speaking of violin innovations, Sorcha has a fiddle with machine tuners rather than the pressure-fit pegs.

here is a similar set of tuners on a viola
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977049067



here is a page i found which searching for a picture...
http://www.fretlessfingerguides.com/violin_tuner.html
there is a sound file that helps you hear the notes
that the 4 fiddle strings should be tuned to.. I do not
know what to do to help anyone who cannot tell if their
strings match those notes...