A Guide to Violin Varnish - A Selection of Classic Articles on the Development and Qualities of Different Violin Varnishes (Violin Series)

Various

• Publisher: Teeling Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781447459439
• eBook ISBN: 9781528764926
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

This book contains classic material dating back to the 1900s and before. The content has been carefully selected for its interest and relevance to a modern audience. Carefully selecting the best articles from our collection we have compiled a series of historical and informative publications on the subject of violins. The titles in this range include "A Guide to Violin Strings" "A History of Violins in England" "Paganini and the Violin" and many more. Each publication has been professionally curated and includes all details on the original source material. This particular instalment, "A Guide to Violin Varnish" contains information on the development and qualities of different violin varnishes. It is intended to illustrate aspects of violin construction and serves as a guide for anyone wishing to obtain a general knowledge of the subject and understand the field in its historical context. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

VIOLIN VARNISH.

PERHAPS the most interesting subject in connection with violins, after the experiments of Savart, referred to in my last chapter, is the Varnish—that inscrutable mystery, or lost art, which has been a puzzle to all violin-makers for over a hundred years. And yet in the face of a general acknowledgment that the art of making this varnish has been lost, I do not suppose there is a violin-maker in Europe who will not offer to sell you “amber varnish,” or if he does not so offer, he will perhaps tell you that he keeps it only for his own use. Throughout these chapters I have employed the term “amber varnish,” whenever I have had occasion to refer to that subject. As opposed to that of “spirit varnish,” it was likely to be better understood than any other, and it is the one universally in use for the purpose of distinguishing the kind employed by the Cremonese makers (with the one exception already mentioned) down to the days of Storioni. It is, however, a misleading term. What we call amber is a natural product found in many places in small quantities, but it is chiefly by the shores of the Baltic, between Memel and Dantzic, and particularly in the neighbourhood of Kœnigsberg, where it is collected in large quantities for purposes of commerce. It is supposed to be an exudation from the buried pines, and is found on and near the sea at these places chiefly after heavy storms, its collection being sometimes a rather dangerous occupation, as the fishermen walk into the sea up to the neck, and, glancing along the surface of the water to detect its presence, fish it up into a kind of sack attached to long poles. When they collect it in this manner they do so in companies, in order to assist each other in case of accident. They also procure it by means of mining in Sicily and Poland, and gather it in the beds of brooks and at the mouths of rivers in Siberia and elsewhere. Pieces are occasionally picked up along the shores of Norfolk, Essex, and Sussex, and it occurs at places inland in Switzerland and France. It has even been found in deposits of the London clay at Kensington, and in the greens-and formation in the United States, but this amber yields a varnish pre-eminently unfitted for violins, because of its hardness and want of elasticity, and it was probably never in olden times employed for this purpose. Its rigidity would effectually restrain the free vibration of the instrument, this latter quality being an absolute necessity in a violin. One of the chief reasons for choosing pine for the belly is its elasticity, and it would be curious to find the Cremonese makers—so wise in all other points—employing a varnish which would tend to obstruct the effectual exercise of the very quality which they so highly prized. That kind of copal which is here known by the names of “dammar,” “Indian copal,” and “gum animi,” and which is a product of the Vateria Indica, one of the Sumatra-camphor family of trees, was, in former times, called “white amber,” as was likewise a mixture of oil and Grecian wax, to which they also gave the name of “amber varnish,” and it is not unlikely that the error in description may have so arisen, for it is pretty nearly certain now that what we call amber was not in use as a material for the manufacture of varnish during and anterior to the time of Stradivari. The researches made in this direction yield very strong evidence that they then did not know how to solve amber or the hard copal of Calcutta, and that they did not employ these substances in their varnishes. Indeed the proof of this latter position is almost conclusive. For example, a violin by the brothers Amati (Hieronymus and Antonius) was rubbed with a moist linen cloth until the surface warmed and gave off the peculiar odour of mastic mixed with that of linseed oil. A Joseph (son of Andrew) Guarnerius, treated in the same manner, yielded the odour of benzoin, as did also a Joseph del Jesu. Other two instruments by this last maker, when submitted to the same process, gave off the odour of mastic and linseed oil, as in the case of the brothers Amati. From these and other experiments it is evident that the Cremonese makers did not always employ the same materials in their varnishes, and that they always employed the soft resins, such as mastic, sandarach, benzoin, and perhaps, soft copal or dammar. In no case did the operator detect the odour of animi (hard copal) or the very persistent one of the resin called Lubân Matti, a product of two native trees of the Somali country, and which is supposed to be the substance originally known as “elemi.”

