This article is about the standard violin

This article is about the standard violin

Violin
A standard modern violin shown from the front and the side
String instrument
Other names	fiddle
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	321.322-71 (Composite chordophone sounded by a bow)
Developed	Early 16th century
Playing range
Related instruments
·        Violin family (viola, cello, double bass) ·        Viol family (some historians argue the double bass developed from the bass viol)
Musicians
·        List of violinists
Builders
·        List of luthiers

Part of a series on

Fiddle and Violin

Basic physics

Fiddlers

History of the violin

Luthiers

Musical styles

Violin making and maintenance

Violin technique

Violin construction

Violin family

Violinists

The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the Violino piccolo and the pochette, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings, usually tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings. It can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and, in specialized cases, by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow (col legno).

Violins are important instruments in a wide variety of musical genres. They are most prominent in the Western classical tradition, both in ensembles (from chamber music to orchestras) and as solo instruments. Violins are also important in many varieties of folk music, including country music, bluegrass music, and jazz. Electric violins with solid bodies and piezoelectric pickups are used in some forms of rock music and jazz fusion, with the pickups, plugged into instrument amplifiers and speakers to produce sound. The violin has come to be incorporated in many non-Western music cultures, including Indian music and Iranian music. The name fiddle is often used regardless of the type of music played on it.

The violin was first known in 16th-century Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries to give the instrument a more powerful sound and projection. In Europe, it served as the basis for the development of other stringed instruments used in Western classical music, such as the viola.^[1][2][3]

Violinists and collectors particularly prize the fine historical instruments made by the Stradivari, Guarneri, Guadagnini, and Amati families from the 16th to the 18th century in Brescia and Cremona (Italy) and by Jacob Stainer in Austria. According to their reputation, the quality of their sound has defied attempts to explain or equal it, though this belief is disputed.^[4][5] Great numbers of instruments have come from the hands of less famous makers, as well as still greater numbers of mass-produced commercial "trade violins" coming from cottage industries in places such as Saxony, Bohemia, and Mirecourt. Many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers.

The components of a violin is usually made from different types of wood. Violins can be strung with gut, Perlon, or other synthetic, or steel strings. A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier or violinmaker. One who makes or repairs bows is called an archetier