About us

My name is Valentin Hristov. I was born in Bulgaria in 1970. My secondary education was music – playing piano and violin. Back then, in my home country, I started my first privately owned business – it was carpentry – mainly producing furnishing, wooden souvenirs and wall clocks. In 2003 I decided to move to the UK, where, in the beginning I kept on doing what I was doing in Bulgaria.

But soon I realized the electric violins’ market and its high demand could be a huge opportunity. It seemed to me that my love with violins from my childhood years and my carpentry business background could form a nice partnership. It looked like the best time to start working what you most love has already come. This led to establishing my UK based company – Fortevio – in 2010.

I choose the name firstly because it was unique in its kind, and secondly, because in Italian it means “strong violin”. In the field of music, the word FORTE is used for showing where the music should sound loud.

Since then we have sold our unique electric violins in more than 4 continents, with our main target – USA, Canada, Europe.
We have successfully participated in the world exhibitions in Mondomusica Cremona (Italy, 2015); Cello Festival in Rutesheim (Germany, 2016); Musikmesse Frankfurt (Germany, 2016, 2017, 2018); The NAMM Show in Anaheim (California, USA, 2020), etc.

What makes our electric violins so good and wanted? The electric violin has 5 main qualities: Sound, Design, Playability, Lightweight, Quality finish. The Fortevio is made by a violinist for violinists and stands out for its extremely close tone to an acoustic violin. (Which is always the first impression of anyone who hears it). It can be played with dynamics (a quality that not every electric violin possesses).The pickup used in the Fortevio violins is unique – being passive electro-acoustic piezo pickup with a single build in piezo element. (I got a patent for electric violin pickup in 2017. ) The signal is very powerful and yet sensitive. This corresponds exactly to the type of strings and quality. The design is elegant and original and at the same time all the important and specific acoustic violin standards, dimensions and proportions are respected so that the violinist feels like he is playing an acoustic violin (as said by previous customers.)

And in the end: why should you buy an electric over an acoustic violin? The biggest advantage is that you can easily add fifth, sixth and seventh…strings to the same body and have them sound equally good (this depends mostly on the pickup). Another advantage is that some models are very quiet and can be played at home without the risk of disturbing the neighbors or even a sleeping child in the room.
Another advantage is the design. The possibilities here are literally endless… in terms of material and appearance.

So, if you are looking for great quality at reasonable prices, and good is not enough for you – you have come to the right place.