FYI new violin varnish research technique

[Roger Hill]

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2022/october/chemical-clues-to-the-mystery-of-whats-coating-stradivaris-violins.html

[Spelman]

@Rue scooped you on this

[Rue]

LOL.  Do I get a ribbon??? 

[Spelman]

@Rue Of course!

 

[Rue]

[MikeC]

I don't know where you been but I see you won first place..    

[Roger Hill]

Jeez.  I offer an announcement from the chemistry side of the house rather than the physics side and therefor I am a behind the times reporter.  No good deed goes unpunished.

[Dr. Mark]

Fool of a Took!

 

[Rue]

[Roger Hill]

Fool of a Took

 

Well Dr. Mark, will you be offering and will I get to comment on a  violin model constructed with the  various vibration modes of the individual  component parts ?

Edited October 31, 2022 by Roger Hill
duplicated phrase

[Dr. Mark]

Sorry for the long delay - at my age I'm easily distracted.  My above reply was intended as sympathetic humor rather than a serious admonition.  In reply to your question above - I'm sorry but I have no idea how to respond to your request.  My interest in post-mortem examination of classical violin varnish goes no further than general characteristics, and after a brief brush with plate tuning I pretty much passed on it in favor of other construction principles. 

I rely more on Occam's razor - the simplest of the techniques used by successful professional makers, or if I can't get that information then the simplest technique I can come up with that gives me something at least superficially similar.  Plate tuning isn't part of that, and exotic varnish formulas aren't part of that.  I also tend to work with what I have at hand and admittedly I've had inconsistent success with both varnish and tone.  And in case the question arises, I'm not in the class of most posters on this forum, but I do make violins.  The top two photos are a large model from 2013 and the lower two a smaller model from 2021 (first time posting photos - hope this works....)