Violin

It's ironic that while violins are popular instruments for children to learn to play, they can also be pricey. The Montreal-based AVIVA Young Artists Program has set out to change that, by creating an inexpensive yet nice-sounding 3D-printed violin.

For his latest limited-edition build, the Violinmaster Telecaster Relic, Fender Custom Shop's Principal Master Builder Yuriy Shishkov has been inspired by the 1713 "Gibson-Huberman" Stradivarius owned and played by celebrated violinist Joshua Bell.

Who knew the venerable violin still had surprises in store for us, after nearly 500 years as one of the leading voices in music? A Tasmanian master bowmaker, has built a simple device that allows violinists to easily play four-or five-note chords.

If you're training to be a concert violinist, you don't want your technique to be merely "good enough." A new computer system may soon be able to help, as it uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify a user's bow technique, and could perhaps even tell them how to improve their performance.

At its most basic, the Modular Fiddle can be played like any other violin. But creator David Perry designed this instrument to explore the many different physical component shapes and tones made possible with 3D printing.

Student Sean Riley needed a violin to play a particular piece of music, but not one with the customary four strings. The piece called for an instrument with six strings. Instead of heading to the local music store, he opted to design and 3D-print a custom violin of his very own.

Spider silk may be known for being extremely strong, yet it's also elastic. With these dual qualities in mind, a Design Engineering postgrad from Imperial College London has created a one-of-a-kind violin … using silk spun by an Australian Golden Orb Spider.​

Gizmag first heard from Claudio Capponi about two years ago when he told us that he'd started working on a new musical instrument. Development has continued apace ever since and now the Liutaly iV electric violin is ready for its place in the spotlight.

MIT acousticians and fluid dynamicists have teamed up with violin makers to meticulously analyze hundreds of instruments from the Cremonese period. The findings not only reveal key design features, but also shed light on whether the development of the instruments was deliberate.

Here's one out of left field. Turkish musician Gorkem Sen has invented a new kind of musical instrument that incorporates fretted strings, coiled springs and drum membranes to create a range of haunting and beautiful sounds we've never heard before – at least, not this side of a synthesizer.

The O-Bow from Dr Dylan Menzies uses an optical sensor to track the movement of a traditional bow through a saddle-shaped guide to add realistic expression to sampled sounds played on a keyboard.

By twisting thousands of strands together, a Japanese researcher has managed to form working violin strings from spider silk.