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Baroque Violin


About the Electric Violin


Let us begin with a brief overview of the history of electronic musical instruments. It begins in the mid 18th century, during a time of exploration of electricity and the discovery of a way to store electrical charge. As with the early documentation of any new field, details can be scarce. This is the case with what is regarded as the first electric musical instrument, the denis d'or, or golden dionysius, a many stringed keyboard instrument. It was invented and built by Vaclac Prokop Divis (1698-1765). Records indicate that he was doctor of theology, served as a pastor to a parish in Primetice Moravia, and at another time a prior of the Premonstratensian abbey in Louka. Part of his duties in the parish included managing farmland. It was during this time that he became interested in the study of plant growth, and the use of electricity as a therapeutic method. He also became interested in devices that could control the weather. He created a device which he believed could prevent storms on the basis of extracting electricity from the atmosphere. As we know, such a device will not influence the weather, but it is an early example of a lightning rod. His interest in electricity was more than passing, and he applied to to yet another endeavor, the denis d'or. Histories of the denis d'or from the late 19th and early 20th centuries given by Sachs and Mendel state he invented the instrument in the 1730s. However, that date may not be accurate. A first hand account of the instrument was made by Johann Ludwig Fricker in 1756. Fricker commented that it used electricity to enhance the sound quality of its sound. Other accounts indicate electricity was used as a prank to shock the performer. The instrument is reported to have more than 790 strings and was approximately six feet long by three feet wide. Although the instrument may sound sizable, it is relatively small to hold anywhere near that number of strings. Descriptions of the sound indicate that it could imitate the sounds of many different types of instruments, including both wind and string instruments. Thus, it would certainly not be surprising if it had a large number of strings. However, many crucial things about the instrument remain a mystery. We do not know how it excited the strings. Did it use tangents like a clavichord, plectra like a harpsichord, or wheels like a hurdy gurdy? It is also unknown how it employed electricity. It is thought that the denis d'or was purchased by Georg Lambeck, Prelate of Bruck. It has not survived.

There is considerably more information about the second electric musical instrument, the clavicin electrique. It was invented in 1759 by Jean-Baptiste Delaborde of France. It is derivative of an early alarm bell, which used electricity to negatively charge a metal bell, which in turn would attract a clapper. The instrument was essentially a carillon of such devices. There was a keyboard, encompassing the range of the bells, only a few octaves. Depressing a key negatively charged a bell. A clavicin electrique survives in the national library of France. It looks like a large wooden frame, something like a loom, with strings connecting the keys to the electrical mechanism. The keyboard is one end, and the bells are suspended on the far upper end of the structure. Accounts of the instrument indicate that if it is played in the dark, one could see sparks when the clappers came into contact with the bells. Such a display was novel and notable.

As was noted it is not known how the denis d'or employed electricity. Moreover, it was not known how electricity was generated for the instrument. It may have used some form of friction device to generate a charge. The clavicin electrique made use of a Leyden jar, an early form of capacitor, and stored electrical charge. They were invented on October 11 of 1745 by Ewald Georg von Kleist, a German cleric. The invention had previously been credited to Pieter van Musschenbroek of Leiden. They bear the name of that city, Leyden. They were an important invention, as they were the first device that allowed electric charge to be accumulated and stored in large quantities, and also discharged at will.

Over the course of the next century, advances in electrical musical instruments were slow. Most efforts replaced or augmented mechanical systems with electric ones. An example of this is the electro-pneumatic action on organs that replaced purely pneumatic ones or the mechanical tracker action.

