jezzupe

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I think that this has been blown way out of proportion, I question the advice or insertion that a "new top coat" could dramatically alter the tone, it may alter it, but I think we've "established" that "dramatic" changes aren't coming from varnish, or if they do they are temporary until curing is final. As I described before, the process of carefully removing the varnish down to a "hard/sound/chemically stable" ground coat is pretty "basic" advanced "varnish 101" stuff that anyone who is qualified should able to easily do in order to create a stable base to apply a new set of top coats. Imo all of this can be done without it being a "federal case" , getting lawyers involved, creating "bad vibes" etc. I think there has been some "best intentions" that have turned into "feather ruffling" that are steering this person down the wrong road. I as always respect David's advice and experience, but in this case do not agree with the level to which a new varnish coat may effect the core sound/look. If I were to make predictions, I would say that a "literal "damp" coat is going to supply "excessive damping", and that a new "dry and crispy" coat will improve the sound. And that I would give the parties involved a chance to rectify the situation,particularly before getting "lawyers" involved. I would try to strike a deal as such "give them a chance to "recoat the instrument", once done you get a "window of opportunity" to "reject the fix" if it works and looks "fine" sounds good, and is no longer sticky, yeah' everyone wins....if the fix does not work, or you are not happy with the "end results" you should have option to exchange it for your money back. I think that sounds reasonable and fair, if there is no agreement on that, then I would seek legal council. Of course if you go that direction, make sure it's all in writing, spelled out precisely.

some things we can surmise 1. most luthiers who do hand applied varnish will have some final rubbing out procedure as I have suggested, even guitar finishers who spray will have some rubbing out procedure to "finish the finish" 2. as we see this violin seems to have an even appearance except for the bad areas, this would imply that even though the varnish is soft {may be thermally sensitive}it was strong/stable enough to be rubbed out 3. therefore ergo we can assume my suggested procedure will be safe and would most likely be the first fix a luthier would do barring stripping and recoating, or abrading and recoating...unknown if a stable base could be achieved for application 4. so I know you spent a lot on it, and you don't want to mess it up, i must say it's too bad because it should not be happening imo, unless you exposed it to high temps and melted it.....BUT this is very easy to do if you have the "guts" to try, it will save you lots of money most likely and make it so you can fix it yourself if it happens again

I don't really participate here anymore, but seeing how no one has suggested the simple solution for you to fix this yourself, I will 1. it is very important that you use the specific ingredients I suggest 2. what you need are 4 things 3. 100% soft cotton rags, like cut up t shirts, and maybe some soft natural wool....rottenstone, pumice and the most important one to get right "paraffin rubbing oil" you will need to track down these things online at a luthier supply or furniture restoration supply place... basically this oil https://ardec.ca/en/p/699/paraffin-oil?srsltid=AfmBOorKZvlvZSsHxvyCRRAUAZup50hDejDzMKisgXkTPLLI24SDWsWi This is super easy and quick and will fix your problem and have it looking good again EVEN THOUGH IT WILL PROBABLY HAPPEN AGAIN, you can always just do this fix again 1. apply some oil to a swatch of cotton rag, not saturate, just a good wet spot 2.get a little oil on your finger and dab some on the bad area a swirl it on the area {we do section at a time, not the whole back at once} 3. on small dish add 1/4 tsp of rottenstone and 1/4 tsp of pumice...or so, don't have to be precise, just know pumice is more aggressive than the rottensone, we are mixing the 2 so it's not so aggressive. 4. then pour a 1/4 tsp of oil give or take onto the dish with the powders and mix it into a slurry paste and dip/apply to your prewetted rag 5. then with gentle strokes with the grain {lord forbid, maybe some swirling} you will gentley rub the bad area with your "wet oily sandy rag" 6. after doing this for a bit, take a clean rag and buff the area dry and check and see what it looks like, if its gone, great, you may then opt to the lightly do the entire back to make it all even looking, 7. then repeat the process using fresh rag and just rottensone and oil, no pumice, as the final fine wet wipe 8. buff entire back with clean cloth and your done, I'd 99% guarantee it will fix the issue 9.Let dry overnight, expect some residual smell for a few days 10. worse case scenario it happens again and you do this fix as much as needed until you buff it all off, lol this is very similar to using rubbing compound and wax on car paint good luck

