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It is useless to argue if electricity be "natural" or "supernatural", of "material" or of "spiritual" origin... we endeavor to find out the natural laws governing it... It will be the same with Man and the great affairs of Man - we have, first of all, to know what Man is. (Alfred Korzybski, "Manhood of Humanity", 1921)
The Violin Today is an electrified instrument. It developed successfully in the 1930s and has gradually improved ever since. From Leo Fender's work-bench, arguably the most perfected electric violin came after over a decade of development in 1958. He secured a patent for body design and pick-up in 1961. Since the mid-1980s a number of makers have blatantly 'copied' the body. Yet, although unique, the method of pick-up is virtually obsolete. Leo Fender's instrument was certainly the first to be officially termed Electric Violin but it was actually produced decades after the first ground-breaking electric violins appeared on the world's musical instrument market; and there are very clear connections to the instruments manufactured today from those earliest makers – proof of sorts that they are more than mere novelties.
Specially designed violins with built in pickups and associated circuitry had reached public awareness by 1930. Then, even if only on a very small scale, makers such as Victor Pfeil; Lloyd Loar; George Beauchamp; and Fredray Kislingbury, all made electric violins that were manufactured - by Allencraft, Vivi-Tone, Electro String Instrument Corp., and National. Of these, only two reached something like prominence.
Kislingbury's violin appeared under the National brand that was advertising as being 'The Worlds Most Famous Electric Amplifying String Instruments'. Appearing by 1936, this violin was called the 'VioLectric' and at a glance looks like a traditional acoustic violin. The name is very similar to the current 'Violectra' (by David Bruce Johnson from the UK) but is a completely different violin. It could also easily be confused with the later re-released Valco electric violin (via Dopera et al) from the early 1960s (and especially so because in May2009 the Author had still not updated the photos on this particular page!!).
The Beauchamp violin appearing around the same time as the Kislingbury was a completely different instrument. Formed from Bakelite and heralded in advertising as a 'Miracle' by the Electro Stringed Instrument Corporation, it was branded as the Electro Violin. For the interested this is an infuriatingly rare violin - maybe less than 60 were ever sold before the early 1940s. The stick-like minimal frame, bearing more than just a passing likeness to particularly the Jordan electric violin, makes Beauchamp a real pioneer in this field and in the second incarnation of this instrument in 1943 shows a very obvious similarity to the Stroh-violin from 1899...
There is a great deal more to the Story of the Violin and some of the instruments are yet to be found, maybe even in a dusty old case under the stairs!!
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