During the late 19th century, the great inventive age of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, the foundational technology that makes modern electronic music possible was being developed. The loudspeaker was invented by Bell in 1876. That same year the carbon microphone was invented by Emile Berliner and Edison, who was later awarded the patent. A year later Ernst Werner von Seimens invented the moving-coil microphone. Other major figures began combining new technology for musical purposes. One such person was Elisha Gray. Although he may not be a household name like Edison, he was an important scientist. He was the co-founder of Western Electric, and was working on inventing the telephone as the same time as Bell. In 1875, Elisha Gray was granted a United States patent on a telegraph to transmit musical tones. It is regarded as the first synthesizer. I mention it here, in this document on the electric violin, as its patent mentions that an acoustic violin can be used to amplify the sound produced by the telegraph. Like many inventions of the time it was very forward thinking. He was more than a century ahead of his time in terms of networked musical performance. It, like many revolutionary devices, also suffered from its radical departure from tradition. It was not a musical instrument in the traditional sense.

The introduction of electric systems into musical instruments continued into the early 20th century. Electric blowers in organs supplanted water powered ones. However, the process of adapting these technologies to music took decades. Electronics were not only used to create sound, they were also applied to play instruments. Around the turn of the 20th century, Henry K. Sandell invented an electric machine to play the violin. In 1906, Mills Novelty Co. filed for a patent on the device on his behalf. Patent US30317206A was granted one year later. Such inventions follow in the footsteps of mechanical devices, such as music boxes and player pianos. Foundational electronic devices were also invented. The vacuum tube was invented by John Ambrose Fleming in 1904. These acted as rectifiers, only allowing electricity to flow in one direction through the device. This made it possible to convert alternating current to direct current. It was also used in extracting modulation from radio signals.

The 1920s and 1930s were very active in the development of electronics in musical instruments. This mirrored advances in the development of microphones, and radio at that time. These advances were not limited to replacing parts of existing acoustic instruments, entirely new electronic instruments were created. A famous example of this is the theremin. It was invented in 1920 by Russian physicist Lev Termen. In the West he was known as Leon Theremin, and the instrument bears that name. It consists of two metal antennae. One is used to control the frequency of the sound, and the other controls the amplitude. The performer's hand acts as the ground plate in a capacitor that is part of a resonant circuit. The closer the performer's hand is to the antenna, the less dielectric (air) there is between the 'plates'. Thus the capacitance is decreased. I have not examined the circuit, but I believe that the capacitor is acting like a low pass filter, such as occurs when you have a resistor and then a capacitor in series, as opposed to it being integral to the circuit and having charge built up on alternating sides of the capacitor. As a performer moves their hand closer to the antenna, the frequency produced increases. Similarly, the volume is increased the farther their hand is from the antenna. With the theremin we see the complete adoption of electronics in an instrument. There are no mechanical parts at all. The electric elements are made to 'sense' the performer, synthesize the signal, and produce the sound. Today when we refer to an electric instrument, we usually mean one that does not have acoustic means of amplifying its sound.

Electric versions of many traditional instruments were also created. By the mid 1930s, electric instruments really began to take off. Hammond had released its famous electric organs, and electric guitars had been in use for several years.

It is abundantly clear that electronics were used in musical instruments, however this fact does not answer the question of why they were used. Some of these reasons are very specific to their application. Organs in the 19th century became larger, containing more and larger pipes. Physically connecting the keyboard to the pipes became more of a challenge. Pneumatic solutions did not work very well. Electric ones allowed the organ console to be located further away from the pipes. There are however more general reasons for creating electric instruments. One reason to use electronic instruments is that they are less expensive than their acoustic counterparts. Another is that they are smaller or lighter / more portable than acoustic ones. Electric organs are both far less expensive and smaller than pipe organs, and accounts for their popularity. Changes to the size of the instrument can make electric instruments much more ergonomic than an acoustic one. Electric instruments can be more durable acoustic ones and be created with no moving parts. Acoustic instruments by their very nature produce sound. In certain circumstances it can be desirable to mute the instruments. Physical mutes have their limitations, and a certain amount of sound is still produced. Electric instruments on the other hand can produce very little or no sound. They can be played through headphones, and can be used for practice without disturbing others. In these post COVID times, with many of us at home, it is useful to be able to play quietly. In addition to competing with a particular acoustic instrument, electric instruments can produce novel sounds. They can also produce a wide variety of sounds which would be difficult for a single acoustic instrument to create. (Organs have been known as the queen of instruments. One reason for this is their ability to create a large variety of sounds. Electronic instruments open this wide range of sounds to other instruments.) All in all electric instruments can have many advantages over their acoustic counterparts.

