Simply put, if you're in a posh concert hall playing a classical score, it's a violin. If you're playing a foot-stomping folk tune at a hoe-down, it's a fiddle.
Although Elanthia clearly divides fiddles and violins into seperate instruments, it still makes note of this being the primary division, as the prissy Chofupi Tibvaov refers to how the violin is the "suave cousin" of the fiddle.
To get right down to it, it doesn't really matter which you pick if you are going to learn to play one, unless you make it so. I have a violin instead of a fiddle, but only because my violin was a merchant instrument that looked cooler than the fiddle I had at the time. However, I'm perfectly willing to fiddle with it when the mood strikes. Oh, and I use a "fiddle bow" for my violin no matter which style of performance I'm playing.
Violins are currently available from Malik the True Bard's Instruments and Picks of southwestern Shard, Ilithi, and The House of Bardic Blues in central RiverHaven, Therengia.
The following customizations are available for violins:
| Wren-engraved | Mahogany | Satinwood | Cherrywood |
| Lemonwood | Chestnut | White ash | Lapis-inlaid |
| Gilded | Flower-engraved | Dragon-engraved | Phoenix-painted |
| Night black | Crude | Unfinished | Simple |
| Rosewood 4875L | Ebonwood 5625L | Cedar 10500L | Cherry 7800L |
| Spruce 3000L | Oak 975L | Ash 1050L | Walnut 3375L |
| Mahogany 6900L | Maple 750L | Pine 37L |