Besides these experiments, there is a certain amount of literary evidence which is corroborative of the position here indicated, if it be admitted that, whatever the materials or methods employed, they could be no secret, but a matter of common knowledge. And I think this must be allowed, for the same style of varnish, with variations in colour, prevailed for over a hundred years, and was practised by nearly as many different violin makers in different places down to the time of Stradivari, when varnish making as a general art made a considerable advance. The probability would seem to be that this so-called “amber varnish” was the ordinary varnish of commerce then in use, and was only discontinued when the more perfect spirit varnishes for general purposes—though not, as it turned out, for violins—began to be made. Assuming this to be correct, it is found that about the year 1550 the materials in common use for varnishes were benzoin, galipot, Venice turpentine, linseed oil, white amber (a mixture of oil and wax, which was procured from pines in Calabria), mastic and sandarach. The colouring matters were chiefly saffron, sandal wood, dragon’s blood, and Brazil wood. In 1564 the same materials are still in use. About 1685 were employed elemi, animi, white amber (this time signifying dammar), mastic and sandarach, turpentine, and so on, down to 1713, when the resins in use were gum-lac, sandarach, mastic, soft copal, called at this time “false amber,” and bitumen of Judea. The first trace of amber and hard copal being employed in the making of varnish dates from 1737, the very year in which Stradivari died. It was called “Martin Varnish,” and was discovered or invented by a M. Delaporte, a brother-in-law of Martin. M. Martin received a patent for its manufacture, dated 18th February, 1744. Thirty years before this the solving of amber for a varnish had been tried and failed. During the time Martin carried on the manufacture the process remained a secret, as they were not obliged in those days to give a description of inventions, but it was subsequently published in 1772.

These details may serve to show that the term “amber varnish” is, as I said, a misleading one. The resins employed by the Cremonese makers appear, both from literary evidence and direct tests, to have been precisely the same as those in use to-day, the modern difficulty lying in the methods employed for solving these resins, and in determining the colouring matter with which they succeeded in charging them. The veins of the wood can be seen through these colours almost as clearly as if one were looking at them through a glass. It is, unfortunately for more definite research, almost impossible to subject the Cremonese varnish, in its present condition, to chemical analysis, because some of its constituents are long ago oxidised; and, besides, it would be almost as difficult to encounter a person in possession of a fine instrument, whose varnish is intact, who would suffer it to be meddled with. Some violins have, however, been tested in the manner cited above, and with the results stated. That the great Cremonese instruments were not covered with what is termed an “oil varnish”—another phrase as misleading as that of “amber varnish”—may be easily decided by rubbing them with spirits of wine, which will be found irresistible; while, if the same process is repeated upon any article varnished with amber or hard copal, it will scarcely touch them. Anyone, indeed, who has tried to clean a genuine old Italian instrument by the simplest means, knows how difficult it is to avoid taking off some of its varnish.

