source file: mills2.txt Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 14:10:19 -0800 Subject: Re: Wolves at the door... From: "Jonathan M. Szanto" In the last tuning list Gary Morrison included: > Dan Wolf was, I think, insightful to point out that historically, "wolf" >has been used to describe far more divergent effects, like a note on an >instrument that, just by the acoustomechanics of the instrument itself, >tends to "stick out". I've even heard some violinists describe the open E >string on a "wolf". My wife is a professional cellist, and occasionally has had wolves attack her instrument. Variables include different brands or styles of strings, changes in the bridge and (horror!) new changes within the instrument, such as a seam starting to open or possible cracks developing. To these players, the wolf is usually manifest as a note the *almost* disappears; I would imagine something in the makeup of a particular string finds an equal harmonic resonance in the body of the instrument, and some sort of phase cancellation occurs, causing the note to become very much softer than surrounding pitches. There are numerous remedies, often times known as "wolf catchers", to affect the situation (beyond trying different strings); my wife has a small 'weight' device that attaches to the string between the bridge and the tailpiece, altering mass (my guess). Other repair people install, on the exterior of the instrument, a small weight that is placed in a (seeming) nodal point on the body, negating the resonance and allowing the note to speak more clearly. On the other hand, string repair people are some of the few left practicing the 'black arts' - they never do repair in front of you, always taking the instrument into the "back room", emitting "hmmmm, ahhhhh,....hmmmm" sounds. The bill goes up... Cheers, Jon *------------------------------------------------------------------* Jonathan M. Szanto | A hobo, in cyberspace, no less . . . . . . . Corporeal Meadows | . . . . . . . . Partch awaits in the Meadows jszanto@adnc.com | http://www.adnc.com/web/jszanto/welcome.html *------------------------------------------------------------------* Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Tue, 10 Dec 1996 02:02 +0100 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA07857; Tue, 10 Dec 1996 02:04:04 +0100 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA07634 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id RAA19150; Mon, 9 Dec 1996 17:04:01 -0800 Date: Mon, 9 Dec 1996 17:04:01 -0800 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu