Varnish

What is the quality of the varnish?

There are a few components whose importance is underestimated and the varnish is certainly one of them. There are 2 types of varnishes, oil based and spirit based.25 Spirit based varnishes are a lot cheaper then the oil based varnishes.25

How does it affect the instruments performance?

Basically a good varnish, put on a well-made instrument, will help keep the instruments tone for a great number of years.13, 25 This is due to their strong dampening qualities (muffles the instruments tone), which in turn affects the violins response time.1, 4, 14

Spirit based varnishes sound much harsher and can stifle the sound quality of a violin.1, 2, 25 Where as oil based varnishes, even though they take a longer time to put on and takes longer to dry, brings a far better result in refining a violins tone especially in the long run.1, 2, 3, 4, 14, 25

What else is there to know?

Anchor 1

[1] Heron-Allen. Ed, Violin Making: As it was and is, 1885

[2] Wechsberg. J, The Violin, 1973

[3] Farga. F, Violins and Violinists, 1950

[4] Stowell. R, The Cambridge Companion to the Violin, 1995

[13] http://www.schleske.de/en/our-research/introduction-violin-acoustics/wood-and-varnish-analysis/acoustic-analysis-of-violin-varnish.html, 1998

[14] http://www.johnsonstring.com/strings-types-steel-core.htm, 2015

[25] Kulafrone, Ruth. Updated Research Project Questions. 2015. Email