Composer Bear McCreary, who has done the scores of the Battlestar Galactica TV series blogs about his music and the instruments used. He has scored some other TV and movie productions, but this one is probably his most impactful work thusfar.

The violin plays a very important role in the music of Battlestar Galactica. It is played by Paul Cartwright, described by Bear McCreary as "an accomplished musician, but on this gig he rarely gets to sound like a traditional violinist. Instead, he uses his electric violin rig to create other-wordly textures, ranging from the haunting and mysterious to the screeching and terrifying. He often develops sweet chorale passages by layering multiple tracks on top of one another, or has been known to scream at the top of his lungs into his violin pick up, with every effect turned on while riding the wah pedal." A bit of googling revealed that Paul Cartwright is also the violinist of Crosby Loggins. On their myspace page you can listen some of their jazzy / funky songs.

Bear further describes the role of the electric violin in the Battlestar Galactica soundscapes. There is also two audio fragments on the site (1, 2).