Carl Becker Varnish

[GlennYorkPA]

I had never seen a Carl Becker violin until this week when I examined the 1951 one offered in the Christies New York sale which finished yesterday.

I was utterly bowled over by the quality of workmanship and crispness of the chamfer on the scroll. The bright and powerful sound also made me realize why these are the most prized of American violins.

So, here is my question: I can understand why we don't know what varnish system was used by Strad - it was a long time ago - but Becker, Sindelar, Halvarson etc, all worked together and within living memory and used a soft varnish which wears easily and takes a fingerprint if pressed. Do we know what they used?

Glenn

[Michael Darnton]

Poor Carl will be surprised to hear that he's gone into past tense now.

[Oded Kishony]

"We" don't know but his children who are making instruments know. It's not a typical oil varnish.

Oded

[David Burgess]

Was that a Carl G. Becker or a Carl F. Becker violin, or a collaborative effort? One of them is indeed deceased.

[Michael Darnton]

"We" don't know but his children who are making instruments know. It's not a typical oil varnish.

For what it's worth, Carl the current (who finished three instruments last year, though he's well into his 90s--I shot pix of them for the Becker shop, and if you're looking for declining skill with age, you're not going to find it in his work!) told me that his present varnish is basically the same thing you see on his dad's instruments from nearly the start, with changes mostly to the colors. I do know that it's applied extremely quickly--Paul, his son, tells me that one coat takes less than three minutes to apply with a very delicate touch--a friend of mine has a movie of him varnishing which confirms this--and that this is an essential part of the process. Drying time is supposedly on a geological time scale. This all implies something other than what we would normally think of as an oil varnish, though it doesn't mean that it's an alcohol spirit varnish, either.

Some experts believe that the best Cremonese instruments may have reached nearly their current state of varnish loss relatively quickly, in months or a couple of years, then stabilized. Certainly it still does remain quite vulnerable. If one is looking for a reason that the Becker varnish is the way it is, I would suspect that emulation of this is the prime reason.

[Roland]

...but Becker, Sindelar, Halvarson etc, all worked together and within living memory and used a soft varnish which wears easily and takes a fingerprint if pressed.

Does it really take finger prints? I thought this is usually considered to be too soft...

[Michael Darnton]

Not really any more than any other varnish, in my experience. Varnishes with that description can't usually be kept in cases.

[Roland]

Thank you, Michael!

[Johnmasters]

Not really any more than any other varnish, in my experience. Varnishes with that description can't usually be kept in cases.

My aunt owned a 1947 Becker which was very clean, and I believe that it was mostly Carl Jr. I played this for a number of years. The varnish was not really all that vulnerable to fingerprints. I don't think that it was very thermoplastic, although the heat of a finger might leave more of a print if the finger were to be left there for a while.

[skiingfiddler]

I had a 1956 Carl Becker and Son, which I assume was mostly a Carl Jr. That was a great fiddle with a really big sound. I loved it, and parted with it only because the recipient needed a good fiddle.

The varnish on that fiddle was very fragile and very opaque. You could not see any maple flame at all through that varnish. That it had any flame at all wasn't apparent until the player who got the fiddle, a professional violinist, quickly wore large areas of varnish off, and then you could see that it was strongly flamed.

[joerobson]

I do know that it's applied extremely quickly--Paul, his son, tells me that one coat takes less than three minutes to apply with a very delicate touch--and that this is an essential part of the process. Drying time is supposedly on a geological time scale. This all implies something other than what we would normally think of as an oil varnish, though it doesn't mean that it's an alcohol spirit varnish, either.

Michael,

This fits the description of an ethereal oil varnish, for me. Given the short and long term character of this varnish it would compare to the oil of rosemary and raw pine resin varnishes I have experimented with. Do these Becker instruments have a characteristic odor?

on we go,

Joe

[Michael Darnton]

This is the thought my friends have, too--some sort of "turpentine spirit" based thing. I don't notice a smell, but my nose is notoriously bad.

[joerobson]

This is the thought my friends have, too--some sort of "turpentine spirit" based thing. I don't notice a smell, but my nose is notoriously bad.

Michael,

Oil of rosemary has a distinct odor of camphor. As it has both a and b pinenes it will eventually harden up the pine resin enough to play the instrument, but not enough to keep it in a case, even in the winter in Chicago.

Joe

[skiingfiddler]

Do these Becker instruments have a characteristic odor?

There was a very distinct aroma to my 1956 Becker, a semi sweet pine-like smell that stayed with the fiddle for the full two years I had it in the late 1960s, about 10 years after it was made.

The varnish wasn't wet or sticky to the touch. It was just fragile, chipping easily with any hard contact. However, keeping it in a case didn't result in any wear or leave a fabric pattern on the instrument.

[Jeffrey Holmes]

For what it's worth, Carl the current (who finished three instruments last year, though he's well into his 90s--

Yup.Saw one of the three a few weeks ago. Beautiful!

