The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body.

The Electro Stringed Instrument Corporation, National String Instrument Corporation and Vega Company sold electric violins in the 1930s and 1940s;[1] Fender advertised an electric violin in 1958 (first production model pictured at the head of this page) but withdrew it at the point of production.

[10] There has been a great deal more commercial success for manufacturers of electric violins since the 1990s, both for well known, established companies and new independent makers too.

Several "semi-hollow" designs exist, containing a sealed, but hollow resonating chamber that provides some approximation of acoustic violin sound while reducing susceptibility to feedback.

Today stated "The perfect blend of classical instruments and rock and roll is giving kids across the country a whole new appreciation for music."

Guitar/coil type magnetic pickups require the use of violin strings that have ferrous (iron-containing, as in steel) metal wraps or cores.

A few single-coil guitar-style magnetic systems are available, The small body size and arced string arrangement of a violin limit the amount of space available for coil placement.

This buffers the signal to avoid low frequency loss and microphonic noise pickup in the instrument cable.

Preamplification is often done by an external signal processor, but some electric violin body designs provide internal housing for preamp circuitry.

Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani also focuses in Jaakko Lemmetty's electric violin parts.

Urban Blitz of protopunk rock band Doctors of Madness used the instrument to original effect in the mid 1970s; also using baritone Violectra.

[17] Classically trained violinist Emilie Autumn has also made extensive use of the electric violin, particularly on her instrumental Laced/Unlaced album.

In Brazil, the Electric Violin appears in the work of Marcus Viana, like "Sagrado Coração da Terra" (Sacred Heart of Earth), a Symphonic Prog/Progressive Rock, and Transfonika Orkestra (soundtracks), besides many others.

General, monophonic pickup-to-MIDI systems, such as those manufactured by Roland and Yamaha have been available for decades, and may be adapted to standard, electric violins.

Notable artists who have performed using a MIDI-enabled violin include L. Subramaniam, Jean-Luc Ponty, Charles Bisharat, Drew Tretick, Gregory Docenko, Dorothy Martirano[23] and Boyd Tinsley from Dave Matthews Band.