They are physically one and the same it is just the style of music that one plays that determines what they call it.For example,in classical music.it's a violin but if you play bluegrass,folk or country etc... it's a fiddle.Fiddle is essentially a colloquial term for a violin.This is my understanding but if i'm wrong...
Re: fiddle V violin 16:34 on Saturday, February 10, 2007
My understand of it all and what I have been told is this, the violin and fiddle are one in the same except two distinctions, the music played, violin for classical, and fiddle for everything else, and the bridge is slightly sanded down on the fiddle for the easier playing of double stops in bluegrass, country and folk. Other than that, they are the same.