On Varnishing

I used to dread the process of varnishing a violin.  Even thinking about it kept me up at night as I anticipated an outcome that I wasn't happy with.  I'm a visual person, and I have opinions about what looks "right" to me, and it seemed that I couldn't ever get the varnish to look the way I wanted it to.  I didn't want it to be totally uniform and perfect (the factory look), but it needed a sense of being intentional, and a kind of aged look without intentional antiquing.

Part of the problem, in retrospect, was that I was using a varnish that was too tacky and difficult to apply, but more of the problem was in how I was applying it and also how uptight I was during the process of varnishing.  I would kind of freak out if I sensed that the varnish was getting too streaky on the top as I was brushing it on, and since I wasn't sure how to remedy that streakiness, I'd kind of panic.

Needless to say, I've had a change of heart about varnish.  I actually enjoy it now.  Largely thanks to some good advice and a good varnish recipe, I started making my own oil varnish in my back yard here, and also gained the insight that wet oil varnish is meant to stay workable for as long as you need it to.  If it starts getting streaky, just rub it out and move it around.  Relax!  Apply thin coats that are heavily pigmented so that you don't need too many to get the color right.

Varnishing can make or break an instrument; after spending months carving, scraping, and fussing to get a really nice looking violin "in the white," a poor varnish job can cheapen the whole look and create an expectation of a bad sounding instrument. As I mentioned before, I'm a person who really cares about the aesthetic and the whole "vibe" of the violin, so by the time I start varnishing, the instrument has been through a lot of scrutiny to get it looking the way I want it to (not that I'm always totally successful with this!).  You see why I'm such a slow builder.   But rather than dreading the varnish stage, I've come to think of it as one of the final steps before stringing up the instrument, which is the ultimate joy in violin making. . .

Quirky but cool

Had this fiddle in my shop the other day, unusual f holes.  Label says "Made in Austria" and that's it.  Pretty nice sounding instrument, actually, played by a really good local player (which always helps out the instrument :)

Awful Purfling

This is from a poor quality 1900s Strad copy (why do I work on these?)  I suppose there's no question that it was done by hand (perhaps its only redeeming value), but obviously that particular hand couldn't have cared less about whether it looked good or not -- which is probably the most opposite from a real Stradivari as one could be. This example is case in point that older is -not- always better !!

Rib cage done

Ribs and linings are complete.  Here are the ribs before linings:

And here is a closeup of one corner block showing the linings installed: 

Now I get to join plates -- and I'll be a happy camper when that's done :)  After that comes all the fun stuff.

Next One

Still amazed at how long it takes to do a decent job of bending ribs, using curly wood that is predisposed to cracking.   I see why Stradivari often used much plainer maple for ribs than for the back -- I should take his lead on this, but for this next violin it's already too late.  I've gotten into it with some nice looking (and curly) big leaf maple.  I did finally get a couple of C bout ribs to cooperate quite nicely, and will wrangle with the rest of them tomorrow. 

Spending hours cutting, scraping (to 1 mm), and bending ribs, only to have a bunch of them break -- we violin makers are an unusual breed.

My Latest

Now it's varnishing time!

An Assorted Collection

I took this pic the other day when I was figuring out how to arrange and hang some instruments on the wall in our living room.  It wasn't meant to be much of a photo, but I kinda like it!  The violin was my grandfather's -- it's a nice looking German made instrument labeled Robert A. Dölling.  The varnish on the top is a little bit chippy in the corners, so I keep it out of circulation, but I still like having it out, hanging on the wall.