Ned Steinberger, inventor of the headless Steinberger basses and guitars that became quite famous in the 1980s, founded his current company NS Design in 1990 with a primary focus on bowed instruments – the violin, viola, cello and double bass. Ned explains, “Bowed electric instruments have been made since the mid-thirties. Unfortunately, most of these instruments are the victims of the misplaced idea that an electric instrument should sound exactly like its acoustic predecessor. I want to take it a step further, I want to see what these instruments can do when they are set free.”

We hope you enjoy Matt Bell's conversation with this instrument design genius and trailblazer in the bowed strings field. Follow our podcast on SoundCloud or subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play music.

The full line of NS Design instruments is available at electricviolinshop.com.