https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Stingray-Leather-Natural-Off-Cuts/dp/B097BB466Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31CYFHK4WGEAW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.x6tHM2ag31nWkx4mG77RYFk_hw6yjvO8EaaegtPLuBdTfIZfOZMvEo0TMbuGYnGE_BAbMVDI_WtswYI889zldaK_jiw1UELfZLupW_aKQa4j1MgFbOM3v9qrn5ZDvkDoKscy04qXx5K0tXPteyv1qeOfOghzT-m-r2wpCVe5GDrIXnGDde1mpcJQCSaflG9ZCEeF5fs1XOfOlsMcWvdH47tPDOilJTDr0QEiaDQXmPhYVMSeQLTGMgVdzC56HfuR9WVXqwc-Lo4ulYWumsYguWK0kx-APQOBuKNoPPZW5m4ViDNAq2DqTOxwhZYXioQwCplV6YiE2EOpM9qex9GpBWSK-k_OSo7J6NmYhCGdcodiDPDyGhOqnptldYlmJKkqnce6X0Q8sU2LymQlwEuE36mfeyhZ0neni69quUuoRRwTU2uocw_nPuhYvU76e3s-.U2HeHqX77JGFYBOh0WgmxAK248Ny7N_KO-ZyKh1YGyo&dib_tag=se&keywords=fish+leather&qid=1735372798&sprefix=fish+leather%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-1

sugar

Sizing is the act of pre-applying glue to a surface, letting it dry, then wet gluing, this is done in certain circumstances as if you glue without sizing, the open grain can absorb the single wet application and make the glue joint "starved" of glue, which leads to failure of the bond. For example you always want to size when you glue a neck on, the mortice,button and neck heal where contact is made should be sized I personally don't think purfling needs sizing, but if you are to do that, as Mark eludes to, many will apply a "shellac" coat to the top, prior to cutting the channel, in order to prevent "glue ghosts" around the "ring" or edges, and then scrape it off while finishing the top,...some like Nick, scoop the recurve and then carefully work the edge to remove any glue....a glue ghost is a visual defect caused by glue soaking into wood and then once dry, over coated with an oil/spirit varnish, where ever the glue is it will show a whitish cast under the varnish, looks like crap, worst case you get glue all over your hands and leave "hidden" finger prints all over the place and then over coat them. Glue when dry on raw wood is virtually invisible and often only shows once varnished. Another way to visualize it is if you put a brush swath of water base poly on wood, let it dry, then over coat with oil poly, they are two different colors of film when dry, the water base is much lighter/whiter compared to the oils amber color I prefer the Hargrave method of installing purfling, it is by far the easiest cleanest method, which is to cut the channel, then fit the purfling dry, then to coat the purfling with glue, let dry, refit in the channel, then to incrementally apply with a brush boiling water, and then clamp as you go, super clean, holds great. Make some test channels, glue in as suggested, then pry it out, you'll see it holds very well

Well, I have played with varnish/finish/coatings going on 45 years now, and have a pretty good idea of how oxygen cross-linking {evaporation} works, for example with Joe's stuff, left in a room with no light it takes about 2-3 weeks to dry without fingerprints, with baby sitting sunning, you can get it dry in a day or 2, and with the lights I use, the 60 watts, they take about 1-2 days also. A product solar rez, which is 100% uv cure, will not dry at all without sun or uv lamps, these lamps dry it in about 10 min, whereas the sun its about 5 min, either way they dry varnish plenty fast enough for me and use little electricity and have low heat output compared to other types of lamps.

