The violin offers many possibilities for  contemporary designers, and these possibilities are continuously explored by a growing number of electric violin designers and makers. Nevertheless it is still nice if someone comes with a new, original design. In this case, the designer was not an established luthier. It was industrial design student Tricia Ho who got awarded for her ergonomically designed electric violin. Ms Ho, who has just completed a Bachelor of Industrial Design at the University of New South Wales, designed her idea of the "perfect electric violin" using high-tech materials for her final year design project. Dubbed "EV" (for ergonomic violin), the prototypic instrument is to receive a German design award and is short-listed for this year's Australian Design Awards, to be announced in May. 
Made from a combination of carbon fibre and a high-tech "shape memory polymer", the EV can be literally moulded to suit a player's personality and physique. The instrument's rigid carbon fibre body couples to a range of flexible polymer frames. These interchangeable frames include a self-supporting option so that a player doesn't need to grip the instrument under the chin while playing.Ms Ho designed it this way to help reduce the neck and shoulder pain that tends to plague violinists, while making playing as comfortable as possible. 

Both the malleable frame, which sits around a players' neck, and the lip which curves around the shoulder, are made from a high-tech shape memory polymer, called Veriflexâ„¢. The polymer, which can be moulded at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius, allows violinists to shape the frame to their body to maximise their comfort. The waterproof frame can be manually reshaped after immersing it in a dish of warm-to-hot water for a few minutes. The reshaping of the frame is reversible and can be changed as often as desired.

Veriflex is a trademark of CRG industries: http://www.crgrp.net/veriflex.htm

Press Release Source