Hi
I was wondering if someone could help me out. Every now and again I get no sound whatsoever on the A string in 2nd position on one of my violins. There is plenty of rosin on the bow. I have tried different strings, different soundpost and bridge positions. It has helped but has not eliminated the problem. Any ideas?
Thanks
Len

If you bow a string at exactly the half way point there is no sound...some strange quirk of physics. Might it be this? If not I have no idea!

???? I'm not quite sure myself what lrlemieux means, but I don't think they mean they are bowing the string at mid-point between the bridge and nut.

lrlemieux, what note(s) are you fingering when you don't get any sound?? You need to ensure the string is pushed down in contact with the fingerboard, otherwise yes, you can end up with rather dead notes or even harmonics.

Have you a teacher who can look at and play the instrument for you? If they have problems with it too, then the best advice would be to take the instrument to a luthier and let them have a look at it.

Hi The note would be the C on the A string. If I play it slightly sharp or flat it's ok. Otherwise I get no sound at all. Perfect quiet as if there were no rosin on the bow. and it only happens once in a while. 90% of the time it is 0k. I am a pretty fair player, and can handle most repairs on a violin myself but this has me stumped.

I don't have much idea on this but could it be a wolf note? But hehe, what exactly is a wolf note? I heard it's like a certain note on some violins that cannot be played or something. Not being able to play C on the A string is odd I believe. Maybe you should take it to a luthier to have a look at it.

Isn't a wolf note the result of the vibration of the body of the instrument and the vibration of the affected string cancelling each other out at a particular pitch? The note starts to sound then it disappears. Cellos are more likely to get wolf notes than violins though. A luthier should be able to sort it out for you.

It could be a wolf note - some violins and violas get them too. If it's a wolf, though, it's unlikely that there will be no sound at all - generally the sound cuts in and out on a wolf. It would account for the sporadic nature of the problem though - for a wolf to sound you have to hit the string in exactly the wolf spot, a tenth of a milimeter either way and it won't sound.

If it's a wolf, there's not much you can do about it. There are some commercially made wolf eliminators, and a luthier could probably make you a better one, but to be honest using a wolf eliminator is just a way of stopping certain vibrations in the instrument's body so, although it makes the wolf less likely to occur, it also diminishes the sounding of the instrument.

My luthier recommends that people squeeze the instrument slightly if a wolf starts to occur (just on that note). Obviously this works best for cellos, but you can do it on a violin too (if you don"t use a shoulder rest).

Good luck!

Allan

From what I understand about wolf notes the sound resonates louder, but in this case all sound is being cancelled out.

A wolf note is a noise that is produced when a note played on a bowed string instrument matches the natural resonating frequency of the instrument, producing a tone that is loud and harsh. Generally speaking wolf notes appear somewhere around fifth position, not as low as second position. The cello and double bass tend to have the biggest wolf note problems, with the occasional viola suffering too. It's very unusual to find violins with them.

I'm more and more convinced lrlemieux's violin problem is a job for a luthir, not a DIY fix.

I don't know why, but the note C is a very common one for violin wolf notes. Whether this has anything to do with the problem I am unsure. The place most people seem to get one is an octave above middle C on the G string. It's pretty rare to find them on the A string, and as Amanda said, very unusual in low positions.

Have you asked your teacher yet? Or got someone else to see if the problem is still there when they play?

You know, according to my luthier, the wolf note is a frequency, rather than a specific note, he claims that, for example, an instrument might have an 'f' problem (which is the case with one of my cellos) and that all the 'f' notes, if fingered exactly in the right place, will cause a wolf note. They don't sound louder, the wobble, with the sound cutting in and out. The expression used in French sums it up more concisely than wolf note - we say that an instrument 'rolls' a note - which conveys the idea of the overwhelming warble that appears with the sound cutting in and out.

I have a viola that has a wolf and a violin that I can't make my mind up about, so perhaps they aren't as uncommon as we think and certainly they aren't necessarily related to a particular position.

Hi Thanks for the replys so far. I don't currently have a teacher but I have had a couple other people play it and it happened for one of them. It sounds like it could be a variation of a wolf but not as it has been described here. It does not warble but will emit no sound for maybe a full second or more. I have not had a problem with the G string but thats not a string we tend to use a lot so it may be there as well. It does sound like the top will have to come off. Maybe it's something as simple as a loose basebar, or some minor re-voicing.
Len

This may be a wolf note... But they are often only on the G-string...