It is absolutely necessary that the wood of which a violin is made be thoroughly dry, and this process must be accomplished naturally. It will occupy, sometimes, a period of five or six years. If the wood be not dry, the application of the varnish, by preventing the evaporation of the remaining moisture, would simply hasten that decay which Liebig has described as being a slow combustion, caused by the putrescence of the vegetable albumen. Many experiments have, from time to time, been tried for the purpose of accelerating this desiccation by saturating the wood with compounds, but these have only resulted in failure. All foreign substances artificially introduced into wood have, up till now—with the one exception already named, the mother liquor of salt works—simply increased its density, and rendered it more easily broken. The preference which Savart expressed for oil varnish, because in penetrating the wood it gave it more consistence, was an opinion founded, apparently, upon another error, for in violin making the driest woods—that is, those which have lost their resins—are invariably selected, and to cause them to absorb in any degree a portion of that which it is desirable they should be free from, would be an entirely retrograde step. But, in applying an oil varnish, that is what would really happen, unless the instrument had been previously sized, for the first two or three coats would sink into the wood and remain completely dull, until it could absorb no more, when the instrument would be sized by the varnish itself. The violin would then be saturated with the essential oil, a portion of the resins and colouring matter, and the rest would remain on the surface. These resins, thus deprived of their oil, finding themselves, as it were, abandoned, would dry quickly, while losing a considerable portion of the elasticity which ought to have been communicated to them. More coats would be necessary in order to obtain the required brilliancy and solidity, and, no hard resins being employed, the varnish would become very friable from having lost, in part, the excipient which ought to protect them, and when, in the course of time, these upper coats became oxidised or rubbed off, the under ones would fall away in powder. Besides the injury to the sonority of the wood caused by the absorption of the essential oil, which would be sucked in as by a sponge, this process would entail an entirely useless thickness in the varnish, and the tone of the instrument would materially suffer in consequence.

It, therefore, became necessary to consider whether the Cremonese makers had not employed some kind of sizing process prior to the application of the varnish, for their coats are so transparent and so thin as not to be otherwise explained. Various experiments were tried with fish, Flanders, and other glues, but these were found too heavy. Egg albumen—the viscid liquor found under the beaten white of egg after a repose of fifteen or eighteen hours—was found to contract the wood, because, although it is very light, it has a remarkable degree of tenacity. Dextrine, dissolved in water, was also tried. This sizing did not in any way injure the vibration, but, after drying, it had a pasty look, which spoiled the polish, and when the varnish was applied made it look “clotty.” The yellow tone so prevalent in many violins, even after the varnish has been used up, suggested the notion that the Cremonese makers sized their instruments with resinous gums soluble in alcohol, such as gamboge and aloes, which latter is said to have the property of preserving the wood from the attacks of the worm. These resins, dissolved in alcohol, make an excellent sizing, do not injure the vibration, nor the dryness of the wood, as the alcohol evaporates immediately, the solution penetrating the wood but slightly, and the molecules of these resins having a coherence insufficient to cause any injurious effect. From many experiments, needless to detail here, a conviction was attained that it was thus many of the Italian makers sized their instruments. Those on which this yellow tone is not found may have been sized with a varnish of sandarach and alcohol. The aloes and the gamboge were, however, found to be preferable. If gamboge is employed alone, a clear yellow is obtained, which, under a coloured varnish, will communicate to the latter a very harmonious yellow tint, and produce the effect of a red orange. A more or less concentrated solution of gum lac has been used as a sizing, but it is the hardest of any of those mentioned before, and would possess all their disadvantages. The following are the proportions for these sizings, the weights given being avoirdupois, and as a drachm avoirdupois contains only about 27 1/2 grains, and a drachm troy 60 grains, it may be as well to mention this to avoid any chance of error: Take 12 drachms of stick gamboge, which is finer than that in cakes, break it, and reduce it to powder on a sheet of paper by means of a bottle used as a roller, if you have not a mortar. It will be necessary to mix it up from time to time with a knife while bruising, in order to insure that it be thoroughly well done. Put half of this powder into three-quarters of a gill of alcohol in a small bottle, and let them unite for eight or ten days, stirring the liquid once or twice each day. At the end of this time, filter into a glass funnel through linen, which will retain the gummy portions insoluble in alcohol. Into this liquid, already coloured, put the second half of the gamboge, and treat it as before. About the end of a fortnight filter it or pass it through bibulous paper into the same funnel, previously cleansed. It is better, as indicated above, to do this twice, because the resin is then brought into closer contact with the alcohol, and a greater quantity can be dissolved, but if you are in a hurry, it can be done at once. The colour will, however, be less intense. The process may be hastened by placing the phial in a stove, which must not be so warm as to cause the alcohol to boil, as this might break the glass and incur danger from fire. To prevent the phial becoming too hot, a few leaves of paper might be placed under it, and, if the paper burns, withdraw the phial at once, as it will indicate that the heat is too great. The alcohol must be very pure—64 over proof of the Government scale at 60 deg. Fahrenheit, or 16deg. centigrade. Its specific gravity ought to be about 817, but alcohol is so much falsified that it may be as well to test it before purchase by putting a drop in the hollow of the hand and rubbing until it evaporates, when, if it has been adulterated with essential oil, the penetrating odour of the latter will be perceived. Alcohols are often adulterated with, or have in them, essential oils. That made from raisins, for example, is generally impure, and contains an oil which can be separated by careful distillation, after adding six parts of water. If wood spirit has been added, it combines so perfectly that its presence cannot be determined by any known process; but this latter does not injure the solving power of the alcohol. If alcohol contains anything but an admixture of water—foreign substances, such as sugar, for example—for the purpose of augmenting its specific weight, areometers and hydrometers are, of course, of no use. Ordinary spirit of wine should, at the above temperature, mark from 60deg. to 64deg. on the Government scale, and rectified alcohol about 76deg. In testing the comparative richness of alcohols by hydrometers, it will be well to remember that the one generally in use in this country—Sykes’—is calculated for the temperature of 60deg. Fahr., or 16 centigrade. It would, therefore, be necessary before testing its richness to raise the alcohol to that temperature, which could be done by the natural heat of the hand applied to the tube in which the alcohol to be tested is placed. If the test be made with the areometer of Cartier, it should register 36deg., if with that of Baumé 39deg., and if with that of Gay Lussac gideg.

