| After two or three coats of clear varnish,
it's time to add some color: different luthier's use different methods to color their
instruments . . . Nelle uses a formula given to her personally by the late David Rubio
of Cambridge, England. David was a premiere violin maker of the Twentieth Century and extremely generous about sharing his knowledge with others.
The beautiful reddish color attained by his method is obtained by processing and
finely grinding Red Turkish
"Madder Root" which is then combined with a very small amount of Walnut oil and applied as
a glaze over the first coats of varnish. The process is repeated several times, being
smoothed out with the palm of the hand and allowed to dry between coats.
. . . finally, the instrument is
given one or more new coats of varnish and carefully rubbed down to remove the "gloss" and
give it a satiny, transparent appearance.
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