On November 9, 2026, Thomann had 98 electric violins and violas in stock, from $144 to $5,348, with a median of $1,115. The prices fall into two groups: 26 cost under $200, and 60 cost $900 or more. Only 12 sit in between.
| Price | Electric violins |
|---|---|
| Under $200 | 26 |
| $200 to $900 | 12 |
| $900 to $2,000 | 32 |
| $2,000 to $3,000 | 15 |
| $3,000 and more | 13 |
Three kinds of electric violin
Solid-body electric. A frame or a small solid body with a pickup under the bridge. It hardly makes a sound unplugged and needs an amp, a PA or headphones. Most of the list is this type.
Silent violin. Yamaha's name for a frame violin built to feel like an acoustic one, with a headphone amp in a control box, so you can practise at night. Five of the 98 carry the name.
Acoustic-electric. An ordinary hollow violin with a built-in pickup. It sounds like a violin in the room and can also be amplified.
46 of the 98 list a headphone output. Five strings, which add a low C and the viola's range, appear on 23.
Under $200: kits
Harley Benton HBV 990BCF, $177
A 4/4 electric violin with an active pickup, a jack and a headphone output, sold with a case, a shoulder rest, a bow, rosin and a battery. It ranks second of 39 electric violins. #2 of 39 electric violins and violas.
Harley Benton makes 29 of the 98, at a median of $166. They are a cheap way to try the sound or to practise quietly, not instruments to grow into.
$900 to $2,000: what stage players use
Yamaha YEV-104, $945
An open-frame violin of spruce, mahogany and maple with a walnut frame, a piezo pickup built into the maple bridge, ebony pegs and chinrest, and D'Addario Zyex strings. It weighs about 550 g and ranks first. The pickup is passive, so there is no battery to run down; to hear it you need an amp or a headphone amp. #1 of 39 electric violins and violas.
Yamaha's YEV105 Pro, a five-string with a hollow body and side slots, costs $1,863 and ranks just behind. NS Design's WAV4, a solid body with a passive piezo, is $1,171 with a case.
$2,000 and up: silent and high-end
Yamaha SV-255 Silent Violin, $2,323
A five-string silent violin with a traditional oval neck, a spruce top, an ebony fingerboard and pegs, a dual pickup bridge you can blend, and a control box with a headphone amp and tone controls. It weighs about the same as an acoustic violin. #5 of 39 electric violins and violas.
NS Design makes 30 of the 98, at a median of $2,668. Its CR series, from the CR4 at $4,343 to the CR6 at $5,348, has an active pickup, a headphone output and an integrated shoulder and chin rest.
What else you need
An amp or a PA for playing out, unless you go through a multi-effects unit into headphones. A cable, and for active models a 9-volt battery. If you already play acoustic violin, your bow will do.
Where the numbers come from. Every electric violin and viola Thomann had in stock on November 9, 2026, from its partner feed. String counts, outputs and specs are read from Thomann's descriptions. Places are from our electric violin ranking. Prices are Thomann's US prices.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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