Wood Violins 6-String Fretted Viper Electric Violin Blue Burl Exotic Top

I was eager to get my hands on a six-string electric violin, if only to experience the novelty of it. It is quite a trip to have a low C and lower F string down there, and one must get used to not having G as the low end. Navigating six strings is a challenge! But the sound, even at the low end, is remarkable, even through my cheap little amp. The frets also take a bit of getting used to for a violin, though since I play mandolin as well, these were not entirely strange. While they aid in intonation, they preclude one of the violin's best features as a fretless instrument: No slides, no quarter tones, etc. But, these instruments are available in fretless styles as well, so this is not necessarily a drawback. I would recommend trying both versions before deciding, though.The good:The sound of the instrument is impressive. I guess all the money is in the pickup, which lives in the bridge. From the low F to the high end of the E string, the pickup is subtle and sensitive.The bad:The much-hyped strap-and-post system for mounting the violin to your body does work fairly well, but a big disadvantage is that it takes a bit of setting up, and once it is configured for your body and stature, it requires resetting for anyone else. This is a pain, but is not a concern if just one player is all this instrument will ever see. Again, I advise that you try out this system thoughtfully before committing to a purchase.The ugly:The workmanship on the instrument is shockingly bad. From a distance (on stage, or even on the streetcorner) it will look fine, but up close it is a hack job. I was really surprised. I am a woodworker, and built some simple musical instruments back in high school, and even my first attempt had better attention to detail than this. The "tailpiece" is secured to the body with poorly-fitting screws, and it still has saw marks on it. The hole for the wire from the pickup is carelessly drilled into an oval shape, the joinery of the main parts of the poplar body (Poplar? That's for furniture drawers!) makes generous use of wood filler, and the fretwork is abominable. There are places where two frets (on the instrument I examined) were clearly ripped out and refitted, and the edges of the frets are not even ground into a line. The frets are from very heavy fret wire, and are unevenly forced into the curved fingerboard so that some are barely touched in the final smoothing, and some are ground completely flat.I do not know by whom these instruments are made, but the designer, Mark Wood, clearly is not keeping up with quality control. The instrument looks like a high school wood shop project (let's make that junior high). In fairness, I do not know, however, the price of the electronics. Perhaps that justifies the fairly high cost of this instrument, but the construction is typical of a $100 instrument. Why spend nearly $4000 on the electronics and essentially nothing on the construction?In summary:So, the sound is good, and the photos and movies on the web site really show it off and show the player having fun, but I can't get away from the feeling that this is a cheap instrument with good electronics. For the price, they really ought to hire better luthiers to make a truly impressive instrument.One more thing - I am no expert in musical electronics. So while I was taken aback by the shoddy woodworking and impressed by the sound, it may well be that, relative to other products out there, the sound is sub-par as well. Perhaps I am easily impressed. It would be good to hear a review from someone who has an ear for this sort of thing.