Let us take a little detour, and consider some aspects of the history of electronics in music in a more general sense. In the early 20th century there was a need for louder instruments. For example, motion pictures became popular and large theaters were created. It was not necessarily economical to have an ensemble perform during a movie. The traditional solution would have been to have a piano, like in a saloon. However, a piano was simply not loud enough. Organs ended up being used in most cases. But as we know, organs take up a lot of room, and are expensive. Indeed, amplification is one of the major reasons that electronics are used in music in a general sense. Such uses do not necessarily involve the integration of electronics in the instrument itself. They can be completely separate, as is the case with an external microphone. The microphones can be integrated into the instrument, and are known as acoustic-electric instruments. Selective electronic amplification makes novel pairings of instruments possible. For example, drums can be quite loud and overpower many instruments. By amplifying a guitar it can produce enough sound to compete with the drums. The problem is how to amplify the guitar without amplifying the drums. One answer is to use a hypercardioid or shotgun microphone. This is not ideal as it could restrict the movement of the guitarist and the sounds from the drums could still be picked up. A second solution is to use a contact microphone. A third is to use an electromagnetic pickup. Another reason that selective amplification or recording is important is when playing in a noisy environment. Many of us are at home during the COVID pandemic. Our houses are not necessarily quiet places. By selectively recording our instruments we eliminate the extraneous sound. Electronic instruments inherently solve the problems associated with selective amplification and recording. We do not need to think about microphone placement, etc.

Now that we have some grounding in the history of electronics in music, let us turn our attention to the history of the electric violin. The idea of amplifying the sound of the violin was in the air during the turn of the 20th century. In 1899, John Matthias Agustus Stroh created a violin that was amplified by a horn, rather than the traditional violin body. Stroh violins, as they are known, look like traditional violins that are missing their body, with the exception of the right side of the upper bought. It remained, like a rib, to serve to orient the player when their hand reached the now absent body of the instrument. The body was replaced with a horn, that looks like it comes from an early record player or a trumpet. The horn is made from metal and its length is roughly half the size of the violin. Stroh violins never achieved much popularity.

The electric violin as we know it would have to wait until the 1930s to be invented. That decade was a golden age for electric instruments. George Beauchamp was involved in creating a variety of electric instruments including the first electric guitar. Beauchamp partnered with Adolph Rickenbacher (of the rickenbacher guitar fame) to form the Electro String Corporation. In 1936 Beauchamp and the company filed a patent for a 'stringed musical instrument'. He was granted US patent 2,130,174 in 1938. The instrument was put into production and called the Electro Violin. It looks something like a field hockey stick, the integrated chinrest forming the head which is used to hit the ball. Like the Stroh violin, it lacks the acoustic part of the violin body, but retains the curved upper bought. Unlike a traditional violin its tuning pegs have been moved down near the chinrest. As is evidenced from the patent, many aspects of the instrument were considered in its design. It specifically mentions its weight, and center of gravity. It has integrated fine tuners on all four strings. Various materials were considered for the body including metal and synthetic ones. The patent mentions the desirable material as being made from the chemical condensation of phenol and formaldehyde. I do not know the material that were actually used to create the violin. I have heard that bakelite was used, and it is a resin that is created from phenol and formaldehyde. The electro violin uses an electromagnetic pickup. The strings are surrounded by two roughly u shaped permanent magnets. These impart a magnetic field in the string. There are metal coils that are placed between the string and the magnet. When the strings vibrate with stationary ferrous metals in the magnetic field, a current is produced in the coils through the process of magnetic induction. One failing of the design is the placement of the pickups in relation to the bridge. The instrument does not have a tailpiece. The sounding portion of the strings run almost the entire length of the instrument. When you first see the instrument, the pickups are placed approximately where you would expect the bridge to be placed. The issue with this is that the pickups can interfere with where you can bow the instrument. There is not a great deal of room to bow between the pickup and the bridge. If you bow behind the pickup you are a fair distance from the bridge. In 1940 Beauchamp filed a patent for an improved electric violin. In 1943 he was granted patent US2,310,199. The new instrument had numerous design changes. The body was now made from aluminum. The bridge was placed near the pickups. The tuning pegs were moved back to their traditional place at the end of the neck.

