My Trip to the Electric Violin Shop!
Back in March, I scheduled an appointment
Hi, sorry I haven’t posted in a while. It is not that I don’t have fresh electric violin contents or worship contents to release, but it’s just that I have been very swamped over the past couple months! Thanks for understanding.
I also have been playing a lot more, which is a good thing. I am grateful for the new opportunities. Today I want to share a bit about a trip I took back in early March, to a very special place in the world, the Electric Violin Shop in Durham, North Carolina.
The Electric Violin Shop (EVS), is a one-of-a-kind place. It’s the only shop in the entire world that primarily focuses on selling electric violin. Maybe there is another store in the world similar to it, that I am not aware of. The point is, it is not like Guitar Center where they sell guitars and piano keyboards and basses and drums and other instruments and musical accessories. You don’t go to the EVS to buy acoustic violins or other string instruments. You go to the EVS because you want to get an electric violin (or an electric cello, they do have that).
I have gotten every single one of my electric violins, except my very first one, from EVS, which is pretty surprising to me. My first electric violin was a ZETA (the old ZETA, not the current new ZETA), which after some years I traded it in at EVS to buy a Vector Prodigy.
I am thankful that I currently live within driving distance of this shop. It is a 4-hour drive from where I am in South Carolina to Durham. I consider myself fortunate to have visited EVS multiple times and try out various electric violins there, over the years. For this trip, the main purpose of my visit to EVS, was to try out the new Yamaha YEV Pro 5-string, and compare it with other electric violins in the shop.
I have known about this new electric violin by Yamaha since last year. I own a couple of the original Yamaha YEV (in dark and natural colors), and I have played the original YEV for many years as my main electric violin, before I got the Jordan. It is still one of my favorite electric violin to play. I loved the YEV so much that I eventually bought a second one as a backup.
The new YEV Pro, which I covered in another post, is supposedly much better than the original YEV. I would never know exactly how much better, until I play it myself.
Finally, I found an opening in my schedule to make an appointment with EVS, to come to the shop in person to try it out. Because it is a 4-hour drive, I did not want to do the entire round trip in one day. I don’t want to be super tired from driving when I am trying out the violins. So I booked a hotel room near EVS, and drove there the night before my appointment. That way, I would be fresh and energetic when I am playing the violins. And, afterwards, I would drive straight back home.
For the trip, I did not bring my own electric violins or bows. They have bows available there for you to use. I brought my own shoulder rest and rosins. And most importantly, I brought one of my pedalboards with my favorite pedals to use with the electric violins. I did not bring an amp since they have great amps there as well.
After a restful night at the hotel, in the morning I drove the short distance to EVS, and I stepped into that familiar space once again, ready to engage in another sonic exploration for the ages.
To be continued in Part 2…