Stingray WV-SVX5/RD Electric Violin, Candy Apple Red

Love it sounds great. Very poor service. No one want to help with a problem.

The violin works perfectly. The seller was fast and kind.

I bought this violin in 2013. The violin came with everything you need (bow, rosin, even a string cloth) and the case is actually a featherweight acoustic case and can be used for the electric or an acoustic. When I bought the violin, the tailpiece shattered immediately, which was apparently a common issue. I shipped it off and it was corrected immediately with a better piece. The strings are decent, the case is okay, but it would be good to have a better bow. Plus side is the violin truly is very light and feels decent. The body of it does not feel cheap. I have a shoulder cradle for my acoustic, which stretched enough to fit this instrument, but it wasn't a particularly good fit. The big issue is that the instrument is short and tends to strain your neck a bit. The tuners, while cheap in and of themselves, actually were surprisingly good. They were not sticky or slippy, but worked like a dream. On thing I noticed in the brief tuning (before the great tailpiece explosion of 2013) was that the bridge doesn't have much pitch to it. If you are a beginner violinist, I would probably recommend a 4 string violin instead. This violin requires good bow control. The main issue I've found is that I have a difficult time hearing while I'm playing gigs. It's not as important if you are an experienced violinist, but it's still disconcerting.

I bought this for some local gigs; still testing it out. I am very pleased with the overall tone. It's much lighter and easier to play than my other electric violin; the shape is nice and fits well in my hand/neck. I am docking a point because the strings were a big turnoff. Two of them broke when I first tried to tune the instrument up to standard tuning. I replaced them with Infeld Red, which seems to suit the instrument really well (particularly the gold E). I don't expect fantastic strings on delivery, but I do expect to be able to tune them. They actually were much shorter than standard strings... I wonder if someone mistakenly used 3/4 or something similar. It's not too big of a deal, but it did mean that I was dying to test out my Xmas present (received while visiting relatives out of town) and couldn't do so until the vacation was over, when I could go home and pick out some new strings. Also, no bow comes with the instrument. It does come with a shoulder rest.

Absolutely love it. I had to change the bridge. One of the fine tuners was stripped. Over all it plays and sounds great.

Do your research! This is an incredible violin that can be as versatile as Mark Wood's Viper with the right rig. Be careful who you buy this from, I highly recommend Electric Violin Shop. They inspect and test all their instruments before they send them out. They also warned me that the C string that comes with the 5-string is not very good. Be prepared to spend more than the base price. This violin does not come with a bow, and since it does not require batteries and has no onboard electronics you will need an amp to get any sound out of it. Here's a few tips. Find a cheap starter amp with a good selection of effects. Buy a cheap or middle range bow I suggest a stronger bow good for beefier instruments, even violas, I found a strong bow helps draw the sound out. Buy a high quality instrument cable, do not skimp on your cables it makes all the difference. If you're not ready for that much noise and want this violin as a (super high quality) practice instrument, I figured out an ear-drum-saving and family-satiating hack! Get yourself a little Vox headphone amplug. I got the AC30 which has a nice variety of effects and is only $40, you can plug in headphones, and an auxcord to practice quietly. And here's a bonus! Get yourself a little bluetooth speaker you can plug your aux cord to and it doubles as a super portable, quick rig to play around for your friends without blowing their ears off! All in all I've spent about $230 in addition to the instrument itself, but some of my gear I bought for my guitar prior to buying this violin. You'll need: -an amp with effects -a strong bow -a high quality instrument cable -a headphone amp like the Vox Amplug AC30 -a mini bluetooth speaker After you've had some time with the instrument and gotten the chance to learn what kind of sound you want, you'll be able to look into the effects you'll need to invest in. Don't underestimate the power of this little violin, Mark Wood's designs are unbeatable.

after a long search for a decent electric, I finally ordered an sv5 mostly for its simplicity/1 piece body and price, the Rocker look i could do with out LOL but i'll get over it. the fact that the lower bout holds your rest quite nicely makes up for it its easy to play great for late night practice. getting use to the low C" was 5 minutes or so with each scale type, same patterns as a 4 string. mine unfortunately was fitted with a Tomastic Tail piece - its garbage, the E string fine tuner was striped at delivery, seller replaced with a Witter tail piece. make sure it has the Witter tail piece! better stings, Evah Pirazzi's or Dominant sets have great sound with these strings (the E looks Ghetto ) the sound is not bad, how to describe it - its a solid body like a 1 piece guitar the bride is static compared with an acoustic that rotates from side to side. like an electric keyboard in that its some what artificial (if that is the correct word) compared to a grand piano not at all in a bad way - it has a darker tone/color. not as nice as a $3000 acoustic but far better than a $600 student violin! If you can afford it the Bridge Aquila's are a great violin...$1300 and up amps, most say the AER amps are the best All in All, I love this thing, cant put it down. for the price as long as you get the witter tail piece its worth every penny,