Although there have been modifications to the instrument over the centuries, the violin of the 1600s is to all intents and purposes the same used today, including the f-shaped sound holes, the polished body with separate front and back, and the wooden tuning pegs. A straight and adjustable bow, the use of metal strings and the addition of a chin-rest were all in place by the nineteenth century.

For Mozart and early works of Beethoven, no chin rest is employed. (Louis Spohr claims in his Violinschule [Vienna, 1832] that he devised a chin rest around 1822.) While of uncertain pedigree, Chase's 'Classical' violin is responsive and produces a lovely tone (Mozart's own violin was also an anonymous Tyrolean instument).

The Indian Classical violinists' playing posture is different from that of his western counterpart. The western violinist stands with his feet at a right angle and holds the violin between the left collarbone and chin, the instrument at perpendicular slant to the body. The left hand provides the other support to the instrument.

The South Indian violinist sits cross-legged on the floor and balances the instrument between his chest and the anklebone of his right foot, on which rests the scroll of the violin. This posture facillitates the free movement of the left hand along the fingerboard, particularly in producing the gamakas (graces) so integral to the carnatic mode. It also necessitated appropriate changes in bowing technique, the changes being duly made.