Making Varnish - KRUTZ Strings

Learn how Anton Krutz, Master Luthier and founder of KRUTZ Strings, makes varnish for the violin, viola, cello, or double bass.
www.krutzstrings.com

[@myhealthyadvice.2281]

How much turpentine should be added to the mixture of reisn solution

[@ssp5324]

Thank you.

[@MrNedelcuBogdan]

How do you mix with linseed oil? What ground/sealer do you use? You can disclose any of these? Thank you?

[@KrutzStrings]

Once the cooked resin is diluted with turpentine it can easily mix with linseed oil. Some makers mix the linseed oil in with the cooking resin and then dilute with turpentine. But I find there are some practical benefits to add the oil last. The exact recipe for our ground and varnish are proprietary. It is kind of like the recipe for Coca Cola. They present some of their ingredients publicly, but the actual recipe is kept a secret in a vault :) Hope this helps, thanks for asking!

[@MrNedelcuBogdan]

@@KrutzStrings First, thank you for taking your time to answer. Second, what ingredients, gelatine, hide glue, shellac, rosin, mastic, egg white, egg yolk, amoniac, caseine??? At least heading in the right directions for the ground used on your violins.

[@KrutzStrings]

@@MrNedelcuBogdan You are most welcome! I have tried all those things. I found gelatine is the most practical and best sounding first application to the white instrument. But the Italians used natural casein because they needed to waterproof the wood more from the intense humidity in Italy. All the varnishes were oil varnish. Shellac is only used for french polishing.

[@californiadreamin8423]

@@KrutzStrings. Hi from across the pond. My cat has managed to put 2 short but noticeable scratches on my fiddle !!! ( Is she trying to tell me something!! ). It was made in Czechoslovakia in what was the Sudetenland by Karl Hofner in about 1937. I think it’s spirit varnish simply because the white is showing through, and the rib varnishing appears to show “run” just below the overhang top and bottom. My question…..how to distinguish between spirit and oil varnish. Thanks.

[@KrutzStrings]

@@californiadreamin8423 In general, the high-end and low-end varnishes are easy to distinguish. The low-end spirit varnish is thin, has no depth and is cold looking while the high-end oil varnish is thicker, has depth and is warm looking. But the better spirit varnishes use high grade resins and actually have thickened oil added to them while the worse oil varnished use cheap rosins and thin oil. It takes decades of experience looking at varnishes to know the difference though. Specifically for a Czechoslovakian instruments, they're usually factory made instruments that have some level of spirit varnish. You can always email our flagship shop at: [e-mail] with pictures and they can let you know. They get pictures of instruments from around the world that they can give their assessment on.

[@MrNedelcuBogdan]

Also, what do you use in your mineral ground? Plaster of paris, or something like David Rubios recipe??? Do you consider Sandarac varnish better than Amber varnish??? Why???

[@rjlchristie]

At 2:04 you say add turpentine to make the resin more viscous. Does the turpentine make the resin thicker? This seems counter intuitive.

[@KrutzStrings]

When hard resin is heated it liquifies. If the pot with the cooking resin is taken of the burner then that resin will cool down and become hard again. Therefore, only the addition of a lot of turpentine (about 3 times by volume) keeps the resin as a liquid after the entire mixture cools. Thanks for clarifying!

[@maumtzrs1344]

can I make varnish with resin and alcohol? for a cello, I wait for your answer thanks

[@KrutzStrings]

Yes, most resins can be soaked and thinned with alcohol as well. But then oil cannot be added to that resin. Thanks for the question!

[@MrNedelcuBogdan]

Again, why you don't share the entire process to make this varnish. You just present how you cook sandarac, but how you mix linseed oil? What else do you mix in?

[@MrNedelcuBogdan]

Come on, tell us some secrets, don't make us think that you have some alien technology you use for your violins :D.

[@MrNedelcuBogdan]

But if the varnish is secret, then what is the use of this video? No offending, please?

[@KrutzStrings]

All professional violin makers have their own proprietary recipes for their varnish. It is no different than the proprietary recipes modern companies have in the paint or composites industries for example. But there is so little understanding of this field in the modern world, that I wanted to post some videos of at least some of the basic centuries old processes that are still being used. Thanks!