NS Design CR4 violin

I had been reluctant to buy such an expensive electric violin… in a world where for the same money one could get a stellar first rate premium signature edition electric guitar. Yes, the Electric Violin market is a smaller market, but still the hesitation over price seemed entirely reasonable. When the WAV 4 Chinese NS Design models came out at bargain prices, I jumped and bought one and was largely happy with it (see my Amazon Reviews of the WAV 4 and the Fender FV3 vs the NS Design WAV4). I did suspect that perhaps basic tone would be better with a more premium grade instrument. The WAV and the Fender FV3, while usable in the Rock and Roll context, could be perceived as a bit harsh when doing popular songs or sweet country. But the CR4 Product Literature and the few Reviews out there showed some promise and so I took a few drinks to encourage me to find my credit card and I went Online to buy a CR4.

Amazon often resorts to The Electric Violin Shop for some of these items, and so I went directly to their site. I remembered that months ago I had inquired about ordering a Bridge Electric Violin from their store and was annoyed that my particular island out on the High Seas was not included on their address drop down list… making the order impossible to conduct as per usual. I complained in their Contact Us Box and then quickly forgot about getting the Bridge Violin anyway… the pretty colored ones were all sold out, leaving only the ugly colors available, and not at reduced pricing either… full price for the ugliest things you would ever not hope to see. Anyway, you wouldn’t believe what happened! These wonderful people took my harsh suggestions to heart and fixed the addressing problem. When I went to order the NS Design CR4 Violin, there it was, my Island was on the drop down list… which was when I remembered how hard I had been on them. Of course, with my order, I included a heart felt apology as well as expressions of my deepest gratitude for appreciating my business and preparing for it.

With orders of that price, the ordinary mails of the United States can not be trusted… it seems that the Ordinary Mail Service can hire thieves to work at much lower rates than honest men and women, and at the end of the day the Ordinary Postal Service doesn’t need to worry about delivering quite so much as they would if their low wage employees didn’t pick through it all at first. So The Electric Violin Shop uses premium shippers, adding almost $200 to the Order, but my CR4 arrived almost the same day, except that Thanksgiving Day intervened. The Sales Lady had included a nice little hand written note thanking me for my business and wishing me luck. I think I will be a return customer to that particular Electric Violin Shop.

I had read a CR4 Review before which spoke of an NS Design Violin arriving in tune. Well, so did mine… exactly spot on. Plugged into my existing Electric Violin settings and sound systems, I was playing in a manner of minutes.

Oh, if you read my older Reviews on Amazon, you will find that I have had problems supporting the heavier electric violins, that is, just holding them up in a position to play, and they tend to slip slide around a lot. It’s all rather distracting and takes a great deal away from the Music. So I did take about 20 minutes to fashion a Violin Choker, patent pending (see my other reviews on the WAV and the Fender FV3), out of a key ring, and key ring clip, and some cotton cloths line rope and cotton string. I clip it through the NS Design Shoulder Rest bracket and it holds the Violin very closely under my chin. The Violin remains so steady, I don’t even need to use the chin rest half the time.

The volume knob on the CR4 works well… on some instruments the resistance of the volume potentiometer seems ill selected, as not much actual volume range is covered using the instruments volume knob, and one has to make all of the big volume changes at the amplifier and processor stages.

There are two tuner controls. The first should be labeled “BETTER” and the second one labeled “WORSE”… the first does away with that harsh electric sound, and the second one heaps more of it on. Anyway, the CR4 can probably be dialed in pretty close to whatever it is you are looking for, even before outputting to whatever processors and effects units are awaiting down-line.

Fit and finish is really superb. I knew that the NS Design CR4 had active electronics and so must have had a battery, but did not immediately see where the battery access panel was, or even how to get into the string bay, as I had done with the WAV 4. But eventually the little retainer bracket moveable tab attracted my attention, and when I moved the tab off to the side, the battery and string bay cover fell right off. You know, the entire back panel and battery string cover had fit so well together, I had thought it had been one entire piece. I had actually been set to take a screwdriver to the whole thing.

The wood, body and finger board are excellent and attractive. You know, I confess to using olive oil on my fingers to speed up my fingering and make modulating the strings easier, and this is the first time ever that a new violin has not turned my fingers inky black. That means that after their last staining of the fingerboard they had actually taken the time to do a fine sandpapering of the fingerboard… it was so nice and smooth. Usually I have to do that kind of fine detailing myself, but they had done it for me. Thank God, for a change.

Oh, and the strings seem fine. Usually one has to toss that the strings that come with these things, But NS Design used what sound like premium steel chrome wound strings.

I had complained of the WAV4 being stiff and inflexible… not giving much of a sense for player ‘feel’, but the CR4 seemed to have flexibility… that when using some strength and force in modulating the strings, the violin actually bends in a bit… a great perception of playability and control… a rewarding ‘feel’ to the instrument. One has to wonder how they did it… apparently the CR4’s are not the same thick blocks of wood that the WAV models are.

……………………………..

I’ve had the CR4 now for a few weeks, and have to say I really like its tone. My Fender FV3 was found with an intermittent pickup and had to be sent in for repair. When it came back, after being spoiled for a couple weeks with the new CR4, I dicked with my amplifiers, equalizers and effects units for a over an hour, and while I could get the Fender FV3 to do wild Rock and Roll stuff, I could never get it to simply make a Nice Sound… I couldn’t make it play ‘nice’. The CR4, which one can make as wild as anybody could ever care for, can be dialed into ‘nice’. And the FV3 even sounds slightly better than the
WAV series (the hollow Fender at least resonates with its electrical buzziness, but the WAV is just solidly buzzy). Anyway, after I had completely screwed up my entire Sound System… loosing all of the settings for the CR4, I plugged in the CR4 and was able to arrive at ‘nice’ simply with the instruments own active tone controls.

Oh, and one can hardly underestimate the String System… the strings can be changed out in a manner of minutes, and when one is happy with the strings… if one uses Chrome Steel anyway, then the strings simply stay in tune. Apparently even relatively solid Traditional Pegs move enough, or the coil of string around the pegs squeeze or contract… but one is always having to tune violins that use tuning pegs, where the NS Design CR4 series, and even the WAV Series stay solid rock on tune. Great for performing care free, and it makes for practice sessions that are simply fun without a lot of mechanical details to deal with.

Yes, I love the CR4.
(Posted on 12/25/10)