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Just like Magic Fluke's renowned Fluke, Flea and Firefly
ukuleles, the Cricket shares the same distinctive design and quality features.
The Cricket is a full-scale violin, versatile enough to satisfy seasoned
violin and fiddle players looking for an affordable, durable travel
violin as well as beginner students seeking a fully
set-up,
ready-to-play first instrument. Locally sourced and hand crafted in the USA.
With its unique open headstock and use of
simple Grover friction pegs or optional geared Pegheds, the Cricket
Violin is remarkably easy to tune or restring. Like our other
instruments, the body is molded of a high quality, glass reinforced,
durable thermoplastic for stiffness and resonance. The arched top is CNC
machined solid spruce with a choice of solid walnut, mahogany or maple neck. The
included chin and shoulder rest is adjustable three ways to accommodate
all players. The end result is a surprisingly full range, warm sounding
violin that's comfortable to hold and easy to play.
Complete Specifications
Made in: Sheffield Massachusetts U.S.A.
Weight: 15 oz. including rest
Dimensions: Overall length 23” Viola 24"; body 13” x 4”
Scale Length: Violin 13”; Viola 14"
Neck: Solid Maple, Walnut, or Mahogany; hand rubbed urethane oil finish
Top: Solid one-piece Adirondack Red Spruce; nitrocellulose lacquer finish
Fingerboard: Flaxwood polymer/wood composite injection-molded
Body: Glass reinforced injection-molded thermoplastic
Bridge: Precision, custom, laser-cut hard maple
Tailpiece: Laser-cut and thermo-formed cast high impact acrylic
Strings: Thomastik Infeld Alphayue synthetic core
Tuners: Grover 2B friction tuners with E string fine tuner or Optional Peghed 4:1 geared fine tuners
Chin/Shoulder Rest, included: Laser-cut, thermo-formed high impact acrylic with 3M Grip Strip high friction pads. Three-way adjustable height and angle settings to accommodate all players
Pickup: Optional internal “Open to Source” passive sound board transducer and ¼” output jack
Case: Optional TKL custom padded gig bag with bridge protector and bow sleeve, 31" long; or hard-shell poly cylindrical tube case 31.5" X 5" dia. (modified Alvin BTR-4 document tube)
Bow and Rosin: Optional kit with Anton Breton fiberglass, medium flex, horsehair, bow and D’Addario VR200 light rosin
1/3/18
dw
 
  
1/26/18 Update - Viola scale necks finally available. 14" scale in CGDA tuning.
3/14/17 Update - Added
black to the color options including a black stained walnut neck - very
sharp. Viola scale option should be available in April. Designed around
a 14" scale, it promises to be a great alternative for a compact travel
instrument for both practice and performing with the excellent built in
'Open to Source' pickup.
12/15/16 Update - After
evaluating a number of different strings, we settled on Thomastik
Alphayue as the best match for the Cricket adding both volume and warmth
to its tone.
These are now standard and a real bargain for a synthetic string.
3/20/15 Update – New Open Source Sensors
pick up is now available. This high quality U.S.A. made soundboard
transducer is a big improvement over the previous system. Known for
their warm, accurate acoustic sound reproduction, these custom made
pickups give the Cricket a surprisingly big rich sound. Because of the
unique mounting between the sound post and the top, no preamp is
required which means no battery to worry about, super light weight, AND
lower cost.
9/16/14 Update – Finally dialed in the adjustable
chin/Shoulder rest along with a few other improvements.
The chin rest was shifted further away from
the instrument and the shoulder rest was tucked further under the instrument
providing a more balanced support. The neck was also modified to allow for an
additional 1.5” of unobstructed top plate area. This combined with the downsizing
of the sound holes, resulted in a more balanced output with improved low end resonance.
The pickup transducer was also moved further under the bridge for increased
response plugged in. Everyone’s support and feedback has been very helpful as
we continue to make improvements – thanks.
Alex Sovronsky demos the Cricket at the MFC shop
Craig Eastman with his fiddle on the Sea of Cortez
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Very cool 
