Make it sound like I'm playing my guitar with a bow?

[WaveshapeIllusions]

I've pushed reverb quite a bit before, probably because I think it sounds awesome. More so than a volume pedal or slow gear, since it makes legato easier. You can start another note while one is decaying without having the levels go all weird.It works better on bass, but is still OK on guitar.

Take a reverb and cut the dry signal. You want a high roomsize and reverb time, no low cut, and a bit of pre delay. The swell and tone of the reverb has a very bowed feel, in the attack and decay. It sustains for a bit like a bow as well; different levels of feedback and reverb time can be used to get the sustain level desired.

To get a waveform closer to an actual violin, distortion works great.It also adds a bit of extra sustain to the tone. I think I used a Rat or Tubescreamer for it. The Tubescreamer would probably be better, since it's not as distorted. You don't need too much, just a bit of dirt. The TS would also help since it's got some mid boost, similar to one of a violin's resonances. A bit of high cut may help to smooth it out as well, though reverb generally rolls of the highs in a nice mellow way too.

A digital reverb work best of course, since there's a lot that you can adjust. I did use a spring reverb with decent results too but it wasn't as good on guitar. I haven't tried any of the delay-based reverbs here. I should try making one with distortion as a one-stompbox string simulator.

Hope this helps.