study, my friend Eric Aceto of Ithaca Stringed Instruments (who I think is probably one of the worlds greatest instrument makers) spurred me on saying I "was really on to something," My retired robotics engineer friend Dave Kaufman who got me started on the computer aided cutting manufacturing angle, and a Navy electronics specialist/guitarist friend Chris Hannah who would listen and suggest changes and talk me down from the ledge when things were not going as hoped.
All-in-all, I'm super excited to see where this new venture might take us all... all electric violinists! I'll be posting more as I make more. If you want one, feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Fitz
RSS Feed