Behlen Violin Varnish

Joseph, I completely agree with you. I am pleased with the things I have ordered from StewMac, except this varnish takes too long to cure. I varnished my first fiddle (a kit from StewMac) a natural, blonde color, after waiting probably 5 weeks if not more, the varnish imprinted very easily. I too got those bridge foot marks and an imprint from the chinrest and my shirt when I strung it up. (SO anxious to hear it!!) sorry to say, but I did not have a good experiance with this product.

I refinished an old violin 8 weeks ago which I tested after two weeks. Finish was still very soft. Waited two more weeks. Still unusable. I called StewMac support, they said wait a couple more weeks - it will eventually harden. I've waited 8 weeks now and finally gave up and just put the hardware on the instrument.

I just wanted to play the instrument that I restored. I'm still getting big "footprints" left in the finish under the bridge feet after setup of the instrument. The chinrest cork also leaving big rumpled impressions in the finish along the edge.

I will likely strip off the finish at some point and reapply with homemade spirit varnish which I've had cure completely in 2 weeks on another instrument.

I wouldn't buy this product unless you have extreme patience and a long time to wait to use the instrument after usage. VERY disappointed.

I use this finish before adding color to my violins, although I feel this product is on the expensive side the tone value is apparent.