First off, I'm using this pickup on a classical violin. It's a Salzard (French made) from the late 1800's. I'm using the pickup mainly for solo church services. First, the good: This pickup is very easily mounted. It took me less than 5 minutes to set it up the way I wanted. I mounted the adhesive and 1/4" jack right underneath/in front of the chinrest. Don't worry, the adhesive is strong, but can be removed without hurting the finish of your violin (I was worried about that too). As for sound, I hooked it up to my Roland AC-60 acoustic amp with some reverb and the sound is perfect. The pickup picks up the highs very well without sounding tinny. The lows are a bit mellow but still sound great. Now the gripes: The pickup is pretty sensitive. It picks up knocks...and if your bow movements aren't smooth or if your bow is over rosined it will pick up those tiny scratches on bow changes. Also, because the pickup is mounted to the bridge, when you are not plugged in and amped, I found a slight loss in tone (slightly muted) when I play unplugged. It's not very much at all, but noticable to the keen ear. All in all, I would highly recommend this pickup for someone looking to amp their violin but don't want to spend too much money. The amped sound far exceeded my expectations, and the value absolutely cannot be beat. The quality and craftsmenship is excellent. You can just tell by looking at the box when you get it.