I have a banjolin (supplied by Andybanjo [q.v.] Get all your banjo requirements from him folks, and help stop penguins from becoming extinct!) and a mute which is in the form of a steel bar which clamps onto the string tails between the bridge and the tailpiece.
Playing said banjolin in our music room the other evening, put the mute on, and lo! it had the effect of making the instrument sound noticeably louder.
I think the effect was mainly because the mute changes the tone/timbre of the sound more than the overall volume, and in the room in question the acoustics are such that the new tone was more strongly echoed than the un-muted tone. The room is about 15 feet by 9 feet with painted brick walls, carpet tiled floor, and is filled with a mixture garden equipment, bicycles, music books, camping equipment and a grand piano.
Discuss it or not, as you feel inclined - but I thought that an "amplifying mute" was quite an interesting thing to discover. Does anyone else have any such serendipitous discoveries in the great world of ITM?
hehe Very Harry Potter or something. I once took my hand off the back of my bodhrán to make it sound louder. This had the opposite effect in that my stick went straight through the skin. I was sitting beside the open fire in Kelly's Cellars and the skin had dried to almost the texture of paper. Serves me right for playing the bodhrán, I suppose.
Andybanjo once had an experimental round metal plate for a resonator screwed to the back of one of his banjos. Let's just say it had a 'very very different' tone!
The mute that made things louder
The mute that made things louder
Here's a little curiosity.
I have a banjolin (supplied by Andybanjo [q.v.] Get all your banjo requirements from him folks, and help stop penguins from becoming extinct!) and a mute which is in the form of a steel bar which clamps onto the string tails between the bridge and the tailpiece.
Playing said banjolin in our music room the other evening, put the mute on, and lo! it had the effect of making the instrument sound noticeably louder.
I think the effect was mainly because the mute changes the tone/timbre of the sound more than the overall volume, and in the room in question the acoustics are such that the new tone was more strongly echoed than the un-muted tone. The room is about 15 feet by 9 feet with painted brick walls, carpet tiled floor, and is filled with a mixture garden equipment, bicycles, music books, camping equipment and a grand piano.
Discuss it or not, as you feel inclined - but I thought that an "amplifying mute" was quite an interesting thing to discover. Does anyone else have any such serendipitous discoveries in the great world of ITM?
# Posted on August 3rd 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: The mute that made things louder
hehe Very Harry Potter or something. I once took my hand off the back of my bodhrán to make it sound louder. This had the opposite effect in that my stick went straight through the skin. I was sitting beside the open fire in Kelly's Cellars and the skin had dried to almost the texture of paper. Serves me right for playing the bodhrán, I suppose.
# Posted on August 3rd 2004 by Conán McDonnell
Re: The mute that made things louder
Andybanjo once had an experimental round metal plate for a resonator screwed to the back of one of his banjos. Let's just say it had a 'very very different' tone!
Jim
# Posted on August 3rd 2004 by Worldfiddler