More info on BTS Electric Violin Bridges

Electric violin bridges by BTS - when mounted on an acoustic electric violin - will transform the instrument into a powerful sounding acoustic electric "hot rod". The resulting sound is very much that of a violin, but with magnified depth, power and clarity. You can transform any standard acoustic violin into a professional sounding acoustic electric violin with a standard or hybrid model bridge from Barbera Transducer Systems. You can also upgrade any electric violin with our high end electric violin pickups.

Our acoustic electric violin multi-transducer bridges are not mass produced. In the process of crafting, each bridge receives considerable individual attention. The performance characteristics of each bridge are carefully brought out and optimized through a voicing process that is similar in some respects to the way a luthier develops a musical instruments voice. BTS multi-transducer bridges for violin are available in various models for electric violins and in kit form for the conversion of acoustic violins into pro level acoustic electric violins. We also make the finest quality cello pickups and upright bass transducers.

Barbera pickup systems multi transducer bridges provide a dramatically improved standard of sound reproduction for electric violin, viola, cello and bass and offer an alternative to the limitations and compromises of the various pickups previously available. The nuances of sound unique to bowed string instruments require particularly sensitive treatment for amplification. The primary approach to violin pickup design to date has been to attach a piezo crystal in some fashion onto a traditional violin bridge. This approach invariably results in a rather thin, shrill, unfocused sound, requiring considerable electronic "doctoring" to achieve an acceptable tone. This is due to the fact that the traditional violin bridge is specifically designed to transmit string vibrations to a highly responsive, acoustically resonant surface, not to a small, rigid, crystalline piezo plate.  With that in mind, B.T.S. has developed a violin transducer bridge which compatibly integrates functional design requirements of piezo technology with the instrument. This is accomplished through a multi-element pickup cartridge design , made of  maple, set in a maple bridge. The pickup cartridge contains an array of independently mounted piezo elements - one or two for each string. Each element within the cartridge structure functions as an independent pickup which is highly sensitive to its corresponding strings horizontal vibrations. This is the plane which the bow travels, and where all the rich complexity of sound occurs on a bowed string. The interactions of the violin sound, are maintained, and in fact are employed to maximum advantage in the pickup design. The results are a highly responsive pickup system for violin that is sensitive to the full range of texture, tonality and dynamics present. It yields a rich, full sound with striking presence, clarity and balance.