The Organic Musical Design Process

Hello, everyone! My name is Timothy Huh. I'm a 37 year old electric violinist, designer and 3D fabricator, videographer, audio engineer, husband and father of two. I was encouraged to start this blog by my sister in law @katjelynn and my wife @bethanymhuh. Being that my interests are widely varied, I won't specify a central interest out of the gate. Best to let things develop organically, right?

I'm a local of NEPA(Northeast Pennsylvania coal country), where I've lived for the greater part of the last 25+ years. I'm the anomaly of my Korean family. My parents and two sisters escaped to New Jersey and NYC, but I decided that I really did like it here.

I've been an electric violinist for 17 years, having been active on worship teams for over 20. The transition from acoustic violin to electric was one of the most pivotal for me, as it cemented the path I would take as a worshiper, musician and musical person. I had studied classical violin for 8 years prior, having varied levels of interest and devotion to music. Having switched to electric opened up the world of signal processing, and began a long winding path of musical self-discovery. For a relatively short while, I became more interested in making sounds than actual music, in the forgiving environment of our church worship team.

This was significant, because I had found an arena that was largely undiscovered, or at the very least, unpublished. I was intensely interested in electric guitarists, without actually being interested in learning guitar myself. Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix above all, beckoned me to bastardize my poor violin with pedals that weren't designed for it. There were a few years of scratching out horrible noises, a long stream of used gear that littered music stores from Wilkes Barre to the Florida panhandle. Once I had passed that particular phase of musical adolescence(with others to follow), I came to the happy realization that in the world of overpriced vintage and boutique music gear, the electric violinist was blessed to benefit most from accessible innovation, rather than nostalgic couture.

I found my sound in the latest technology, derived from studio mic'ing techniques and digital processing. Having studied studio recording in Austin, Texas, I applied studio processing principles to my performance rig, which went from giant pedalboard to a single Line 6 HD500. Multi-effect processors such as mine are broadly seen as cheap toys, to the believers of boutique hype. The electric instrument world is heavily steeped in lore of mystical pedals and amps, with certain units gaining legendary status, and the word "magic" being regularly used as a valid descriptor of pawn shop purchases. But as someone once said, magic is science that is not yet understood. I took the scientific approach, and made it my mission to understand why it all worked, how best to apply it. I was obsessed. So I discovered that the best amps I could use were the cheapest, the best effects were the ones deemed least "sexy", and that I needed to practice more.

I also discovered that I'm extremely particular about things. Electric guitars are like Chevys. They've been around for decades, they've been modified every which way, spare parts are impossible not to find, and if you throw a rock, you'll hit 5 or 6. Electric violins are more like 3-wheeled cars. Few makers exist, the few that are known are exorbitantly expensive or cheaply made(pick one), and you either take what you find or modify it to best fit your needs. And half of your friends think it's really cool, while the other half shrug and ask "...why?" Having placed myself neck deep in this world, began dreaming of ways to better suit my instruments to fit my particularities, and I looked for ways to improve. Being more of a tech nerd than a woodworking enthusiast, I stumbled upon the idea of 3d printing, and what was possible. Fast forward two years, and here I am, back in school for design and fabrication, with a finicky 3d printer in my basement.

Being less aesthetic, and stubbornly practical(in terms of design), I avoided the typical path of printing out toy boats, Yoda figurines, and cosplay armor. I set out immediately to take my violins and make them better. I'm the type who generally isolates what I consider to be design flaws in any product, so I had a laundry list of issues to address. The past few months have stood as testament to my current designs, as my prototypes have managed to become near permanent working parts. They teeter on the line between rat-rod and functional art. So as my 3d printing equipment becomes less temperamental, or as available technology improves, the day will come when I can produce a violin of my own design that meets my idea of acceptable quality.

Until then, stay tuned.