“Violin” sounds like “vile inn.” A pun was printed in the Cadiz (OH) Sentinel on March 29, 1865:
 
“Why is a badly conducted hotel like a fiddle? Because it’s a vile inn.”
 
The modern joke was popularized by Sickipedia, as posted on Twitter by sickipediabot on March 3, 2011:
 
“The worst pub I’ve ever been in was called The Fiddle. It really was a vile inn.”
 
       
29 March 1865, Cadiz (OH) Sentinel, “Conundrums,” pg. 1, col. 4:
Why is a badly conducted hotel like a fiddle? Because it’s a vile inn.
 
Chronicling America
18 May 1865, Holmes County Farmer (Millersburg, OH), “Conundrums,” pg. 1, col. 4:
Why is a badly-conducted tavern like a fiddle? Because it’s a vile inn.
 
8 January 1874, The Youth’s Companion (Boston, MA), “Conundrums,” pg. 15, col. 3:
Why is a badly conducted hotel like a fiddle? Because it is a vile-inn.
       
Google Books
10,000 Jokes, Toasts & Stories
By Lewis Copeland and Faye Copeland
Garden City, NY: Doubleday
1965  
Pg. 859:
“Why do you call this the Fiddle Hotel?”
“Because it’s such a vile inn.”
 
Twitter
Lee Wallace
@_lwallace
Todays worst joke wont be beaten: The countrys worst pub is called the fiddle. Thats because its a vile inn.
6:13 AM - 3 Mar 2011
 
Twitter
Steve Stubbs
@thestevestubbs
The worst pub I’ve ever been in was called The Fiddle….. It really was a vile inn.
6:56 AM - 3 Mar 2011
   
Twitter
sickipediabot
@sickipediabot
The worst pub I’ve ever been in was called The Fiddle.
It really was a vile inn.
7:41 AM - 3 Mar 2011
 
Reddit—Jokes 
They called it the Fiddle Motel…..
submitted April 20, 2016 by DoggMcDogg
....but it was a vile inn.
 
Reddit—Jokes
Worst pub I’ve ever been to was called The Fiddle.
submitted March 10, 2017 by FigBug
It really was a vile inn.
 
Reddit—Jokes
The worst pub I’ve ever been to was called The Fiddle.
submitted October 1, 2018 by thewargingned
It really was a vile inn.