| Author |
Subject |
cellocase
Registered User
(8/6/00 2:28:21 pm)
Reply |
Wolf
tone
My daughter and I share a Doetsch
cello (yeah, I know, I know)-- she's the good one, I've only been
playing 3 years. Lately I've been hating the C string, and realized
we still had on the original C and G strings (yikes!) So I replaced
them today. The G had a brass wolf eliminator on it, and I tried to
place it in the same position. But when I played an F on the G
string, there was this weird kind of like a wah-wah sound, like the
tone came and went...is that what a wolf tone is?? We moved the wolf
eliminator around until things sounded clearer. Did we do right?
Anything else we should do? My teacher is away for the summer, it's
so nice to know you guys are here! K.
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MaryK
Registered
User
(8/6/00 4:07:41 pm)
Reply
 |
Re:
Wolf tone
Yup, that's a wolf; and it sounds to
me like you did exactly the right thing moving around the wolf
eliminator! Wolfs can be nasty... (Or is it wolves???
<g>)
Cheers,
MaryK
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Andrew
Victor
Registered
User
(8/6/00 4:22:17 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Wolf tone -Seconding the opinion - BUT!
You did the right thing. BUT, I have
found much more satisfactory results that are easier to achieve by
placing the eliminator on the C-string afterlength, instead of the G
string. In addition to being easier to locate the "sweet spot" it
also seems to have less negative effect on the tone of other
notes.
I know the wolf sounds most prominantly on the G
string, but that's not the point. What the wolf elimnator combined
with the string afterlength does is create a vibrating system that
absorbs the energy at the frequency that drives the wolf - so that
it isn't available to drive the wolf.
I even had "a
discussion" with a respected luthier about this, when I took out a
cello on trial, but I decided not to fight someone with more
experience and I just let the eliminator be placed on the G string,
and then I moved it to the C when I got home.
In his book
"The Violin Explained," James Beament recommends the C string
placement -that's where I learned it - I didn't invent
it.
Andy
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matthias24
Registered
User
(8/6/00 4:39:27 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Wolf tone
alright. i have the same sound when
i play a B-flat on the G, (well, i've only noticed it on the G.
never had to play a low B-flat on any other string yet,) and was
wondering if that was a wolf. glad to know that there IS something I
can do about it.
~ aaron ~
|
cellocase
Registered User
(8/7/00 8:38:22 am)
Reply |
Re:
Wolf tone -Seconding the opinion - BUT!
Thanks everyone for the advice and
encouragement. I think I'll leave the wolf eliminator where it is
for now until I decide whether to keep these Jargars on. I've always
liked the sound of Jargars on the higher strings, but I bought some
Supersensitives at the World Cello Congress, and I might try those
on the C and G.
Thanks again, K.
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MaryK
Registered
User
(8/8/00 10:54:45 am)
Reply
|
Re:
Wolf tone - To Andy
Hmm, Andy, I think I'm going to give
placing the eliminator on the C string, thanks for your post. Can't
hurt, what the hey. Question: what do you mean by "afterlength?"
Haven't heard that term before.
Thanks,
MaryK
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Andrew
Victor
Registered
User
(8/10/00 4:59:17 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Afterlength - to MaryK.
By "afterlength" I mean the length
of string between the bridge and the tailpice stop. On the old
Maestronet internet BB we had quite extensive discussions about the
fact that this should be 1/6 the length of the string between the
nut and the bridge - thus tuning the "afterlength" to the second
octave harmonic of the next higher string.
We supposed, and
had some empirical that the ringing of this afterlength would
support a better tone from the instrument -- at least from some
instruments. On other instruments, it provides little if any
difference. (It works, of course, on violin, viola, and cello -- any
instrument tuned in fifths. For instruments tuned to a different
harmonicity, a different ratio of afterlengths might work - that
would depend on the harmonicity and the available natural
harmonics.)
[[I suspect that on really good instruments, that
are so rich in harmonics (probably in the spruce top) the effect of
tuning the afterlengths is nil.]]
Andy (With more than you
asked for - and more than I know.)
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