He made violins in the morning, very early! (5)
I believe the answer is:
amati
'he made violins in' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'morning very early' is the wordplay.
'morning' becomes 'am' (as in at:00 AM).
'very early' becomes 'ati' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'am'+'ati'='AMATI'
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for amati that I've seen before include "fiddling Italian family" , "Famous violin family" , "Renowned violin-making family" , "Italian craftsmen" , "fine cello" .)