As a professional violinist who graduated from the RCM a couple of years ago, I have had a fair bit of experience trying out violins. I play a Nigel Harris acoustic violin with my orchestral and session gigs, and a Bridge electric violin with my electric string quartet “Eclipse” with whom I played support with the pop group “McFly” at Wembley on their recent tour.

I think that the Bridge electric instruments are great: rich and even in tone, reactive under the bow, and well built for touring! So when Bridge Instruments asked me to try their new range of acoustic violins, I was intrigued…

The first thing that strikes you is the beautiful finish. The two violins I tried have an antiqued dark golden brown varnish, with texture that has been added (grooves and dents) which belie their age!

The headstock features the distinctive Bridge “shield” instead of the traditional scroll. This feature is synonymous with Bridge instruments, which makes them really stand out. The violins I have tried are the Aotearoa model, with its pretty Maori pearl inlay, and the Woodstock model with its subtle floral decoration around the f-hole.

I found the sound on these violins to be of a good quality, even in volume throughout the strings, with a dark tone on the D and G strings, and more open and bright on the A and E. I found them very playable as they have been set up nicely, and the strings were reactive under the bow.

Considering that these violins have been hand made in China by award winning luthiers, the quality of these instruments is not surprising, with Bridge Instruments hand finishing and setting them up to each player’s liking.  The price makes them very appealing too!

For the last four years I have been playing a 100 year old acoustic violin with a mixture of pick-ups that I had cobbled together myself, this was the fourth violin I had used, the previous instruments having slowly but surely unglued themselves under the strain of rigorous touring under intense conditions (heat, sweat and careless roadies). It seemed unfair that the rest of the band were using good sounding instruments tailor made for the job when I was struggling with something that at best was only making do. I tried every alternative that I could find but was constantly frustrated by the poor sound of any of the electric violins I was given ( the ZETA violin being among the worst) <can I say that? I just did>.

When Bridge Instruments approached me to try one of their new violins, I jumped at the chance. It was an opportunity to work with someone who understood what an electric violin could and should sound like.

Over a period of about nine months Bridge developed and I road tested a number of different pick-up and electronic systems to arrive at the one I use today. From the start I was impressed that

we were working with a resonant hollowbody as opposed to the 'planks' that everyone else was using, this seemed to give a more responsive 'acoustic' sound making the instrument sound like a violin and not a synthesiser. We worked a lot on the frequency range and tone to give the 'bite' and 'attack' that I need to be heard above electric guitars and drums, yet retaining the mid-frequency power that can (with a few effects!) make one violin sound like a full string section. The end result is what I would call the first REAL electric violin on the market, professionally tested in recording and live performances and I look forward to seeing what Bridge come up with next!

If you could say that playing an instrument gave the same sensual pleasure as immersing yourself in a bath of warm chocolate... that says it all really.

'It's smooth action makes it a true Celtic Speed Machine'

I had two ambitions in life - one was to own a Bridge violin, the other was to live forever. So far so good!

I've tried loads of electric violins ... wooden ones, plastic ones and even one made of Martian putty but it has to be said that Bridge (for 'tis a Lyra I have) buries them alive on all counts. Having tone and volume controls on the instrument is a major bonus: Its light weight sits with my every movement (if you've seen Blue Horses, an essential quality) and almost becomes part of you. Its smooth action makes it a true Celtic Speed Machine.
I love the feel and look of it - a really classy piece of design... It says "c'mon, have a try - y'know ya want to".

And that's it... Never look back, hypnotised forever and personally I wouldn't dirty my bow on anything else.

Bridge violin? - Coz I'm wurrrth it!!!

In the first few years of working with The Levellers we used an acoustic violin with various pick ups. During this period we had problems, in particular, unreliability leading to sound problems. We also tried various electric violins, but found none came close to replicating an acoustic violin. We had almost given up when we came accross what was then the prototype of Jon’s Diablo (so called because Jon has a carved devil’s head headstock!). The difference was apparant immediately. It sounded like an acoustic violin. It was reliable for a touring environment, the EQ was a lot flatter than the acoustic violin with enough output to stand out in a full mix, as well as able to sound as a violin should, when stripped down to an acoustic level.

All in all the Diablo is an easy and reliable instrument to use, and is suited to the rigours and demands of touring.

I’ve been playing these violins for 9 years and they've never let me down. With a lovely original shape, a really good feel and a tasty sound, your really can't go wrong. Nice one bridge.

I’m currently playing with a band called Syd Arthur, and we're on myspace.com/sydarthur and our website is sydarthur.co.uk.