[Janito]

The varnish wasn't wet or sticky to the touch. It was just fragile, chipping easily with any hard contact.

A couple of Qs for the folks that have seen/owned them:

- Does the varnish look powdery and opaque when it has had some more minor trauma that did not lift off a flake? If so, is this opaqueness removed by hard rubbing to warm the varnish?

- Is the chippiness of this varnish a property of the varnish itself or its adhesion to a fixed base coat? In other words, are the chips always coming off the same layer.

[Michael Darnton]

It's a complex issue. First, Becker backs never look as good as the tops, which can be spectacular, sparkly and clear. The backs often look dull or cloudy, and are, in my experience, never as flashy as the tops. I have seen instruments that are just getting their first coats, and it appeared to me that the maple varnish goes almost right on bare wood, even into it, but this might not be happening with the spruce. When either wears, what's seen is very white wood, and it's not clear whether there's an undercoat or not.

Generally, the varnish doesn't chip as much as wear through quickly. At any rate, I wouldn't characterize it as especially chippy as much as especially soft in a tender way, not an impressionable one. I'm looking for an analogy to some other familiar material, and having a hard time finding one. Perhaps stiff, drying bread might be a good comparison, as opposed to fresh and impressionable or toasty and weak, fracturing. Sometimes the thicker, purple/red varnish is chippy, like a lifesaver candy, brittle. I suspect this characteristic grows with thickness. Some of the orange colors can be quite thin.

There has always been some speculation that the entire group of makers who used to be at William Lewis several floors below me (I'm/we're now the landlord for that space, and for the current Becker shop, to whom we suggested it might be cool to move back into that old space that Lewis had from 1946 until the 70s, and they did) used eucalyptus oil as an isolating agent, soaking the wood before varnishing, to keep the colored varnish on the surface without an undercoat. I have no idea if that's true. I have never smelled eucalyptus on these violins, but remember what I said about my nose. I have also heard claims that they used a glair/sugar mix of some kind.

One hears a lot of speculation, but nothing directly from the ones who are doing it, of course. I couldn't even begin to guess what's true and what isn't.

[Craig Tucker]

One hears a lot of speculation, but nothing directly from the ones who are doing it, of course. I couldn't even begin to guess what's true and what isn't.

What is of interest to me, is that here is a modern day myth in the making.

This is as good as the "secret formula" Hill brand peg dope!

[Mountain Luthier]

A friend of mine has a viola 1952. The varnish is very sparse.

The color is in the wood. Not much luster.

[Michael Darnton]

That's what I think of as a typical Becker varnish, though the tendency since the 70s has been towards something redder and thicker. The differences are why I asked Carl if it was all the same stuff. He carries a lot of data in his head: once I asked him about a particularly pink instrument I'd seen, and right away he said "That would be 1941". And he was right, it was a 1941 violin.

[Janito]

used eucalyptus oil as an isolating agent, soaking the wood before varnishing, to keep the colored varnish on the surface without an undercoat.

In the last couple of days I read again James Beament's comments on varnish. He notes that wood is highly polar and just a very light rub with an essential oil can be sufficient to reduce the polarity and allow an oil varnish to adhere without an intermediate coat.

His wife, Juliet Barker, recommended as very light rub with almond oil, but this was followed by a clear varnish coat to act as a ground before coloured varnish was applied.

[Craig Tucker]

In the last couple of days I read again James Beament's comments on varnish.

Excuse me if this is common knowledge, but where are his comments found?

[Janito]

Excuse me if this is common knowledge, but where are his comments found?

Apologies.

James Beament "The violin explained", Varnish (chapter 10, pp179-209).

[Will L]

It's interesting and wonderful that the Becker tradition, somewhat like the Amati family, is now going on about a century. It seems they continually made changes and experimented, always with great care and thought. In the early '70's I sent a varnish damaged Becker violin back to them. I talked either to Sr. or Jr. (I no longer remember for sure), and was told they would revarnish the violin with the "recipe" (my word) for that violin, and was told specifically that they kept records. I'm not enough of a maker to glean the maximum insight from little hints like that, but I'd at least assume they were meticulous in their measurements and ingredients, were changing through time, were in great control of the processes, and maintained the highest level of integrity in attempting to maintain their instruments.

[skiingfiddler]

Generally, the varnish doesn't chip as much as wear through quickly. At any rate, I wouldn't characterize it as especially chippy as much as especially soft in a tender way, not an impressionable one. I'm looking for an analogy to some other familiar material, and having a hard time finding one. Perhaps stiff, drying bread might be a good comparison, as opposed to fresh and impressionable or toasty and weak, fracturing. Sometimes the thicker, purple/red varnish is chippy, like a lifesaver candy, brittle. I suspect this characteristic grows with thickness. Some of the orange colors can be quite thin.

I would agree with that characterization. Chippy in the sense of sizable flakes falling away is probably wrong, although the end results might look the same. My sense of the varnish was that it would quickly turn to powder rather than flakes when bumped or rubbed.