Cecilio Style 3 Silent Electric Violin, 4/4

Let me start by saying I am not a violinist, or a musician at all for that matter and that I bought this primarily to use with a number of other instruments as props for photo shoots with high school seniors. That said, I am getting everything set up and tuned so that the kids can actually play them during their sessions. I ordered this particular violin because I already have an electric cello and upright bass of the the same brand, Cecilio, and I love the modern sculptural look of the instruments. It arrived very well packaged and in a well padded semi rigid case that was lined in velvet the same color as the violin (blue) – I certainly didn’t expect such a nice case for the money. The violin itself is beautifully finished and was already setup with the bridge in place so all it will require is fine tuning which I will do myself using a Snark tuner. The bow looked to be decent quality too although there were a few broken hairs which I suspect is normal. The headphones are very cheap quality but that isn’t a problem for me as I have decent Bose headphones and a guitar amp. The only real issue for me was that the rosin was not secured properly in its holder and flew across the room and shattered into pieces when I tried to rosin the bow! Having prepped the bow using the rosin that came with the cello, I tightened the strings a little, plugged in my Bose and played a few notes on the as yet untuned instrument just to check everything was working as it should. The tone was really nice and I’m sure that once tuned and in the hands of someone who knows how to play this will be a sweet little instrument – it will certainly photograph nicely!

I am ready to review this thing. First of all this is the first violin I have ever touched. So I can’t really compare the experience of playing this with playing an acoustic violin or any violin. Having said that I am progressing a little faster than I expected so this instrument doesn’t seem to be holding me back. I have a good grasp of music theory and used to string guitars on the fly for my roommates band 25-30 years ago, so it isn’t the first time I have dealt with setting up a new instrument. I was able to set up the violin and tune it reasonably quickly but as with any new instrument with new strings it goes out of tune pretty fast. (I do not play guitar…just want to make that clear)

What I will do here is comment on each item and part:

The Case: better than I dreamed it might be. Semi hard case with a place for two bows and a cloth cover to protect both bows and violin.

The Bow: I guess it doesn’t affect my playing much…I’d say adequate, but what do I know. When I can appreciate it, I’ll try some better bows. My wife plays cello and has an $1800 bow (so I wasn’t expecting much)

Rosin: Keep rubbin’ it’s in there. I took a fork and scratched it up real good and it worked well after that.

Strings: OK, from my “roady” days I know that new instruments come with bottom of the line strings, I have put strings from $1500 guitars straight into the trash without even strumming them first. Having said that I used the strings included for my first week of bowing exercises before ordering new strings. But I would expect to buy new strings with any new instrument purchase (unless it’s a saxaphone)

Bridge: Bottom of the line but perfectly adequate bridge. The bridge is not installed when the instrument is shipped and that is a good idea so don’t expect it to be. Before installing new strings I measured the “action”, this is the height of the strings above the fingerboard. I found the strings were a little high, about 1 mm on one side and .5mm on the other. I took some sandpaper and removed some material from the BOTTOM of the bridge. After putting on the new strings the height was with in published tolerances…and I am not even a Lutheran (ok bad pun)

Paint: Grab a rag and vigorously wipe the edges of the fingerboard. I found a little drip residue. The White Paint seems fine.

Pegs: Will slip if you don’t set them, I have never worked on an instrument with friction pegs like a violin but it seems to me that if after turning you apply a little pressure to “set” the pegs they will stick. My pegs stick fine, but i understand that this is a common problem.

Tail with fine tuners: Two of my fine tuners were fine (no pun intended here) the others were a little hard to turn. I put a drop of sewing machine oil on each and they were all good.

Chin rest: The included one was fine. Some people hold the violin differently so it is quite common to change these out if you are uncomfortable.

Shoulder rest: Not included!! and you will most likely need one. I recommend the bonmusica at $50 which seems like a lot for a $150 violin but I think it is worth it.

Electronics: This is about the only thing I know something about! Since my wife has an electric cello (same brand actually) we have a very nice amp that cost twice what this violin costs. So I am certain that the electronics are clean and quiet (no static). I was able to dial our amp in nicely and produce a pretty nice tone.

I almost forgot…the headphones: Just throw them out. Cecilio should just stop saying this comes with headphones and toss them in anyway.

The item was delivered on time. Exact day and time mentionned. Excellent and competent seller. Very Happy. Good product, great quality.

Très bien pour le prix, je suis très satisfaite.

So far so good!