Martie Maguire

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“I love the tone of old, non-amplified, real acoustic fiddles, and Wood Violins are the closest thing I have found to that sound. They play beautifully!”

In July 2016, Mark Wood caught up with Martie Maguire backstage at one of her shows with the Dixie Chicks. Here is their conversation.

We are proud and honored that Martie Maguire chose our 5-string Nashville and 4-string Concert Series models as her exclusive electric violins for the Dixie Chicks DCX MMXVI and their MMXVII World Tour, and in their live concert DVD.

Martie Maguire and Mark Wood

Martie Maguire with her Nashville, and Mark Wood with his Viper

Martie Maguire from the Dixie ChicksThe Nashville electric violin is our newest model and was created to appeal to the country music market. Its design is perfect for players who want a great looking and sounding electric violin that still maintains a “traditional” vibe.

Martie MaguireThe Concert Series is an acoustic/electric instrument that can be incorporated into any 21st century musical experience.

All 7 of the violins we provided to Martie were painted white to match the Dixie Chicks’ tour colors, and they all feature our Wood Tru-Tone pickup and D’Addario Prelude strings.

“The Wood Violins instruments for the tour are simply beautiful, and I was particularly impressed with the setup,” said Billy Henry, tech for Martie Maguire, The Dixie Chicks.

Martie Maguire“I’m thrilled that a musician of Martie’s caliber chose us as her instrument of choice for her new tour,” said Mark Wood, president, Wood Violins. “Her reputation and stature as a fiddler in the music world is unparalleled. As dedicated partners in her success, our master craftsmen delivered her what we believe are the very best electric violins on the market today.”

NOTE: Martie’s solo starts at 2:07!

The multiple Grammy Award®–winning and multi-platinum selling band kicked off their highly anticipated North American tour, produced by Live Nation, on June 1, 2016 at the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The DCX MMXVI Tour visited more than 40 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada with dates in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, Washington DC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and more. Martie also used our instruments for the DCX MMXVII Tour and they’re all over their new concert DVD.

Mia Asano

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“My Viper changed my life in so many ways. My musical world has opened up in ways I never expected now that I have the extended range, and I have so much musical and creative freedom on the instrument. I’ve wanted a Viper for so long, and I’m so grateful I get to play such a beautiful piece of art every day! I’ve always felt so welcomed and supported by the Wood Violins community and that’s something I’ll always be grateful for.”

Mia Asano is an electric violinist from Denver, Colorado. Classically trained from the age of five, she developed a love for alternative styles of music early on and plays a variety of music styles including rock, pop, jazz, classical, bluegrass and celtic music. After graduating from the Denver School of the Arts she went on to attend the Berklee College of Music as a dual major in Performance and Professional Music. During her junior year, she began posting short videos on TikTok and Instagram to practice her recording/mixing and video editing skills. One of the early videos went viral, gaining 10 million collective views in less than a week on multiple social media platforms and resulting in over half a million followers on TikTok. Since then, she has had success with other videos as well, including an arrangement of Nathan Evans’ Wellerman Sea Shanty which gained Global recognition on networks such as the BBC, NBC, Washington post, and more.

Mia has played with notable performers Lindsey Stirling, Devan Blake Jones, and in the Berklee College of Music Rock All Star Ensemble and Berklee Chamber Orchestra, participating in a viral video with them that collected over 800,000 views on Facebook and Youtube. In the summer of 2020 she won the category for best Violin performance in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s play-along contest. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Colorado Public Radio, as well as at Boston venues including the House of Blues and Royale, and the First Bank Center and Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver. She has also performed internationally in Vienna, Austria and in Valencia, Spain.

Mia endorses Wood Violins and Orange Amplifiers, and primarily performs on a 7 string fretted Viper. Though she has a love for classical music, Mia’s true joy comes from playing her electric violin. Her biggest inspirations over the years have been violinists in all genres of music and she believes wholeheartedly in breaking boundaries and sharing every aspect of what the violin is capable of, as well as helping people and spreading positivity through music. Currently she pursues several personal musical projects while attending college in Boston, including a Celtic band and her solo project the ‘Mia Asano’ band, while also putting out daily content on her social media platforms and releasing original music on Youtube and Spotify.

