Decades’ studies on the ingredients of the natural varnish used by those great luthiers like Stradivari and Guarneri demanded Andrea Bang to do something extraordinary to draw decisive results. That was why he dismantled 4 of his masterpiece violins (Stradivari 1702, Guarneri del Gesu 1711, Amati 1659, Ruggeri 1732). Scraping varnish off the surface couldn’t tell much about the effect of varnish on the wood frame. His ‘clinical science’ that strongly emphasizes repeated field tests got the most out of this ‘insane’ act. He finally discovered what ingredients were contained in the Renaissance varnish, and their mixing combinations were also estimated through thousands of trials and errors.

Countless tests on the world’s top quality wood frames with different varnish ingredients and mixing combinations enabled Andrea Bang to come up with the most ideal natural varnish formula of his own. His varnish on the best modern wood frame produced strikingly similar sound to the one from those old masterpieces. Then he was able to declare that he had succeeded in reviving the Renaissance varnish that made Stradivari and Guarneri so famous. From these tests, Andrea Bang also confirmed the hotly-disputed claim that varnishing of string instruments is responsible for about 70% of their sound quality.

Another notable discovery was that Stradivari’s later works had their interior surface varnished as well. In order to find out why he did it, Andrea Bang performed series of experiments on top quality wood frames by adding layers of varnish one by one on their exterior and interior surfaces, while checking on the subtle changes in the sound taking place in each step.
His experiments revealed that interior varnishing has a few discernible effects.

1. Increases sonic resilience
2. Makes its sound reach longer distance
3. Keeps the sound from 4 strings well balanced
4. Maximizes sound-wave generating ability
5. Allows the player to enjoy extreme playing flexibility
6. Provides better protection from weather