muting strings

[David Andersen]

> Do you folk mute
>>only with felt strips or do you find it better to mute with the rubber mutes.
>>If rubber...individual rubber mutes or a 'bank of rubber mutes'?

I mute with felt strips sometimes (when I'm not tuning "old School," with 
just one rubber mute).
There's usually a bleed-through problem in the middle of the piano, but 
it's because the strings are slightly farther apart there; I end up 
having to pull the "loops" of the felt strip up so that maximum pressure 
from them is exerted on the strings; then when you hit the note, the 
strip is worked down further, and you have to lift the loops up again.  I 
tried using thicker strips, but they seemed to distort and stretch the 
strings too much.  I just put up with having to fiddle with the strips in 
the tenor.
With rubber mutes, where you place them on the string seems to be 
important: at some points they seem to excite a node or something, and 
create a "ghost" note that can interfere with good listening.
Close to the agraffe seems best, and again, it only seems relevant in the 
middle of the piano.

Hope this helps......David A.