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Varnish affects the sound of a violin

Varnishes protect works of art and wooden instruments from environmental damage. However, until recently, little research had been carried out into the effects of varnish on the sound of violins. Empa researchers have now investigated this relationship and have published their initial findings.

Leonardo da Vinci’s oil painting “Mona Lisa” looks rather gloomy with its dark green and brown colours. It is a little-known fact that the maestro painted the picture in bright colours – so the subject appears bathed in the light of a sunny day. What caused this difference in colour? Da Vinci covered his oil painting with varnish to protect it. The varnish acts like a filter, causing the picture to become darker than the artist originally painted it.

It has the same effect on the spruce used to make violins and other stringed instruments. In its raw state, it is white with a touch of gold. The wood lacks durability, so violin makers protect it from environmental damage using a varnish. It is this protective coating that gives the violin its elegant dark brown colour.

Violin makers pass their varnish recipes down from one generation to the next. It is rare for anyone outside the family to find out how exactly the mixture of resins and oils is formulated. The chemistry of varnishes has been scientifically researched for a long time. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the physical properties of varnishes – wrongly in the opinion of Marjan Gilani from Empa’s Applied Wood Research Laboratory. The scientist and her colleagues suspected that varnish affects the vibrational properties and therefore the sound characteristics of violins, and they began to investigate this relationship. The first stage of the research was concluded with the publication of a scientific paper in the journal Applied Physics A. The findings support the Empa researchers’ hypothesis.

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This is sound research.