Cremona already had a reputation for stringed instrument-making, and, under Amati’s influence, the city remained the center of violin-making excellence for generations. The violin itself is normally tuned in fifths (g, d′, a′, e″), although other tuning systems (called scordatura) have been used for special musical purposes; the viola is tuned one-fifth lower than the violin (c, g, d′, a′); and the cello is tuned exactly one octave below the viola (C, G, d, a). The double bass, which has had many different tunings and various numbers of strings over the years, is now tuned in fourths (E{sub prime}, A{sub prime}, D, G). Playing positions Amati built his violins with a mould therefore his measurements increasingly became precise. He created a more vaulted shape for the body as opposed to the flat soundboards of the violin’s predecessors. Literally hammered, a strongly accented effect produced by releasing each bowstroke forcefully and suddenly. Martelé can be played in any part of the bow. It is sometimes indicated in written music by an arrowhead.

Violins are tuned in perfect fifths, like all the orchestral strings (violin, viola, cello) except the double bass, which is tuned in perfect fourths. Each subsequent note is stopped at a pitch the player perceives as the most harmonious, "when unaccompanied, [a violinist] does not play consistently in either the tempered or the natural [just] scale, but tends on the whole to conform with the Pythagorean scale." [32] When violinists are playing in a string quartet or a string orchestra, the strings typically "sweeten" their tuning to suit the key they are playing in. When playing with an instrument tuned to equal temperament, such as a piano, skilled violinists adjust their tuning to match the equal temperament of the piano to avoid discordant notes. Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource referencePrinciples of Violin Playing and Teaching, by Ivan Galamian (1999), Shar Products Co. ISBN 0-9621416-3-1

The first electric violins to hit the market were hollow-bodied, resembling the shape of a standard acoustic violin, though, at the time, few violinists adopted the electric trend.

The one we’re familiar of today was developed at the end of the 1700s having evolved from older string instruments like Rabab and the Rebec.