What's the Difference Between a Violin and a Fiddle? 

I can only speak from experience, albeit I came to violin late in life, and violin is not my first instrument. I spent a few years living near the Rocky Mount region of Virginia, where I had dozens of antique fiddles pass through my hands. This was Old German-Baptist and Amish country. Fiddlers made many more adjustments than just sawing down the bridge, such as sawing the pegs, raising or lowering the fingerboard (with a wedge), changing out the necks, moving the bridges slightly away from the f-holes, and even using a deer-bone bridge. Also, the bows tend to have so much rosin that a puff of rosin appears like a genie when you play the fiddle. That's not even mentioning the music and styles fiddlers play versus violinists. Violinists play; Fiddlers fiddle. Many of these violins were from the 1700s and 1800s; many of them said strat faciebat inside, although a lot of them had cracks. When one picks up the violin, one can instantly tell it's a fiddle, and one can even sense the story of the violin and how many hands it had passed through, and how long since it had been played (or sitting in the attic). That clairvoyance, at least for me, comes from living in the mountains and flat-foot dancing with these guys at their blue-grass gatherings and attending their tractor-pulls (all of which I have done). They are good people, and I miss them, as I am back in the city. A fiddle is a violin, yes, but after my experience, I personally would not call a violin a fiddle. It's like a square versus a rectangle. In my opinion, a fiddle is distinctly different, including the story and the history behind it, as well as the wild modifications the good ol' boys have made to them over the centuries. A violin has specifications, and I would not for a moment call a professional violin a fiddle. That being said, I have been to Shar Music when I lived in Mid-Michigan. Shar is amazing. Shar is a fine establishment, and the string world benefits greatly from your shop and your expertise.

kinda late for it, but actually in the context of Bluegrass , country and folk violin , you are absolutely right, but fiddle as instrument refers to a prior instrument in the viol family, wich much later became the violin family. they vary much more on form, sound and playstyles, . this tradition survived in Brazil, where there's a somewhat recent revival.of the rabeca , with 3 ,4.or five strings, usually with less.cleaner sound than the violin , there are really no rules tough, look for forró de rabeca if u wanna know more about this brazilian folk music, and never say to a brazilian fiddler or rabequeiro as violinist, some can get really angry😂

Thanks alot! ❤❤

Thanks Bud, that helps clarify a bunch. I am wanting to learn fiddle,so thanks again my friend. Kenneth

Great!

Thanks

I don't have much problem hitting 2 strings at once with a normally curved bridge! 😅 Course I'm not a "professional". 🙂

I do know Classical players who use Steel Core strings for easier playability, & in fact some Fiddlers were Classically trained.

Lovely tee-shirt by the way

Pork Soda is a great album! Thanks for the video.

Hi! What violin did you use for this demonstration?!

I cringed when I saw the title of the video, then sighed in relief when you switched hands.

"I have a retirement plan..I plan on playing the fiddle" as the saying goes on my t-shirt.

Attitude

Well, fiddles in past times (more than a century ago) were made with scrap material found here and there, it was poor man hand made because no money to buy a "real" violin. Violins, like it looks in modern days, were luthier's art and pricey - available mostly for classical musicians playing for the bourgeoisie and Kings. So it is a modern conception that fiddles and violins are the same; only since industrial mass production has lowered violins' price so almost everyone can now buy one - exception, in poor countries today, sitll many people make their own instruments with scrap material savaged here and there in garbages...

Here's a dumb question. if Violin == Fiddle, then Cello == ?

Violin is filled with judgement and pretence

A violin uses strings and a fiddle uses "straings"...a violin is what you play in a symphony and a fiddle is what you play in a barn...a violin is what you play to make music and a fiddle is what you play to make money! Yeehaw!