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Originally posted by Jaunskots

A while back I acquired a used Yamaha electric violin, a YEV104. It is very nice in all respects except that the bridge needs some attention. Its curve is much too flat as is, and needs to be modified to match my violins. It is also thick, but I confess ignorance: does this matter for an electric? It surely would render a normal violin unresponsive and unplayable.

The mystery to me is how one disconnects the pickup wire so one can work on the bridge. No doubt it could be cut and then soldered carefully, but I suspect there is a more elegant solution. Can anyone help? I'd really appreciate advice on this.

Thanks,

Harold

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Dedicated electric violins are a different animal from acoustic violins in many respects. Because the body's internal air  volume is either irrelevant or non-existent, the production of sound is necessarily different. One thing that is consistent between acoustic and electric  violins is the playability of the setup. Things like string height, bridge curvature, nut height, string spacing, and fingerboard shape all have an impact on the functionality of the instrument.

As far as the bridge for the electric violin, thickness has a lesser impact than it does in acoustic violins. I have heard from some of my customers who play electric instruments that string choice actually makes a bigger difference. Getting the curvature and string heights right is essential, however. To accomplish this, you're forced to work with the bridge still attached to the wire. I don't know if it would be possible to cut the wire to the piezo pickup and solder it successfully, and I've never done it. For systems like the Baggs pickup (for electrifying acoustic violins) the wire is attached to the bridge but not the jack when new. You still have to contend with the wire sticking out of the bridge while fitting it, which is a limiting factor. But for an electric violin where the bridge comes installed already, the risk of rendering the electric elements unusable is too great to risk by removing sensitive components. If the pickup doesn't work, the violin doesn't work. 

Thank you. I won't worry about thickness; it seems to work more or less well anyway so far as sound goes. Really, the board, nut, etc. seem fine, and the only issue left is bridge curve and height of the E string. No doubt I can manage to lower it by a millimeter or so without ripping out the wire, which seems to have barely enough slack. But it would be a whole lot easier if I could simply disconnect the wire ...

Where is the other end of the wire? It must connect to the preamp somehow, and that would be the place to disconnect it, like Rich mentioned with the Baggs pickups.
You could also address this question to someone like the Electric Voolin shop that specializes in these types of instruments (and sells this model). electricviolinshop.com/?srslti...mLSNrYMZu Or directly to Yamaha, although they may just advise you to take it to an authorized repair center for adjustment. I wouldn't try to cut and splice the wire though.

Too late to edit my previous post, but here's a more concise link to the Electric Violin Shop: electricviolinshop.com/
Also, I see that this instrument has a passive output with no preamp, so the wire probably connects directly to the volume control.

PPS - Fiddershop also sells these, and can probably help: fiddlershop.com/

You shouldn't have to cut any wire.

You should be able to open a back panel to get access to the electronics, volume and tone controls and output jack (possibly preamp).

Some piezos, if has built in preamp just use a plug-in with a mini jack.

Others the wire is be connected to the lugs on volume control. Sometimes have a spade end to make easy to quick connect; otherwise it will be soldered, so will need a solder gun (and skill, but it's pretty easy)

I have a YEV-104 and i modified the bridge once. I need to modify it again.

I'm surprised you say that the bridge curve is too flat. Although I changed my curvature once already, my recollection is that out of the box it had a ton of curvature. And the action was incredibly high. I lowered the action and changed the curvature a few years ago. But the action is still too high by at least a millimeter, so I either need to re-cut the bridge or sell the instrument and buy something else. I also have a Wood SVX4, which had a great action when I bought it. I need two instruments, because I keep one cross-tuned.

What I did was to remove the adhesive decal on the underside of the instrument. When you do that, you will see that there is excess wire to the pickup folded up in a pocket. There's enough length that you can lay the bridge flat on a table to work on it while it is still attached. At least that's how I remember it. The wire goes to a 1/4" jack. I am quite sure I didn't de-solder anything.

Unfortunately, once the adhesive sticker has been removed, it won't re-adhere properly. I put some different adhesive on it, but it didn't work. So at the moment mine is lost and the pocket with the wires is open. I have some brown gaffers tape that I think I'm going to use to cover the pocket.

Here's a picture.

Regarding tone, what matters are (1) the strings and (2) the signal processing chain. The most important part for me is a Fishman Aura preamp with violin images. It sounds pretty much like a normal violin with that. And then I like a little bit of overdrive to dirty it up a bit.

Reading your message more carefully I see you had already figured out on your own the things I mentioned.

I had the day off today. I decided to take my YEV-104 to Southwest Strings. The luthier Adan, recut the bridge quickly. He noticed that a chunk of the saddle near the E string was missing, causing a buzz. So he replaced the saddle, which took quite a bit longer than adjusting the bridge.

I'm very happy with the result and it was inexpensive!

Many thanks to all who replied, especially to Ernie, who has done exactly what I have in mind.

It seems that I should find enough slack without taking anything apart, since I really only need to lower the E string a bit. The setup is otherwise pretty good – I think I got lucky with a secondhand instrument.

You have raised a couple more questions, however. Strings seem to be a huge factor. What do you gents recommend? I threw on a Goldbrokat .027 E and Zyex G, D, and A., but if you have an advance on that, I'm all ears. Also, has anyone tried a Wittner Isny shoulder rest with one of these? I only ask because the YEV is a little heavier than a normal violin. I do find the Isny rest comfy once you get it adjusted, though.

Thanks again.

Regarding strings, any good set of strings should work. I like Zyex strings. I can't remember for sure if I've ever had them on my YEV 104. They will work fine. I tend to put the same strings on my electric instruments that I put on my regular instruments. My standard tuned fiddle has heavy tension helicores on it. So my standard tuned electric fiddle has medium tension helicores on it. My cross tuned fiddle has Prims. So my cross tuned electric fiddle has Prims.

Depending on your budget, at some point I recommend getting either a Fishman Aura or a ToneDexter II preamp. I have a first-generation Aura, which I bought used. The disadvantage of the first generation models is they don't have a tuner/mute. You need a mute if you don't have one already.

I have wanted to try the ToneDexter II preamp for a long time. It's more expensive because it's also a digital interface, has a headphone output, etc. The problem as much as anything is that most of my music stuff has to live in a small walk-in closet, which is full. 

One more thing. I plan to cover the pocket for the cables with painter's masking tape. Originally I was going to use some brown gaffer's tape that I have. But masking tape will be less conspicuous. I discussed this with the luthier who fixed my problems and he said he likes masking tape for that application.