so, i've just come home with a new fiddle on approval. it's described as "oil varnished"; to me, the varnish feels very soft, and i'm sure i could easily mark it with my fingernail. it's a new Chinese fiddle; is it possible the varnish hasn't dried yet? or is this normal for oil varnish? it's not really visible in the photo, but the bridge has been moved slightly since it was set up, and has left some nearly bare wood where the feet used to be.

Oil varnish can be very soft, and it can also take a very long time to dry properly. If the formulation is wrong, it might never dry.
If you press your finger on it, does it leave a print?

no... at least not that i can see. (didn't want to press too hard though!)

In that case, it's probably dry, but soft. Unless the wood has been treated to give it a nice intrinsic colour, it'll look a mess when the soft varnish chips off.

okay, i take that back--i see there is a very light print there even some hours later.

this all sounds a bit odd for a chinese violin. They normally have bulletproof varnish. Sometimes, though, makers/shops buy Chinese violins "in the white" and varnish them themselves. Is this the case for your instrument?
Chinese violins aren't exactly in short supply, so if you're not 100% sure I think you should walk away. Plenty more to choose from!

well, it's not an especially cheap Chinese fiddle; they want £750 for it.

i know they do buy in Chinese instruments and do some work on them before selling them; last time i was there they had a similar instrument for £450, although that seemed like a more typical Chinese instrument. unfortunately the owner, who does the actual work, wasn't there when i went in, so i wasn't able to find out much about it apart from what the price tag said. (but i'll definitely ask before i actually spend any money.)

i wouldn't say i'm unsure about it, although i won't know if it's really worth the price until i've had a chance to play it at a session or two...

It does seem to be the norm for Chinese violins in a certain price range - we got a whole batch like this (with slight cosmetic damage resulting from the very soft varnish) a few years ago - price range was £200 (outfit) up to about £500 (violin) - and when we grumbled the Chinese company said that it had been the hottest time of the year when they sent them and that was what we had to expect.

Liz

#

Not once you get above nitro varnish.

Liz

Disagree

Disco

Well that's OK, you're allowed to disagree - I have experience of only a limited number of brands.

Liz