Yamaha’s YEV Pro electric violin retains the character and sound of an acoustic instrument while revolutionizing its range and aesthetic.
When plugging in an electric violin, many players are looking for an instrument that delivers the volume and power to go head-to-head with an electric guitar. What they don’t want is an instrument that sounds like a pale imitation of an electric guitar—or worse yet, makes them feel like they’re carrying the weight of a solidbody six-string on their shoulder. In other words, they want an instrument that plays like the violin they love, with greater sonic capabilities.
The Yamaha YEV Pro electric violin was designed to replicate the feel and sound of an acoustic violin, while offering the versatility to perform anywhere—from recording studios to arena stages. Its hollow-body design is crafted with the same tonewoods as its acoustic counterparts, resulting in a lightweight feel and a rich tonal palette.
“As a player, you’re used to the light weight and balance of a traditional violin,” says Nicole Lamphier, Yamaha’s Product Training Specialist for Band and Orchestra.
“You’re used to the big, bold sound, the resonance and the sustain. As you play, you can feel how your technique moves through the instrument and how the instrument responds to your technique. With the YEV Pro, we incorporated a lot of features that speak to that. Instead of feeling and sounding like a little guitar through an amplifier, the YEV Pro sounds, feels and responds like a traditional violin.”
Customer Input, Groundbreaking Output
Those elements, Lamphier continues, were derived from the needs and demands of Yamaha’s customers. The company takes advantage of its presence at music education conferences and tradeshows to collect feedback from players, dealers and educators alike. “Yamaha never designs a new product just to put something out on the market,” she explains. “We really want to provide solutions based on what already exists in the market and what our customers are telling us they want.”
In the case of electric violins, what Yamaha representatives were hearing was that players deeply valued the sound and feel of their acoustic violins. In fact, they valued their acoustic violins so much that they preferred to add external pickups to their existing instruments rather than switch to electric violins that were unwieldy or distorted sonically.
“Our customers were telling us that they wanted an electric violin that feels acoustic,” Lamphier explains. “They were saying, ‘I like the way my instrument feels. I like the way it sounds. It makes me happy. It sings.’ We wanted to reproduce that feeling so that when the player emotes through their instrument, you can feel it as a player and you can hear it as a listener.”
A Look Like No Other
Like its predecessor—the entry-and-intermediate-level solidbody YEV line—the YEV Pro makes a striking impression on looks alone. The modern, minimalist infinity-loop design seems to trace the outline of a violin from thin air. Available in four– and five-string models, in three colorways, the YEV Pro’s curvilinear form stands out against its natural-maple or deep-red fingerboard. It’s an orchestral string instrument able to catch the eye instantly, even alongside a Flying V or sunburst Les Paul.
The infinity loop suggests a streamlined, aerodynamic feel, which is echoed by the side slits in the body that open into the instrument’s hollow acoustic chamber. The YEV’s innovative look has been acknowledged with a number of international design awards, from organizations like the Japan Institute for Design Promotion and the DFA Design for Asia Awards.
“The designers were looking for a minimalistic design that really spoke to acoustic space,” Lamphier says. “They experimented with how much can be taken away while still looking like a violin and retaining the same touch points as a regular violin.”
Under the Hood
The feel of the YEV Pro extends to the materials used to craft the instrument. The body of the violin is made with a spruce top plate and a maple back, with a maple neck and fingerboard. The infinity loop frame is made of walnut, for an ideal balance of strength and flexibility.
The YEV Pro’s maple bridge is treated with Yamaha’s proprietary Acoustic Resonance Enhancement (A.R.E.) process, which the company also applies to its pianos and guitars. The technology rapidly simulates the natural aging process, lending a brand-new instrument the tone of vintage wood. Unlike the standard YEV models, which have a dual-piezo pickup bridge, the YEV Pro’s piezo pickup uses a copper-foil half-shield cover, allowing greater freedom of movement and vibration in response to the player’s bowing, while being far less likely to feed back at higher volumes.
The YEV Pro includes Wittner Finetune geared pegs, which aim to provide quick and accurate tuning in live-performance situations, but the instrument is customizable, from the tuning pegs to the tailpiece and ebony chin rest. All together the YEV Pro weighs the same as a traditional acoustic violin while delivering gorgeous sound and stunning resonance. It makes for a remarkably versatile instrument that can deliver finesse and nuance as well as force and amplitude.
“If you’re in a heavy-metal band and you want to plug the violin into your foot pedals and crank up the distortion, you absolutely can,” Lamphier says. “But you can still play it in your own home like a traditional, acoustic violin, or record with it in the studio. It’s a very cool instrument.”