I've had my CEVN for about two weeks now and I'm loving it. It's very high quality for such a low price. I'll go over a few aspects of it that I like/dislike and list Pros and Cons below for a quick reference. I chose version two in white, which leaves out the upper left bout. I added a new set of strings and a pedal to the order; but unfortunately the pedal I was wanting was sold out. The Fiddler Shop crew were quick to help me out though and refunded the cost; good customer service as always.
The outfit comes with a bow, headphones, AUX cable, 4 fine tuners, and rosin in addition to the violin. To be honest, the headphones are very cheaply made and the bow is not very good; but that's pretty much expected with how much it costs. I use my iphone earbuds and I changed the default strings out with fiddler shop strings as soon as I got it and it sounded a lot better just from that. I tried using the bow it came with for a couple of days but it isn't great; so I'm just keeping it as a spare. The difference in sound between that bow and the fiddler carbon-fiber bow is night and day. I would definitely recommend investing in a decent bow because it has a drastic impact on the sound. I haven't tried out the rosin that comes with it because I use the premium Holstein; so i'm not sure how that compares. The AUX cable works well and if you can spend a little bit extra and get an amp you'll have a lot more fun with it. I got a decent sized bose amp for about $100 at guitar center that has a couple effects and it sounds great.
The violin itself showed up in good condition and was setup to play; so really all you would need to do is some tuning. The pegs did tend to slip a little bit, but after I used some peg compound on them and let the strings break in, there weren't any more issues with that. The pre-amp is on the underside of the violin and has jacks for headphones, a mic, and the line out. One minor annoyance with the placement of the box is that it has the cable hanging straight down from the violin and it gets in the way sometimes, or wraps around things if you move around a lot. On the box, there are also two knobs you can adjust to control the volume of the violin and the tone. The volume knob is really handy because you can change it straight from the violin instead of only on the amp. The tone knob doesn't really vary the sound all that much from what i can hear. Even comparing the highest level to the lowest, i was barely able to tell a difference; even through an amp. This violin is pretty quiet if you just play it without turning it on, or if you use headphones. That's a big plus for me because it means I can practice it later into the night without disturbing my roommates.
PROS:
*Affordable
*Looks nice and has a great sound for what it costs
*Has a jack for you to use headphones to hear yourself, a jack for a mic, and the line out.
*Volume knob on the violin so you have more control over your sound
*Isn't too much heavier than an acoustic
*Really fun to play and has a distinctly different sound from an acoustic which keeps it interesting.
CONS:
*Because it's affordable, the headphones and bow are not very good quality.
*Pegs were slipping a lot at first
*Location of the AUX line out means it can get in the way
*Tone knob doesn't seem to have much of an effect
If you're curious about electric violins then I would recommend this one so you can get a decent sounding instrument without spending a whole lot of money.
