Now the cello is varnished in a dark brown colour. Again I decided to paint some ‘Fleur De Lis’ again like on the 4/4 studio cello the painting is higher up in the varnish so they stay highly visible and not hidden behind layers and layers of dark varnish
…as well as preparing the fingerboard for glueing and shaping the playing side for easy playability. With new instruments it is always better to shape the fingerboard before it is glued to the instrument so the black ebony sanding dust and the woodshavings do not stick to the fresh varnish and make it look dirty. It is not as important with a dark colour but if I varnish in a light highly transparent colour the black dust is highly visible.