Sure to Look Great on Live Stage! Yamaha Electric Violin YEV104 Review

This is a review of the Yamaha YEV104 electric violin, which features an innovative design of which I personally have been curious about, as I actually tried it out and played it.

About Yamaha's YEV Series Electric Violins

The YEV104 is an electric violin developed by Yamaha with an original and beautiful body that is different from the electric violins of the past. It is available in two colours, black and natural, and in four-string and five-string versions. The body is made of five layers of maple, mahogany and spruce, which gives the violin a natural sound with a good action.

From the Yamaha Strings Electric Violin/ Silent Series Catalogue

Here are some of the things I liked about it when I tried it out and played it myself.

Appealing Points of the YEV104

Surprisingly Light and Easy to Hold

Compared to other electric violins, the YEV104 is by far the lightest and its main body weight is approximately 560g! I felt that I could play for a long time without getting tired.
The YEV104 is also made in a way that is similar to the centre of gravity of an actual wooden violin, so I think that more experienced violin players will be satisfied with its construction.

Side view of the violin chinrest. You can clearly see how thin the walnut body is.

Here is a photo from the side. The material used for outside the body and the central part are different.

Unique Body Attracts the Audience's Attention

Electric violins are often used for live performances on stage, rather than for individual practice. When playing on stage, it is important to look cool! The YEV series, with its unique body that is slightly different from the original violin, is perfect for stage performances!
Also, although I didn't take pictures, I was able to attach the shoulder pads without any problems, even with such a thin body. I used a standard KUN shoulder rest.

Photo of the whole body, natural color

The shape of the outer rim is designed to be the same size as a normal violin, so the feeling when I held it up was the same as a normal violin. I expected nothing less from Yamaha!

The E string had a protective tube to prevent it from cutting into the bridge. The bridge also has the Yamaha logo on it.

Clear and Crisp Tone with Little Noise

This time I connected it to the Playtech Jammer Jr. guitar amp and played it, and to be honest, I was surprised. First of all, the reason was because the sound was very clear and transparent. I had the impression that the tone of a normal electric violin often changes when connected to an amp compared to when it is not connected to an amp, but this electric violin was able to be output through an amp with the sound remaining mostly clear even when connected to an amp. When set to a clean setting on the amp side, the sound was quite pleasant and close to that of a normal violin. I could also create my own sound by adding distortion and other various effects!

I also felt there was less noise when playing. Electric violins have pickups on the bridges, and the bow hair and strings rub just above the pickups, so the sound of the strings rubbing against the pickups tends to be mixed into the sound as noise. However, when playing the Yamaha YEV series, I could output only the sound of the violin through the amplifier with almost no sound of the strings being rubbed.
The pickup system is as impressive as you would expect from YAMAHA's unique design of passive circuitry.

Photo of the back side of the YEV104NT. It can be connected with a normal shield.

There is a switch to switch between pickups.

How was it? This time, I realised once again the high quality of Yamaha's products when I actually played one of Yamaha’s electric violins. Currently, a total of four types of electric violins are for sale at Sound House: the four-string YEV104 in black and natural and the five-string YEV105 in black and natural! We recommend them to people who have never played an electric violin before, as well as to those who are experienced violin players! Please consider these models!