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Introduced in 1939 with the Electric Bass Viola, Vega’s electric violin completes the family of stringed electric instruments offered by the manufacturer in the 1930s. The pickup hidden beneath the metal plate is, by necessity, different from any other used in Vega’s offerings. Needing to accommodate the gut strings of a bowed instrument, Vega’s president, William Nelson, resurrected a patent design (1994919) he had applied for Jan. 28, 1933. The technology is basically the same as what was used on the first manufactured 1928 Stromberg electric—a twist on speaker technology. The bridge of the violin sits atop a metal plate that rides on a thin layer of rubber. Attached to the bottom of the plate at a 90 degree angle is a thin piece of metal 1” long. Suspended from the bottom of the plate is a housing that consists of a horseshoe magnet that energizes two pole pieces containing a coil of wire, ?” thick and 1” in diameter. In the center of the coil is a slot through which the thin piece of metal attached to the floating plate passes. When the violin is played, the bridge vibrates the floating plate. This moves the thin piece of metal up and down within the slot in the coil creating a small electrical current. In other words the thin piece of vibrating metal is taking the place of a vibrating string.

Dan of the local indie rock band the Megaphone Barons playing at the Velvet Lounge on Wednesday 28 September 2011. Here he is playing an electric violin.