On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 00:19:49 GMT, Howard brought
forth from the murky depths:

Larry Jaques wrote:

Yes, enjoyment is the ONLY reason to play. Speaking of which,
is there any way I can muffle the sound from the voilin as I
learn how to play it? (I didn't refer to "swinging a cat" for
no reason, y'see.) Spray foam is much too permanent and would
prolly burst the instrument.

There are two ways that I have used. The cheap way is to buy a
practice mute. Should be a couple of dollars at most. It's basically
a weight with a clip that goes on the bridge, and you could probably
easily make one yourself. There is a picture of a wooden mute on page
7 of the ILS catalog at
http://www.internationalluthiers.com/pdf/Catalog83.pdf. It doesn't

Got it.


really show how the mute is applied, but the three fingers are slotted
so that the mute sets on the bridge with the strings going through the
gaps. They don't show a practice mute in the catalog, but you could
get one of the wood mutes and either make a heavier copy, or mount a
lead weight on it. The more weight in the mute, the quieter.

Excellent! I have a nice, dense piece of Jarrah that would
love to become a mute. Thanks.


The other way is to use an electric practice instrument with
headphones. I have a homemade 'stick' with a pickup that I paid a
friend of mine about $100 to build for me. Commercial e-fiddles can
cost several thousand dollars. You need a good pickup, a
high-impedance preamp, and a headphone amplifier for this.

Yes, the Chiwanese models are a few hundred on Ebay. I got the
cheapie violin there to learn how to play, and if I continue,
I'll get a _real_ violin.


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