Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)NS Design CR4 Violin and CR4 Viola
I had been reluctant to buy such an expensive electric violin... in a world where for the same money one could get a stellar first rate premium signature edition electric guitar. Yes, the Electric Violin market is a smaller market, but still the hesitation over price seemed entirely reasonable. When the WAV 4 Chinese NS Design models came out at bargain prices, I jumped and bought one and was largely happy with it (see my Amazon Reviews of the WAV 4 and the Fender FV3 vs the NS Design WAV4).
I heard of people stringing violins for viola tuning (CGDA instead of GDAE) and was fascinated with the idea. I ordered a C string and strung it on the end of my FV3 and ran the other strings over a slot, leaving the E string off when I got to the end. I loved the viola tuning, but couldn't find a C string that sounded quite right with the other strings. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the best way to achieve viola tuning is with a real viola.
Now, if one thought that the market for Electric Violins was small, well, the market for Violas is even more constricted. I kept returning to the NS Design, and because the CR Series describes so well in their own promotional literature, and because the On Line Reviews were so favorable, I decided to order an NS Design CR4... after a few drinks, of course.
Amazon often resorts to The Electric Violin Shop for some of these items, and so I went directly to their site. I remembered that months ago I had inquired about ordering a Bridge Electric Violin from their store and was annoyed that my particular island out on the High Seas was not included on their address drop down list... making the order impossible to conduct as per usual. I complained in their Contact Us Box and then quickly forgot about getting the Bridge Violin anyway... the pretty colored ones were all sold out, leaving only the ugly colors available, and not at reduced pricing either... full price for the ugliest things you would ever not hope to see. Anyway, you wouldn't believe what happened! These wonderful people took my harsh suggestions to heart and fixed the addressing problem. When I went to order the NS Design CR4 Viola, there it was, my Island was on the drop down list... which was when I remembered how hard I had been on them (remember I had had a few drinks). Of course, with my order, I included a heart felt apology as well as expressions of my deepest gratitude for appreciating my business and preparing for it.
With orders of that price, the ordinary mails of the United States can not be trusted... it seems that the Ordinary Mail Service can hire thieves to work at much lower rates than honest men and women, and at the end of the day the Ordinary Postal Service doesn't need to worry about delivering quite so much as they would if their low wage employees didn't pick through it all at first. So The Electric Violin Shop uses premium shippers, adding almost $200 to the Order, but my CR4 arrived almost the same day, except that Thanksgiving Day intervened. The Sales Lady had included a nice little hand written note thanking me for my business and wishing me luck. I think I will be a return customer to that particular Electric Violin Shop.
I had read a CR4 Review before which spoke of an NS Design Violin arriving in tune. Well, so did mine. Plugged into my existing Electric Violin settings and sound systems, I was playing in a manner of minutes.
Oh, if you read my older Reviews, you will find that I have had problems supporting the heavier electric violins, that is, just holding them up in a position to play, and they tend to slip slide around a lot. Its all rather distracting and takes a great deal away from the Music. So I did take about 20 minutes to fashion a Violin Choker, patent pending (see my other reviews on the WAV and the Fender FV3), out of a key ring, and key ring clip, and some cotton cloths line rope and cotton string. I clip it through the NS Design Shoulder Rest bracket and it holds the Viola very closely under my chin. The Viola remains so steady, I don't even need to use the chin rest.
The volume knob on the CR4 works well... on some instruments the resistance of the volume potentiometer seems ill selected, as not much actual volume range is covered using the instruments volume knob, and one has to make all of the big volume changes at the amplifier and processor stages.
There are two tuner controls. The first should be labeled "BETTER" and the second one labeled "WORSE"... the first does away with that harsh electric sound, and the second one heaps more of it on. Anyway, the CR4 can probably be dialed in pretty close to whatever it is you are looking for, even before outputting to whatever processors and effects units are awaiting down-line.
Fit and finish is really superb. I knew that the NS Design CR4 had active electronics and so must have had a battery, but did not immediately see where the battery access panel was, or even how to get into the string bay, as I had done with the WAV 4. But eventually the little retainer bracket moveable tab attracted my attention, and when I moved the tab off to the side, the battery and string bay cover fell right off. You know, the entire back panel and battery string cover had fit so well together, I had thought it had been one entire piece. I had actually been set to take a screwdriver to the whole thing.
The wood, body and finger board are excellent and attractive. You know, I confess to using olive oil on my fingers to speed up my fingering and make modulating the strings easier, and this is the first time ever that a new violin has not turned my finger inky black. That means that after their last staining of the fingerboard they had actually taken the time to do a fine sandpapering of the fingerboard... it was so nice and smooth. Usually I have to do that kind of fine detailing myself, but they had done it for me. Thank God, for a change.
Oh, and the strings seem fine. Usually one has to toss that the strings that come with these things, But NS Design used what sound like premium steel chrome wound strings.
I had complained of the WAV4 being stiff and inflexible... not giving much of a sense for player `feel', but the CR4, at least the Viola (I haven't played the CR4 Violin but imagine it is quite similar in all regards), seemed to have flexibility... that when using some strength and force in modulating the strings, the violin actually bends in a bit... a great perception of playability and control... a rewarding `feel' to the instrument. One has to wonder how they did it... apparently the CR4's are not the same thick blocks of wood that the WAV models are.
Now a word on Violas in general. I had heard it said that Violas, being larger, are therefore slower. Well, my Fender FV3 Violin measures from the nut to the bridge for a string length of 12 7/8 inches, while my Viola measures 14 1/4. That is not much of a difference... just ten percent. But it does seem to give me more Tonal Resolution, that is, it's easier to land on exactly the right note sweet spots, so to speak, even if one has to move a bit further to reach them. And when one rolls one's fingers to modulate notes, one can get in a much more vigorous wiggle without worrying so much about over-modulating. Anyway, after having played both Viola and Violin, and not to sound condescending, but the Viola seems more fit for men, while the violin seems better suited for the smaller hands of boys and girls.
Oh, and as far as trading the Violin's high E String for the Viola's low C String ( violins are tuned to GDAE while violas are tuned down to CGDA ), while occasionally the lilting and ethereal E string has its valued uses, particularly when clustered together with other violins in concert, still in most cases that really piercing high string is used only because it is there, and the results are shrill and often clash with the other instrumentation. Bands are often afraid of including an Electric Violin, and only because they fear those wildly high E Strings stabbing into their brains by way of the ears. The Viola, however, with that C String on the low end, can reach some real bassy lows, and one can still finger far enough down on the high end A string to suggest the musical mood and intensity of Going High without actually going so high as to be positively annoying. My feeling is that if Violas became better known, they would certainly become more popular, and would largely replace the violin everywhere but in concert venue.
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NS Design CR4 Viola4 String Solid-body electric viola with Polar pickup, dual mode preamp
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