muting strings

[Paul Chick (EarthLink)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "John M. Formsma" <jformsma@dixie-net.com>
>
> Took a muting class from Dan Levitan several years ago. He recommended
strip
> muting as close to the agraffe as possible to minimize this problem.
>
> His very cool middle section muting strip is described below.
>
> Get a 1" strip of white medium action cloth. Stretch it out and lay it
flat.
> Draw a line from the corner of both ends (on the top side) to a point on
the
> middle of the strip 1/4" from the top side. Draw a similar line from the
> corners of the bottom side to a point in the middle 1/4" from the bottom
> side. Cut along the lines, which makes it tapered--wider from the ends
> decreasing to 1/2" at the middle.
>
> To mute, use the middle point of the strip (the 1/2" wide part). Beginning
> at the highest note in the middle section, place the strip in between
every
> other string group, going down as far as you can. Then, with the rest of
the
> strip, return to the top and fill in the gaps down. All outside strings
will
> now be muted. Tune the middle strings, and remove one half of the strip.
> Now, you can tune those unisons. Then, remove the other half and tune
those
> unisons. Fast and easy.
>
> John Formsma
> 402 W. Main St.
> Blue Mountain, MS 38610
>

John
I was in one of Dan's classes, too, and have adapted his strip mutes to my
tuning.  I use backrail cloth from Pianotek-FBR 145 or FBR 165, cut in the
fashion you describe.  I keep the strip tight from one unison to the next.
This tension reduces the leaking of the muted strings but does not interfere
with the center string.  Badly leaking notes can be pulled closer to pitch
and quiet the leaking without removing the strip.  Pick the offending string
first to hear if it's too high or too low before tuning.  The mute makes
tuning this section very accurate and very quick for aural tuning.

Paul Chick