G & Fills Violin Pickup: Violin Pickup

Submitted by fiddler59 on 1/30/2013

Where Purchased: Barry Dudley Violins

Overall Comments

Ok.....I have had a chance to really put the G&Fills pickup throught the paces. First and foremost it needs a high impedance preamp, Red Eye (my favorite), LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI works well as does the Baggs Stage venue DI. The output is very clean and accurate. It sounds closer to a well micd fiddle than any other piezo type pickup I have ever used and is extremely feedback resistant and noise free. I installed it in the bass side of the bridge in between the wing slot. It is not recommended by the manufacturer to have too much pressure. Just enough for a nice fit so it will hold the position. I am extremely impressed with the tone as it sounds like a violin instead of a saxophone which I always had to work around with excessive eqing. String to string balance is excellent. Even the C string on my Dudley 5 and my Kogut 5 sound accurate and as it should. With Baggs, Gage, Fishman and Bradivarius pickups I always had to roll a lot of bottom end off to get the C string to balance with the rest of the strings and that caused other problems.. I think Barry Dudley will be selling these for around $250 or so. He will be receiving a payment from me for the pickup. No funny business hear. It might seem a little pricey but it is well worth it to me. Barry is a good friend of mine but I have paid for every instrument he has built for me. I am only reviewing this because i think it is an option worth pursuing. I make my living playing the fiddle and sound can make you or break you. Barry Dudley is the US distributer for this pickup.

Barry Dudley

Dudley Violins

770-266-0237 shop

barry@dudleyviolins.com

www.dudleyviolins.com

Overall Rating: 10

Dudley: Imbuia 5-String

Submitted by fiddler59 on 3/5/2012

Where Purchased: Barry Dudley

Year Purchased: 2011
Price Paid: Don't Remember historic exchange rates / currency converter

Sound

This 5-string is rather unique in that it has Imbuia back and sides. Imbuia is also known as Brazilian Walnut. The Red Spruce top on this fiddle has a beautiful medium to wide grain. I really like this combination of Imbuia and Red Spruce. It has a very balanced tone with a great growl on the low-end and a beautiful sweet high-end that projects well but is easy on the players ear. Barry has really been in to making violins with alternative tone woods and I think his willingness to experiment and go outside the boundaries of tradition has really payed off.

Sound Rating: 10

Setup

The setup is excellent. This fiddle was setup with a Despiau 3 tree (Despiau's best) bridge, Helicore strings and Peghed geared tuners. The action is med. low which I find to work well for me. In purchasing one of his fiddles he will set it up how ever you want.

Setup Rating: 10

Appearance

The Red Spruce that is used for the top on this fiddle has a really cool corduroy effect. The Imbulia is really dark (almost a chocolate
brown color) and the top is very lightly colored so the contrast is really stunning. The workmanship is excellent !!

Appearance Rating: 10

Reliability

Hardware quality is top notch....no complaints. I have been using one of Barry's fiddles since 2004.....I never think about having a back up. I make my living with live performance, teaching, and studio work. His fiddles are definitely built to take the woes of the road.

Reliability Rating: 10

Customer Service

Barry is always great to deal with and stands behind what he makes.

Customer Service: 10

Components

Peghed geared tuners. Imbulia back and sides and a Red (Adirondack) Spruce top.

Components Rating: 10

Overall Comments

If you are in to 5-string violins you owe it to yourself to check out some of Barry Dudley's fiddles. He has a lot of satisfied customers all over the world.

Overall Rating: 10