Connect with Mia:

Website | TikTok | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Robert Mendoza

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Passion, devotion and feeling is what moves Robert Mendoza’s musical inner world, who has become one of the most innovative and spectacular talents of the music scene, and one of the most popular violinists in the world thanks to his YouTube’s viral videos and his love for his fans.

With over 717,000 subscribers on his official YouTube channel, and 747,000 fans in crescendo on Facebook, it’s no wonder that Robert Mendoza has positioned himself among the most sought-after violinists on the internet, with more than 108 million views on his most popular videos.

He and his violin have travelled around the world performing in the best venues, such as Privilege or Pacha in Ibiza, Cavalli Club in Dubai, playing in international festivals, and sharing stage with Chino y Nacho, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and visiting countries such as Mexico, Chile , Nicaragua, Bolivia, Malaysia and the United States.

Big artists such as Shakira, Maluma, Luis Fonsi and CNCO have supported and shared Robert Mendoza’s work.

He is currently working on recording of his first album, which will be released in 2018.

Website | Facebook | YouTube
Twitter: @RobertMendoza_
Instagram: @robertmendoza

There are too many incredible videos and it’s hard to pick one but this is LIVE!!

Judy Kang (Lady Gaga)

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JudyKang-and-LadyGagaWe are proud and excited to welcome Judy Kang, Lady Gaga’s violinist, to the Wood Violins family!

“I perform solely on [a Viper] by Mark Wood. I have sound effect pedals, as well. I wasn’t too knowledgable about electrics, to be honest. I was so fortunate to have had a couple of weeks of rehearsals before going on the road, to research instruments.

I made a cold call to Mark Wood after suggestions from colleagues, and he was amazing enough to hand-deliver an instrument to me a couple of days later at the rehearsal studio!

I had a five-stringed instrument brought to me. Of course, this was the first time I had ever played a five-string [Viper], let alone an electric. It was a blast! I had SO much fun discovering new feels, new techniques and new sounds… I even shredded on it to the point where my band guitarists and I were having solo contests for fun because of the similarity of sounds! Read more

Kiara Williams (Key to Adam)

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“The Viper is not only a beautiful creation but a life changing invention for violin players. When I played on my acoustic violin, after hours of practice, my neck and back suffered greatly and I was in pain. When I switched to the Viper it made a dramatic difference and I am no longer in pain!! The harness system on the Viper is such a genius idea and is such a godsend for violin players. I have a 4 String and 7 String Viper. The sound they both create is so gorgeous, and the depth of sound with the 7 string is just incredible, it opens up so many more options for our music, it looks really wild, and is an excellent conversation piece at our performances.”

Kiara Williams, multi-award winning professional electric violinist/fiddler performs in the instrumental duo Key to Adam. She started playing the violin when she was 12 years old and found her passion of wanting to play the fiddle when her mother showed her a video of Charlie Daniels performing the “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” After that her parents bought her a violin for Christmas and she started learning the basics in 2012. In 2015 Kiara won the WV Junior State Championship and her parents bought her a custom made beautiful 4 String Viper for winning. She used her instrument to cope from being bullied in school. Her parents finally pulled her out to be homeschooled and Kiara started teaching herself more techniques and different styles of music. In 2021 she got her first 7 String Viper and loved how much more depth of sound it gave her and opened up a different dimension to her music.

In 2016 Kiara met Adam and they make the duo Key to Adam. Adam used to run a daytime open mic and encouraged others to play along or to share their music. For many months a friend tried to get Kiara to come and she finally did and started to improvise along with Adam’s fingerstyle guitar playing. Everyone in the audience went quiet, you could hear a pin drop, the sound they created together was haunting and beautiful. After they finished the song a man came up and said “I would love to record that song for a local documentary.” They said “Well first off that wasn’t a song and we don’t even know each other.” After that special moment they practiced for 6 straight months for 6 to 8 hours a day. Flash forward to now, they perform for Weddings and Special Events including performing for WV Governor Jim Justice and First Lady Cathy Justice and regularly at their resort The Greenbrier. One of their favorite places to play is at Nursing Homes, Schools, and other institutions. Seeing the residents sway back and forth with their eyes closed or seeing a child sing and dance while you are playing is truly heart touching. They have won multiple awards including a Governor’s Art Award and many more achievements. They perform all different types of styles and genres from Metallica, Ed Sheeran, Johnny Cash, to breaking down on an old time fiddle tune to Canon in D. For more information and to keep up with Key to Adam’s journey check out their Facebook page and Website.

