Mute violin

The mute violin is a violin without or with a very shallow sound box. The instrument has a quiet, lean sound. The mute violin has historically been used by traveling musicians, and as an exercise instrument in situations where the sound of a violin is experienced as annoying by neighbouring people. Mute violins are known to exist since the eighteenth century, but their use never became widespread. Leopold Mozart made mention of the instrument in his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756).