Harley Benton HBV 870BK 4/4 Electric Violin

Pros:
- A complete kit, works out of the box
- Decent sound, at least good enough if you're playing in a rock band or have a gig with the need of an electric violin
- Won't cause acoustic feedback in a PA-system. At least for regular use. With this we could have regular monitors instead of a headphone monitor system.
- With a little bit of tweaking (read below) its a really decent violin!

Cons:
- The bow that was supplied with mine was heavy unbalanced so I bought a carbon fibre one instead.
- The strings supplied works, but when I changed them to high quality strings I realized how horrible the supplied strings was. I would recommend everyone buying some better strings and restring the violin as soon as possible.
- The output jack calls for a 90 degree angeled phono cable. The supplied cable (which my sound technician called a "licuorice strap") is working for training but I had to have a better one on my first gig and with a regular phono cable you'll get the contact in your shoulder. Keep that in mind if your planning to play on gig, I think most technicians would call for a better cable and then you'll want a angled one.
- After 1,5 years of use the phono contact got loose and needed to be repaired.

Iv'e quite literally taken my time writing this review - Iv'e owned this violin for a year or just over now. Why did i buy this?

- I know Harley Benton is Thomman's [in house] brand for instruments and have a reputation for providing much higher quality than you actually pay for. They may use fairly cheap parts, but they are always high standard and achieve results that suprise you.

- I wanted to learn and play around with something that wasn't loud. I mean violin is one of those instruments that when played well sounds beautiful, but when played badly sounds offensive to the ears. prectice is about making mistakes and sounding terrible until it doesn't. This violin is loud enough when played that you can hear it maybe in the next room without an amp, but wont bother neighbors. You really dont need to plug earphones in.

- Plugged into an amp, the sound seemed good. I usually never play with the strings an instrument arrives with, but it sounded ok. I then put some Dominant strings on it and was blown away with how it sounded. Butter smooth. With a looper or an effects peddle you can go completly wild.

- The original bow is not very good - felt too heavy and off balance for me. A good upgrade will be a decent carbon fibre bow. Doesn't matter how great your strings are - its the bow that makes the sound. I found the orignal bow felt lumpy in parts and made unwanted sounds or changes in volume. Overall i have had no need to replace this violin and remains my only electric version that i am happy to play.

Don't forget instruments are mostly subjective - some like certain instruments, others hate the same ones. If you are learning you want an instrument that doesnt fight you along the way - loosing tuning, not sounding right to the ear, not holding tone - they make you feel it's you thats doing something wrong when its actualy the instrument. My objective review is that this violin plays with you, not against you. It looks amazing, and with the right strings and a new bow, also sounds amazing.

I've had no parts falling off it, nothing needing repairing, if you look after it, it looks after you - and looks as amazing hanging from my wall as in my hands.

First Time i think its normal electric violin. But after play i can't imaging, i can't belive what i hear? Its sound so smooth and cool. I play our national Anthem in this violin. All every body in our programme says they can't hear this type of origianal,smoth and clear sound. I am the best winner on this programme. Thanks Thomman for this type of violin they sell.

Thanks again for better solition.🥰🥰🥰

I bought an electric violin to start learning, so I didn't have to have a loud acoustic one and annoy all the neighbours and drive my housemates mad, which this violin is great for.

However, the tone is not very good, and the build quality is poor. The tailpiece ended up buckling on me after a month. it is attached by a plastic cable that I had to glue back on, and I have to take care that it doesn't break again, in my face.

Being able to plug headphones directly into it is a bonus, and it is really quite quiet, which is nice. The fingerboard doesn't feel quite the same as an acoustic violin however.

Recommended as a learning, or quiet practise tool only.