Electric violins did not have nearly as much success as electric guitars, or organs. In 1958 Fender, of the guitar fame, filed a patent for an electric violin. It was granted in 1961. Surprisingly there is not a large amount of information about the actual production of the instrument. The Fender violin also used a magnetic pickup. However, the pickup did not respond to movement of metal strings and thus iron core strings were not required. The strings rested on a somewhat traditional bridge. Below the bridge there was a metal plate, and it was the vibration of that plate that created the signal. Seemingly very few of the Fender violins were ever produced. There are reports some were made as late as the 1970s. Even with support from major manufacturers such as Fender, the instrument did not make much headway.

It was not until the 1980s that the fortune of the electric violin would begin to change. That decade saw the popularity of synthesized music skyrocket. The Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI, standard was invented. New companies such as ZETA music began making a new breed of electric violin. These instruments had contact microphone pickups, which are also known as piezoelectric pickups. Contact mics respond to the vibration of a solid object to which they are attached. They will pick up very little sound from the ambient air. Many electric violins have a single pickup which is usually placed below the bridge. Others have multiple pickups placed in the bridge. The Starfish pickup is an example of this. The most advanced pickups have multiple pickups on different axes for each string. An example of such a pickup is made by Barbera Transducer Systems.

Here endeth the history lesson. The defining characteristic of electric violins is that they lack the a body that is used to physically amplify the sound of the strings. Instead, a pickup is used to capture the vibrations of the string and transform it into electrical impulses. Although electric violins do not have an acoustic amplification system, the acoustic properties of the body of the instrument influence its sound. The mass, rigidity, and resonance of the body are important in electric violins. Some instruments have hollow areas in the body to enhance their acoustics. Some of you may be thinking that this is rubbish. For example, many scientists do not believe that the acoustic properties of the body of electric guitars effects their sound. However, electric violins physically pick up the sound from the body. This allows its acoustic properties to influence the sound.

One advantage of an electric violin is that it can make use of more strings than its acoustic counterpart. Although acoustic violins can have 5 or more strings, their bodies cannot properly amplify the range of sounds that are produced. Electric violins do not have this problem, and can also withstand the stress of having a large number of strings. Thus it is not uncommon to find electric violins with five, six, and even seven strings.

Most electric violins can use any strings that are used on an acoustic violin. However, some string makers have begun to make strings marketed for electric violins. The D'Addario NS series is an example of this. For instruments with five or more strings, it is important to obtain the appropriate strings for your instrument. The low C string is not normally used on the violin. If you purchase a string intended for a full size viola, it will be too large for the violin. Typically people buy low strings that are designed for 3/4 scale violas, or ones that have a 12-14" body.

Some electric violins have frets. If you want to get an instrument with frets because you do not want to develop the skill needed to place your fingers to play in tune, then I would advise AGAINST getting frets. Violins are small. Even with the frets it is still possible to play out of tune. From my perspective frets have two purposes: 1) to create a purer, more freely ringing tone than if the string is stopped by the finger; and 2) to facilitate playing chords. I view frets are being most useful on instruments with many strings so that chords can more easily be played. Thus, they would make much more sense on a six or seven string electric violin.

Unlike an acoustic instrument, an electric violin cannot produce a musical sound on its own. Its electrical signal needs to be amplified, and eventually sent to its destination, such as a speaker. Traditionally electric violins are plugged into a guitar amp, which is a combination of an amplifier, equalizer, and heavy duty speaker. However, there are a large number of ways that an electric violin can be connected to other devices. The are four main devices that serve as the final destination of signal chain:

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