What is the difference between a violin & a fiddle?

Answer 1

A fiddle is set up differently - usually with a lower bridge so the strings are closer to the fingerboard. Also a fiddler usually uses different strings - as bright as he can get.

Answer 2

Fiddle is actually a word that originated in Europe, thought to have come from the region around Hungary - possibly from the wandering Romany Tribes (Gypsies) The fiddle was an earlier instrument, very similar to the violin, but much varied in shape and size.

The modern fiddle has one slightly different characteristic. It tends to use a flatter bridge, to facilitate double and triple stops (the use of two and three strings at the same time) Some of the modifications made to the modern fiddle may include:

A. A transducer, microphone, or coil type pickup so the instrument can be plugged directly into an amplifier.

B. A fifth string below - this is especially popular around the Nashville to Albuquerque area. It facilitates the Fiddle player when he or she plays behind a vocalist and wants to hold a note between low C and low G.

C. Geared tuning pegs. This is fairly rare and hard to find, but I have seen them, especially in the Central New York Area.

D. Guitar Strings. For some fiddle players, flat wound strings preferred by violin players, just aren't bright enough. For others, it's just the only strings they can get. Fiddle players generally prefer banjo or Mandolin strings because they have the loop, but they will even use fishing line in a pinch. An old friend of mine up in Calgery said that fish line worked just like them gutless strings and he was glad to have replacements handy when he was out on his boat because he caught more fish that way! He claimed that the fiddle made 'em hungry and kind of lulled 'em to sleep all at the same time! Nobody argued with him, could be because he caught his limit more often than most, and could be because he was almost as big as his boat!

The style in which the fiddle is held can also vary greatly. Some fiddle players play in the traditional style, but some will tuck the instrument into their elbow, Hold it on their knee like a cello, or even directly against their shoulder like a left handed rifle stance. I knew one fiddle player who held the instrument against his belly because he said "it helps me with my Indigestion!"

Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

They are physically the same. People who play country or folk music are more likely to call their instrument a a fiddle, and classical players are more likely to cal theirs a violin. But I have heard classical players jokingly call their priceless instruments *fiddles* - the same way that couture designers say that they are in *the rag business*.

Do people customize their instrument for personal preference? Sure. But basically, they are the same.

Answer 4

I have a Violin/Viola FAQ, and I think this is the most often asked question of any. In fact, being asked this question is the reason I started the FAQ in the first place, like 15 years ago. See:

Are the violin and the fiddle the same instrument?
http://beststudentviolins.com/StringCareSpecs.html#3

I wish people would Google this and quit asking it over and over again.

The second most asked question, BTW, is something like "I have a violin in my garage; is it a Strad?" And nobody can spell Stradavarius. See:

Requests to appraise an instrument
http://beststudentviolins.com/StringCareSpecs.html#2

Answer 5

As far as I know, none. A fiddle is a type of violin.

Answer 6

a fiddle is actually a reference to bluegrass country music, typically when the tempo is very fast. otherwise its all the same. the guy that said all the crap about the bridge is an air head, if an instrument had a flatter bridge it would be virtually unplayable.

Answer 7

Nothing, except the way it is played and the type songs used.