Violin Forum/Message Board

[Yaquina]

Okay, so this newly acquired violin (A Lyon & Healy Dominicus Montagnana) had a poorly repaired crack on the face, it looked like it was done with cheap epoxy.

I have removed the horrid looking smears of epoxy and have smoothed down the wood to a nice finish. Now I need to match the original finish and blend the repair away. I have refinished several violins through the years, but they usually were entirely refinished so I never had to match a color.

So does anyone have any suggestions on stains/finishes that should match the original color?

[Mat Roop]

I would not have sanded or smoothed the wood... the challenge would have been to remove the old glue without affecting the varnish below and preserving the original wood thickness, patina and varnish... but now that it is done... You need to determine if the existing finish is oil varnish or spirit varnish, then seal the wood with a clear same finish then start applying colored coats and build up the layers in extreme thin layers to get to the color you want. Keep in mind that the refractive indices will be different so that you may see a perfect match at one angle and a not so great match in another. The solution to that is to gain a ton of experience and custom cook a varnish to match... or call an expert restoration luthier! such as http://www.holmesviolins.com/contact.php
Good luck! Mat

[Yaquina]

Actually, I didn't remove much of the finish at all, whomever did the repair years ago did that before they smeared the epoxy onto it. Last night I started a multi layer coating of color and varnish that seems to be matching quite well, considering. The nice thing is that the tail and strings obscure this part of the face so once a decent matching is finished the repair will not be noticable at all.

[Michael Darnton]

The basic solution is to lay down color so that it's right for it's density. That is, a very worn area with almost no varnish might be yellowish, so you start with that. Then look for what that turns to when it's thicker, and head towards that with your retouching, as you build more and more color. When you get there, look at where it's thicker, and go there, building all along through all of the looks that the original varnish has at all the thicknesses up to where you want to stop--when it looks the same as what's around it. Usually you can find little worn spots all over the violin that will indicate the precise color of the original varnish at various points in the wear process, and usually varnish isn't just one color from top to bottom.

On this example, you might be able to see all of the different points in that one streak, so start by building the lowest color onto the bare wood, and just keep pulling in color from what's around the edges, one layer at a time.

[Yaquina]

Thanks for your great advice. I have been working on it off and on throughout the day, slowly replacing the color until I got it pretty close, certainly close enough given the difficulty involved. Luckly, the tail piece covers nearly all of the area of issue and what it doesn't cover, the strings and bridge break up the rest.

After I got the majority of the epoxy off of the face I found that the repair was rather well done, with little or no stepping on the seam or gaps, etc. It seems strange that someone who clearly knew how to re-seat the seam would end the repair with such a sloppy smear of horrible epoxy.

No matter what, it looks a LOT better then it did and once the finish is completely blended it should not be that noticable and hopefully will help regain some of the value.

I sent pictures of the original repair to a few shops online asking for ballpark quotes for finish repair and I had one guy write and quote $3,500! I thought that was a little steap.

[FiddleDoug]

The usual method for retouching is to lay down many layers of finishes, alternating between clear layers, and appropriately tinted layers, to slowly build up, and match the color and density. It's a difficult skill to master properly! Use appropriate dyes and natural colors to create the proper tint in a varnish base. Use a micro-fine brush to "paint in" things like grain with appropriate mixed dyes. I took a course for a week, and I still consider myself a beginner!
_________________
Doug Wall

www.wallindependent.com