With 4 strings the violin has a range of over four octaves, including semitones and many microtones. Earliest instruments were made by Giovan Giacoba dalla Corna and Zanetto Montichiaro, later famous violin makers included Amati 1525-1611 (the first famous violin maker), Giuseppe Guarneri 1666-1739 and of course Antonio Stradivari 1644-1737. Strings were originally made of gut, but from about 1700 the G string was wound with silver wire and modern instruments have the G D and A strings made in this way whilst the E string is generally made of steel. These heavier strings plus tighter string tension were needed to produce the stronger sound needed to fill the large concert halls. Major modifications in the construction of the violin came in mid 18^th century, the neck and fingerboard were lengthened, bridge made higher, the soundpost thickened, the soundboard made thinner, and the chin rest invented in about 1820 by Louis Spohr.

RESOURCES
WEBCRAWLER' - search results for violin
YAHOO!' - search results for violin
LYCOS' - search results for violin
NAXOS - have a great Composer List, and Musical Terms too.
Archive of Photos of Classical Composers
Classic Net
J S Bach Homepage - is a joint project of Jan Hanford and Jan Koster. So, who does what?Jan Hanford in North America Created and maintains: The main home page, BWV Database Recommended Recordings, Timeline, Links to Bach-related web sites
Her web server is located in California.
Jan Koster in Europe Created and maintains: Biography, Bibliography, Tourist Guide, Portraits,The Cantatas Project
His web server is located in The Netherlands.
The Violin Site
Bach music for violin

RECOMMENDED BOOK
Teaching Genius
Dorothy DeLay and the Making of a Musician
Barbara Lourie Sand
Dorothy DeLay was  a renouned and influential violin teacher who taught at the Juillard School of Music in New York from 1948.   Her pupils included Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Sarah Chang and Nigel Kennedy.   Barbara Sand sat in on classes over a period of 10 years recording conversations and lessons, and interviewing students, their managers and parents.