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Violin varnish salvage and repair

Nov 4, 2014 | Repair & Restoration

Varnish repair can be a challenge but with some experience it becomes less daunting, you need an awareness of what it is that "gives away" a varnish retouch job. Hue and tone are usually the first considerations but matching surface texture can be equally critical.  Most varnish repair jobs are fairly straight forward but time consuming.
Violin-varnish-repair-before

This Kaufmann violin got “cooked” possibly in a case in a sunny window, and the thick varnish blistered leaving deep craters

Blistered-violin-varnish
violin-varnish-retouch

Having leveled the craters with a clear varnish fill, a process taking about 6 weeks and representing the major part of the job, it was simply a matter of mixing up a matching color and applying it with a fine brush and repainting every little white spot

violin-varnish-repair-after

The finished varnish repair. The spots are still visible under close inspection but most of the negative visual impact has gone. This violin’s market value has been raised inversely to its reduced shock/horror value