Scan 83
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 45. See the scan on archive.org.
1their use. They dry very slowly, and may be described as of a soft and yielding nature. The common varnish is known as spirit varnish; it is easily used and dries rapidly, in consideration of which qualities it is generally adopted in these days of high pressure. It may be described as precisely the reverse of the oil varnish; it is hard and unyielding. Now a Violin varnished with fine oil varnish, like all good things, takes time to mature, and will not bear forcing in any way. At first the instrument is somewhat muffled, as the pores of the wood have become impregnated with oil. This makes the instrument heavy both in weight and sound; but as time rolls on the oil dries, leaving the wood mellowed and wrapped in an elastic covering which yields to the tone of the instrument and imparts to it much of its own softness. We will now turn to spirit varnish. When this is used a diametrically opposite effect is produced. The Violin is, as it were, wrapped in glass through which the sound passes, imbued with the characteristics of the varnish. The result is, that the resonance produced is metallic and piercing, and well-calculated for common purposes; if, however, richness of tone be required, spirit-varnished instruments cannot supply it. From these remarks the reader may gather some notion of the vexed question of varnish in relation to tone, and be left to form his own opinion.
3The chief features of the Italian School of Violin
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