Lines and ligatures, playing techniques and coloration - hoping you can refine these ideas

Actually, it is in the PDF spec.

Section 8.4.3.2.

A line width of 0 shall denote the thinnest line that can be rendered at device resolution: 1 device pixel wide. However, some devices cannot reproduce 1-pixel lines, and on high-resolution devices, they are nearly invisible. Since the results of rendering such zero-width lines are device-dependent, they should not be used.

That was my creation, rather than Dorico’s.