Website: https://www.keytoadam.com

Socials:
Facebook (Our Main Social Media Platform) – https://www.facebook.com/KeytoAdam
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/keytoadam/
Tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@keytoadam
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@keytoadam
Threads – https://www.threads.net/@keytoadam

Cassandra Sotos

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“Meeting Mark Wood and getting my hands on a Viper changed my career and my life. I can do things I never dreamed of as a young player and the possibilities still remain unlimited. I still love my acoustic violin , but my Viper has allowed me to find my true voice…It challenges and inspires me as an artist every time I pick it up and I couldn’t be any more grateful. Mark Wood is a mentor and inspiration to me and everyone at Wood Violins has become family. You truly get so much more than just an instrument from Wood Violins!!”

Cassandra “Cat” Sotos is an artist, songwriter and international-touring violinist, known primarily for her live and studio work in country, rock, pop, and Bollywood.

Her journey as a musician started at the age of four when she first picked up her violin – by 13, she was performing in honkytonks and dive bars. After a brief detour as an industrial engineer in New York City, she realized she needed to re-devote her life to music. She moved to Nashville immediately.

Cassandra has toured across the world, most notably a two-year tour with Indian pop star Arijit Singh. His MTV India Tour was the largest tour in the country’s history, and the rest of the world tour included sold-out shows across North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe, including the iconic Wembley Arena in London. She has recorded and performed with The Wildflowers (Tony Harnell of TNT and Bumblefoot of Guns ‘N’ Roses), ABA (Italy), Vitera and Tequila Rock Revolution. She also toured as a part of the Wrangler National Patriot Tour to perform for service people stationed in the Middle East. You may have seen her profiled in Strings Magazine.

She is an active member and Nashville Chapter Co-Chair of Women in Music (assisting in the launch of WIM Nashville and WIM India), and she works to empower young musicians and songwriters, especially females, through her professional and non-profit work in the industry.

Website | Facebook

Amy Serrano

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Hearing Amy play is always such a great experience, and to see our Vipers in the hands of this type of musician is truly a wonderful moment for us. We’re thrilled and honored that Amy is part of the Wood Violins family.
“Owning, practicing and performing on my Vipers has opened the world of CREATIVITY for me!! I am a classically trained violinist and started at the age of 3. When I left the corporate world and decided to live the musical dream, I bought my first Viper and never looked back. The versatility is endless. I love that I can play on a fretted instrument for even better accuracy with up to 7 strings giving me the full range from a violin to a stand up bass. With my Violin & Dance show and my Dueling Violins Show, I have complete freedom and flexibly to move at a higher level. The fact that the Viper holds onto the body has completely taken away all neck and shoulder pain I used to suffer. Playing on my Vipers has given me the ability to play completely pain-free, confident, and given me a competitive edge in the music industry. I will be forever grateful.”

Born in Northern California, Amy Serrano grew up in a musically talented household. She started learning at 3 years of age and has been playing the violin since 1991. Her studies consisted primarily of classical training with the Suzuki method and every summer, she didn’t miss an opportunity to attend fiddle and bluegrass camps. Amy plays a wide range of music with genres spanning classical, pop, fiddle tunes, contemporary, and improvisation. Amy believes one should never stop learning, and continues to study with other professionals and attends workshops. For fun, Amy loves salsa dancing, being active outdoors, spending free time by the ocean, hiking on a trail, and working out at the gym. She is married to the love of her life, Dylan Burcombe, who is also a talented musician – www.dylanburcombe.com.

 

Connect with Amy:
Website | YouTube
Instagram: @electric_violinist
Facebook: @amyserrano1989

Haydn Vitera

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HaydnVitera“My Viper has traveled with me across the US and internationally. No matter what kind of gig I’m on, whether it’s country, rock, Latin or anything in between, the Viper’s versatility consistenly delivers great tone and performance and most importantly, the right sound for each style. With my own Latin Rock Fusion group VITERA, it’s basically another member of the band and a big part of what brings new people out to see us. Thank you Mark Wood and everyone at Wood Violins for making the world’s most incredible instrument!!!”

Website: viterarocks.com
Facebook: facebook.com/viterarocks