Acoustic-Electric Violins: Who Cares? ... Apparently Almost Nobody

An important distinction: 

By “acoustic-electric” violin we mean an acoustic violin with a built-in pickup, controls, output jack and, in some cases, a small equalizer. These instruments are distinct from acoustic violins with pickups and controls installed on them (no holes for routing wires, cutouts for controls, etc.).

Little Customer Interest in Acoustic-Electric Violins

Despite the fact that we only recently listed a pair of acoustic-electric violins at the Don Rickert Musician Shop, we have made several dozen electric and more exotic electronic instruments over the years. Most of these have been instruments commissioned by customers. Several have been musical instrument design competition entries.

We have very little interest in the two acoustic-electric violins we sell. We have also had essentially zero interest in the top-of-the-line Realist™ acoustic-electric instruments we sell (we are actually a Dealer). We decided to look into what is going on with “the Market”.

The data that form the basis of our conclusions are customer interviews, combined with observations that several acoustic-electric violins from key instrument makers have been taken off the market.

Our opinions:

The overarching conclusion is that there appears to be a very small market for acoustic-electric violins.

The reasons for this appear to be the following:

• There is insufficient differentiation between an acoustic-electric violin and an acoustic violin with a decent pickup bridge installed.
• Players would rather install a pickup of his or her choice onto an acoustic violin that he or she likes rather than use an acoustic-electric violin of mediocre quality (such is the reputation of such instruments).
  • Today, one can get a quite good bridge pickup (e.g. a Schatten) for about $125 ($400-$450 for the best pickup made, a Barbera). Another $75-$100 gets you a pretty good tailpiece with a volume control and a side-mounted instrument-to-amp interface. $200 will get you a really super deluxe volume control tailpiece and a really elegant instrument-to-amp interface (custom made from us)
• People simply do not like the idea of drilling holes (for routing wires and installing jacks and potentiometers) and cutting out parts (to install EQ units; usually really crappy ones at that), whether it be a cheap eBay special or, especially, a decent acoustic violin

So, there you have our take.

Conclusion

I would say that, especially in light of the fact that we are about to announce several proper full-on electric violins, it is likely that we will be un-listing our acoustic-electric violins. After all they are simply converted versions of instruments we already made and sell a lot of. There is also high probability that we will “productize” the pickup installation kits that we have made on a custom basis. For example, see the recent article, Hey Dude: That is One Big Fiddle You’ve Got There! See also (Hey Dude: That is Some Big Fiddle You’ve Got There!)

People will then be able to have us install a quality pick on a violin of his or her choice, in a manner far more elegant and visually unobtrusive than the use of those ugly Carpenter jacks.

Related articles

Hey Dude: That Is Some Big Fiddle You've Got There!

This Fiddle is 12 Feet Tall

This is an Octobasse. It Makes a Cello Look Like a Violin

Modern Travel and Backpacker Violins: Baroque Pochettes and Modern Travel Violins at the Don Rickert Musician Shop (Part 2 of 2 Parts)