Thread: Violin Varnish

Good luck with that one. A piano technician friend of mine has just gone through the same problem looking for spirit varnish to repolish the soundboard in a piano he is restoring. Seems most just use laquer these days. I think just about all violin makers would kill you before they told you their polish recipe.

There was a program on SBS or ABC only a few nights ago about the quality and reputation of Stradivarias (sp.?) violins. In it was a segment on the effect of varnishes on the tonal qualities of violins and how each maker had his own recipe. Strad's was oil based (?) I think.

Hi Willbill,

there are violin varnish recipes on the net. Try http://www.violins.ca/varnish/violin...h_recipes.html it seems to be the best source. This site shows it being cooked. http://www.beardsmore.com.au/varnish.html

I dont know what you are making but I believe Tru-Oil is used by a lot of instrument makers (I know this guys does http://www.mandolinluthier.com/specifications.htm ). The big disadvantage of violin varnishes is that they take a long time to dry and finishing a violin can take months. I did a Mandola with TruOil in about three weeks. Goes on flat, dries hard and gets to a great gloss. By repute it is the cloest recipe to a violin varnish widely available.

The cost of these varnishes is to be expected. With the price of the AUD and the Euro..... plus there is a mystique that is perpetuated for marketing purposes. From what I have read most of the differences between the recipes are with the amount of colouring and hardeners.

As for the Strads they would sound fabulous without a varnish. Varnish detracts from tone as it adds mass to the instrument so they would probably sound better without it!

MIMF has a dedicated section for bowed instruments http://www.mimf.com/cgi-bin/[email protected]@.ee744ce and hopefully Mathew will weigh in, Im sure he can add to this discussion

Thanks everybody for your sugestions and advice.
I saw that show on telly the other night to. It was quite interesting.
I've never built an instrument before. This is a violin kit from stewartMacDonald I dont play the violin But i am a guitarist. I picked the violin because I have limited space to work and I thought it might be a bit easier to build having no frets or trusrod ect. and cheaper too. Im very happy with it so far. I've taken my time and did my best to do everything properly Read alot about it off the net and books from the library I bought a book on the subject and watched alot of stuff on Utube. Next I intend to build a ukalaly then I'll be ready for a guitar.
thanks again bye.