Harley Benton HBV 990AM Electric Violin

I dont quite know if i should praise or be critical, as its my first ever violin of any kind, to start learning on without disturbing neighbours.
Its quiet enough unplugged, and plugged into a Scarlett Solo 4th Gen with some EQ, delay and reverb in a DAW it sounds really nice, i have no comparison but the bridge pickup seems okay to me.

Build-wise the main body wood is sturdy enough and does resonate a bit. I use a clip-on tuner and its spot on.
But the fingerboard... Oh god the non-ebony painted fingerboard..

The black paint rubs off on your fingers when you play.....
Every practice session ends with fully black sticky fingers..
On my first week, i made the mistake of not noticing this, started strumming the new Thomastik Dominant strings i put on, which not only contaminated the strings but also eventually rubbed off the black paint ON MY BOW HAIR....
Which made the bow unplayable on that part of the hairs until i had to manually and VERY carefully clean it off with a drop of alcohol on a microfiber cloth, risking ruining the hairs (and having to shell out $100 and a train ticket to the city for a re-hairing).

Luckily it cleaned off but i lost 6 hairs in the process (on a $100 Artino natural hair carbon bow).

So i really dont know what to rate this..
It is a perfectly fine and even good first electric violin to play on, to learn on.
But the fingerboard paint is such a horrendous thing it will ruin new players bows or strings if they dont pay attention, and will ruin the sound..
No amount of rosin will fix it unless you clean it off the strings and hairs.

Now, the second problem is the shoulder rest.
It is so awkwardly positioned that it rests on my ARM on the outside of my ELBOW, not anywhere near my collar bone.
Because the only holes to mount it are so far towards the bridge that to get the included shoulder rest to actually support the violin properly, i would have to press the bottom of the violin so deep into my throat that it would cut bloodflow. Clearly this isnt usable.

So the included shoulderrest is practically useless.
And the fingerboard destroys your hair, fingers and strings.
The included strings sounded ok, quite a deep G, more deep than the Dominants.
The included bow is, bad. Wood or something, i suspect synthetic hair for the price but i cant tell. Its about 20-30% heavier to hold than the $100 Artino Carbon bow.

So all in all i am torn.
As my first ever entry to violins, i do "love" it because it can sound good in the DAW and opens up a new musical world.
And i absolutely think (in the DAW) it ought to sound miles better than a $170 acoustic violin, which i dont even want to listen to at that price range.

But the problems are insanely disruptive to learning properly.
When you cant even hold and support it properly because essentially not having shoulder rest support, it becomes impossible to play relaxed, and it becomes impossible to learn intonation because your angle of holding the violin shifts every note you play and every session...

Even if it "only" had an ebony fingerboard, or even an unpainted spruce one, it would be 2 stars better.
The fingerboard paint ruins the instrument.

For my next violin, im saving up for what i should have done to begin with.
A Yamaha YEV104 or a Gewa Maestro 51 Guarneri

The below $500 price range is just fraught with issues blocking your learning.

I re took up the violin after many years break as another hobby whilst being in lockdown through covid. Wasn’t sure if I could remember how to play again so didn’t want to spend a fortune in case I struggled with it. After changing a couple of things like the strings to a recommended brand, and a different bow, I really love this. Once connected to a decent amp it gives out a great sound. The pickup is really good and looks good too. A great violin at a very reasonable price.

I have wanted to learn violin for decades but, I have always been put off by the high cost of a new instrument. Especially considering I don't know if I can even learn to play it, or not. So, imagine my surprise when I saw this one on the Thomann website!

I have had it for almost three months now. In that time, I have learned a handful of scales, in first position. I have also learned bits of several songs that I like. I am working on moving between strings, as I play, without making any odd noises along the way. Overall, I'm having a great time learning and, I think it's safe to say, I'm hooked on violin now!

I can't really evaluate the quality of the instrument because it's the only one I've ever held, or played. I will say that the shoulder rest likes to fall off and I've had to secure it in place with a strip of Velcro. Now, I've since learned that Violinists complaining about the shoulder rests is nothing new, so, maybe it's not a big deal. But, for that reason I gave 4 stars on the quality. Otherwise, I can play it without plugging in, when I don't want to disturb anyone else in the house, or, I can plug it in and disturb EVERYONE in the house, if I want to! :D

In my opinion, it's a great first violin. It's also good for practicing by yourself, which is mostly what I do with it.