Gamboge is the resinous juice procured from a few specimens of Garcinia in Siam, Cochin China, and Camboja. It is sold in sticks, or rolls, or pipes, also in lumps or cakes. It is sometimes adulterated with starch, which may be detected by treating a little of the resin with boiling water, filtering the liquid, and adding a little of the alcoholic tincture of iodine, when, if starch is present, the liquid will become blue.

Another, and, perhaps, a better sizing may be made in the following proportions: About 6 1/2 dr. of stick gamboge, 4 1/2 dr. of aloes (Socotrine) to 3/4 gill of alcohol of the same purity as that already named. Proceed in precisely the same manner as before, putting half of the resins in at a time. This latter sizing is to be preferred, because it will be more elastic, the aloes being mellower or softer than the gamboge. The colour obtained will also be a more decided yellow, a little greenish in regarding it at a certain angle of refraction, and it will weaken less the warmth of tint of the coloured varnish to be afterwards applied. It is, however, a matter of taste, as either of the above formulas will give a good sizing. Aloes is likewise sometimes adulterated in commerce, although it is not very dear. It is the thickened juice of the leaves of different kinds of aloe, and is imported under the names of Socotrine, East Indian or Hepatic, Barba-does, Cape and Caballine aloes. The kind referred to above is what is called Socotrine, and when it is adulterated it is of course with inferior kinds generally. It has been used for hundreds of years in the making of varnish, as has also East Indian or Hepatic, but Socotrine is the best for the above sizing. When it is falsified with ochre, common resin, &c., which is also sometimes the case, it will not be difficult to detect the fraud. Two coats of either of the sizings should be sufficient; but if a third is thought to be necessary, it would not do any harm. It would, of course, be easy to dissolve more of the resins in the alcohol, but there would then be some difficulty in laying on the solution without making blotches. If in any case these are produced, they can be lessened by rubbing lightly with moistened linen those parts which have been too heavily charged, and the slight shades of difference remaining will be partially masked...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Old Violins and their Makers - including Some References to those of the Modern Times. James M. Fleming
• The Mystery of Cremona Varnish. W. Christ-Iselin
• Violins and Violinists. Franz Farga
• The Violin - Its Famous Makers and their Imitators. George Hart
• Old Violins and Violin Lore. H. R. Haweis
• A Review of Ancient and Modern Violin Making. W. W. Oakes
• Violins and Other Stringed Instruments. Paul N. Hasluck