Wisconsin violinist receives 'iconic' custom electric violin after delays

MILWAUKEE - Ashley Rewolinski ordered a custom electric violin to match her favorite pair of shoes. More than a year after it was supposed to arrive, she wrote to Contact 6.

Looking for a distinctive violin

The backstory:

Ashley Rewolinski isn’t your typical violinist. She’s not only performed at weddings, but in caves and graveyards.

Rewolinski wanted an equally distinctive instrument. She found inspiration in a pair of Jimmy Choos.

"I saw this pair of shoes. They were pink and sparkly," said Rewolinski. "I thought, not only do I want those shoes but that’s exactly what I want the Viper to look like."

Viper Electric Violin

What To Know:

A Viper is an electric violin with a distinctive, futuristic design. Its maker calls it "an icon in its own right, trusted by artists who play the biggest stages…"

Getting Rewolinski’s hands on her custom Viper took several beats longer than anticipated.

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"There were rumors circulating online that the wait time increased to four years and my heart sank," Rewolinski said.

Ordering a Viper

Timeline:

Rewolinski ordered her sparkly, hot pink Viper in 2023. The deposit was $2,400. The wait time was two years.

"At this point, we are well after the two-year mark. We’re after the three-year mark," Rewolinski said.

Rewolinski has emails back and forth with the seller, Electric Violin Shop, about delays with the violin maker, Wood Violins. In July 2026, the deadline for her Viper was extended, again.

Weeks before Rewolinski played the instrument for Contact 6, she filed a complaint with Contact 6 after a run-in with FOX6 Meteorologist Tom Wachs at a nature center.

"He’s like, here’s the link you should absolutely submit for it, so I said "ok," Rewolinski said. "I think it was within 24 hours that there was actually, like, a clear path moving forward."

Response from the shop

What they're saying:

The Electric Violin Shop told Contact 6 it offers "custom violins from numerous violin makers...(but has) no control of delivery timelines."

Chris Guin, member-owner of the shop, said that Wood Violins "experienced a growing and severe backlog" after its shop foreman’s cancer diagnosis and eventual death.

Wood Violins entered a buyout agreement, then relocated, adding to its wait times.

After Contact 6 reached out to the Electric Violin Shop, Rewolinski got an update.

"They sent a picture," said Rewolinski. "They said, "if we have to put a definitive date on it, it would be September 20th."

The other side:

The new CEO of Wood Violins Cleveland, Kent Dockus, said in less than a year, they’ve completed every Viper in the backlog they took on. He said that includes orders dating back more than four years.

"We want every customer who has waited so patiently to receive the instrument they envisioned," Dockus said.

Dockus said the loss of Wood Violins’ longtime builder was profound, and they had to rebuild their production team.

"His prolonged illness and eventual death resulted in the loss of not only a builder but also of important institutional knowledge that kept production on pace," said Dockus.

Dockus says Rewolinski’s order "required extensive attention" and extended production hours. Wood Violins is building its production capacity to prevent delays like Rewolinski’s in the future.

Violin arrives

Local perspective:

Rewolinski’s Viper arrived Sept. 14.

"I opened it up, I first saw the color and it exceeded my expectations," Rewolinski said.

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Rewolinski is confident that Contact 6 helped to get a status update on her Viper and to speed up its delivery. However, her Viper is highly customized and not something to you could simply put a rush order on. It’s unclear how significantly Contact 6 sped up the instrument’s delivery.

Bottom line: Rewolinski has her Viper and is extremely happy with it.

Submit an inquiry

What you can do:

If you have a consumer complaint and want Contact 6 to investigate, you can call 414-586-2666. Or log on to the FOX6 website, and you’ll see the ‘Submit an Inquiry’ button right on the home page.

Statement from Kent Dockus, new owner and CEO of Wood Violins Cleveland

"We recognize how much anticipation goes into ordering a custom Viper. It is regrettable that Ashley’s experience included such an extended wait.

"The loss of longtime instrument builder Joe Domjan in 2022 was a profound personal and operational loss for the Wood Violins community. It required a number of interrelated adjustments including relocating the workshop and rebuilding the production team. Mark and Laura worked tirelessly to stabilize production in the years that followed to serve customers through that difficult period.

"As a new company carrying the brand forward (Wood Violins brand was acquired in December of 2025 by Wood Violins Cleveland, LLC), Wood Violins Cleveland has made fulfilling those outstanding orders central to our mission. We want every customer who has waited so patiently to receive the instrument they envisioned, and we are building the production capacity and processes to prevent waits like this from happening in the future.

"Ashley placed her order before our ownership transition. Our team built and delivered her Viper within eight months of the transition, including its distinctive custom pink finish, which required extensive attention and multiple extended hours in production. We are happy to have delivered a finish specifically designed and requested to match her shoes. In less than a year, we have completed every Viper build in the backlog we took on, including orders dating back more than four years.

"That progress does not erase the wait Ashley and other customers experienced. Earning their trust means following through on our commitments, communicating clearly, and delivering instruments they are proud to play. We’re delighted Ashley is happy with her Viper, and we look forward to supporting her for years to come."

Statement in part from Chris Guin, Member-Owner of Electric Violin Shop

"As a retail musical instrument shop offering custom violins from numerous violin makers including Wood Violins, we ultimately have no control of delivery timelines, although we always provide honest, conservative estimates to manage customer expectations accurately. In Ashley’s rather unique case, a series of uncontrollable events has delayed completion of her Viper…
Wood Violins experienced a growing and severe backlog due mainly to their shop foreman’s cancer diagnosis. His prolonged illness and eventual death resulted in the loss of not only a builder but also of important institutional knowledge that kept production on pace.

"As the custom order backlog grew worse, first we extended the upfront delivery timeline listed on our site to 2-4 years, in an attempt to dissuade all but the most patient customers from pursuing a custom Viper violin. Later, as deliveries fell further and further behind, we removed the custom Viper option from our site entirely. During that time we focused our efforts on transparency with waiting customers rather than collecting deposits from new ones. This decision cost us business, but was aimed at sparing new customers an unknown and lengthy wait.

"Last year, as the old Wood Violins continued to struggle with production, they entered into a buyout agreement with Kent Dockus, who planned to streamline manufacturing and deliver on all existing orders promised by the prior ownership as quickly as possible. The company relocated to Cleveland, OH and retooled for production during a short transition period, which naturally added further to the wait time Ms. Rewolinski experienced. That said, they quickly got up to speed, and as Wood Violins’ biggest dealer, we can attest that Mr. Dockus’s new Wood Violins has made tremendous progress in 2026 on the custom Viper backlog, and we have fulfilled many of our customers’ long-awaited orders to their satisfaction…

"Ashley’s custom Viper, with its color matched to a specific designer shoe by Jimmy Choo, is as custom as it gets, and not a color that exists on any paint manufacturer’s color charts. The folks at Wood Violins searched until they found what they thought would be the closest match, painted her Viper with a full test coat, and then sent her photos of the instrument to get her final approval of the color.

"At this stage, as an instrument dealer, we have done everything we can to communicate and honor her requests. Since her violin is nearly finished, neither we nor the manufacturer can take any further action to speed up the process without risking damage to the finish and further delays. We look forward to getting her order completed, and putting Ashley’s custom Viper in her hands as quickly as possible."

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s Jenna Sachs and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.

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