Without machines, you can hand-make a violin. It takes a lot of skill, patience and practice - even some quality material is important to have.
You can watch the How it's Made: Violins video here: At Link
Seeing it with your own eyes will make it clear, hopefully.
Here are Stages in Violin Making by Hand by a professional violin maker in the traditional way (Derek Roberts)
- Select the wood, prepare and joint the plates
- Glue the blocks to the mould and shape them
- Prepare the ribs and bend to shape
- Complete the rib structure
- Make the linings and fix to the ribs
- Saw out and rough arch the back plates
- Saw out and rough arch the front plates, begin final arching
- Prepare, mark out and saw the neck block
- Carve the scroll
- Carve the pegbox and Flute the scroll
- Finish the outline
- Inlay the purfling
- Final arching
- Hollow out the back plate
- Hollow out the front plate and thickness the front and back
- Mark out the F holes
- Cut out the F holes
- Glue the back to the ribs
- Fit the bass bar to the front
- Close the box - remove the mould and glue the front on
- Shape the fingerboard and glue onto the neck block
- Set the neck into the body
- Finish the neck and back button
- Finish the edge and final scraping
That is for making a classical violin. It's a whole different thing for an electric violin.