Books › The violin : how to choose one, 1893 › scan 30
Scan 30
The violin : how to choose one, 1893
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 26. See the scan on archive.org.
1"4th. That it has always been amber with which the great experimenters worked, when attempting to make the varnish.
3"5th. That the amber theory was believed in by English makers, contemporary with the Italian makers who were then using it. That Lupot tried it, and that the great Vuillaume made many trials with amber in search of the true varnish.
5"6th. That at the present time it is a current belief among a large class of professionals and amateurs here, on the Continent and in America.
7"The fact seems to be this. Innumerable attempts to make varnish with amber having failed, the conclusion arrived at was that amber had never been used.
9"Recently an idea has been mooted by Charles Reade that it was not an oil but a spirit varnish with which the old violins were coated. This idea was founded on the fact that in some instances the varnish could be removed with spirits of wine. Against this it may be stated that there is a letter written by Stradivarius to a patron, in which he apologises for the delay in sending home his violin on account of the varnish taking so long to dry. This shows that it was an oil varnish. One thing is certain. Spirit varnishes have been used and countless experiments made with them by great masters during the last 100 years, and yet no results obtained can be for one moment compared with the old varnish; and besides, during such general use of spirit varnish, it is only reasonable to suppose that if the old masters had used it, the secret would have been rediscovered long ago.
11"If I may be allowed to express an opinion, the theory which has suggested itself to me is, that the secret of the varnish was not the secret of the old violin makers at all, but of one man or family, in which the recipe of the varnish was handed down from generation to generation, otherwise it was hardly possible for it to have been so completely lost. Possibly the violin makers gave up using the oil varnish, owing to the great advantage the spirit varnish offered in drying at once."
13A more plausible reason is advanced by Ole Bull, the great Norwegian violinist, with whose statement I may conclude this chapter:—"Three facts present themselves—1st, this varnish was used by the very earliest Italian makers as well as the later; 2nd, its use was common only in Italy; 3rd, it ceased to be applied to violins after 1760. In texture this varnish is extremely supple; it will yield to pressure. It is
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