Fiddle 911 -- Molly's Emergency

When you sell electric violins for a living, you don't get a lot of emergency calls. But when Dianna discovered the stage crew for the Miss Texarkana pageant was going to amplify her daughter's violin for the talent competition by having her stand in front of a microphone, a violin emergency was born.

A few minutes surfing the Web led Dianna to us, and we discussed Molly's playing, the kind of tone she was looking for, and Mom's concerns for not getting her an instrument that would cause Molly any problems transitioning back and forth between her acoustic violin and her electric.

And then came a question I'd never encountered before. What would the violin look like with a mango evening gown? Here at the Electric Violin Shop, however, we are prepared for (virtually) any eventuality. Dianna needed a warm, acoustic tone, a fairly traditional shape, and an instrument that would look great with a mango evening gown. No problem, right?

We fixed her right up, with a Bridge Aquila 4-string in purple pearl metallic, fitted with Perfection Pegs for ease of tuning, paired with a CodaBow Electric in its wild harlequin paint that shifts from purple metallic to forest green metallic, depending on the angle of the light. Then we shipped the instrument, amp, and accessories overnight, so Molly would have plenty of time to get used to her new rig before the big night.

UPS worked miracles, picking up Molly's new kit at our shop at 5:30 in the evening and delivering it before 10:00 the next morning. Dianna called, excited, and I got to talk briefly with an overjoyed Molly. I also got to hear her play the purple Bridge through her new amp in the background, while Dianna and I talked. Molly's quite an accomplished violinist; Mom told me she's already been playing for 9 years!

Not only did Molly win the talent competition, rumor (from both her Mom and the photographer who so graciously allowed us to use these photos) has it that she brought down the house!

(special thanks to Donnie Meadows of http://www.seetexarkana.com and Four States Living Magazine for permission to use his photos of Molly!)