Oh yes, this was when I was new to the led's, experimenting with them, since then I have more if I need them, but find just running 2 with a fan dries with out too much heat, you can use more for less rotation, just leave the door/flap open. Like I say, solar rez, a 100% uv cure varnish dries very fast with these lights, so if leds did not work , they would not dry solar rez they have longer bars for bigger instruments, but the 2 60 watts shown are plenty for a violin

Joe's Varnish drying

I use something like these in dope growing tents and they work great, cures solar rez varnish just fine also https://www.amazon.com/OUSIDE-Waterproof-Blacklight-Fluorescent-Nightclubs/dp/B0CCXP1125/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1QV6GOR1FYL56&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WE0He396iiWyH41XbIWm-6fGOZy6pBD9lXstVQNulGUJk__T-b6cN_zcAhHjX_0qYsrFTECC-mA0DwqoLpa-ZT8gKAwKPVj_GCEBvQ-wKAmUUXri9DiYrXk95Zm0QFPOxj93WUZD_sgj-qfxEEbMoFadobOfxEb4DSFRhfuXzqEK-TPhn2DAop1jVb18nTuZfiOinX9bZABlX5wq-5mmpuXGtxjJ7tfdQmxQt1LVbqDdyISmPR7yjdcGO5hnGPiyIRFrhOV9H2K0ZBVzu3g_nXQ7GjpuiPW_WK3dandO3sY.sllcKGj-PPZfMbyv3l7-HXSZWb8o_os8pJ312CA00VU&dib_tag=se&keywords=led+black+lights&qid=1722325243&sprefix=led+bl%2Caps%2C208&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Strengthened-Reflective-Hydroponics-AeroLight/dp/B0CGHJG44R/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2DN3X7D6CISZA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Spx6QlUPHLkToA32ETLFFwvQF197a9gb9xcSlj5x2v1dTvbQbpvYH2JLrblq0mPeqc2kPr5I6e_aZzuDtFV-aVVvGqMmbXhCeicIVXYHUa7V34Iz-p50ZYROVo_O0e-sA8QeYGNmSOxD2Px3fsHBFST7rtQghW6qv8bYUlV_vLbQanf0YAF6s7uOAdbyre7GLTLZOWBYDmHjsv7zKCAF2yOlhAnLR0AE8EbLHAA1B7LgxCH8t4rIgCa0bP2ioahg5eWMVHcP2QXy25BE3MbH5-mzWvTxqDHCWxc3jj7vKPA.skHn76D3su2czRh_jVcZd8jzD7F3kg81kegaPR4kLaI&dib_tag=se&keywords=3x3+grow+tent&qid=1722325297&sprefix=3x3+%2Caps%2C235&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Mastering glue is a skill/voodoo ritual that requires using it over and over again in {your} specific environment. Evaporation rates are altered outside of just the heat from your pot, the humidity, ventilation and air temperature of the work space you are using will effect it's evaporation rate, along with the heat of course, to the point where there is no formulaic answer to your question. One must learn how to "keep the pot alive" and know how thin and thicken by either allowing evaporation or adding water, throughout the day while the "pot is on" and that changes throughout the day depending on small changes in the environment, it's best to develop "drip eye" which is basically developing the skill of knowing it's "right" by looking for connected protein chains and how the glue drips. Right can be different, depending on what glue task is being performed, I use thicker stronger glue for back seams, ribs to blocks, things like that vs thinner for say the top to the garland, it will be the same glue, it's just the thinner stuff will have more water added. Which runs into "critical path" as far as construction process order is concerned, we don't want our pot freshly thinned if we're going to glue ribs to blocks as an example. I never use measuring devices, just rough eyeball ratios, this skill comes only with repetitive usage imo. Just like mixing mortar or thinset as an example

I use low energy consumption high output led lights, they cure varnish just fine, so I think your statement about them "not being "good" is incorrect misinformation. They run much cooler than other types of bulbs, and in general feel much safer both for accidentally starting a fire to not "cooking" and warping an already finished instrument

In the world of "boil proof" plywood, Birch is the wood that is the "most in the middle" as far as rate of absorption and wicking based on it's hardness /density, it's kinda like a soft hardwood, and therefore is what professional ply manufactures use for top of the line stable ply products.

Hypochlorous acid solution