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Are there quiet violins?

From David Knutson
Posted June 3, 2012 at 04:28 AM

You could try cotton wool in your ears! You don't say why you want a quiet violin, is it for you or to stop it disturbing other people or neighbours?

Or get a baroque fiddle, they are pretty quiet ... (wink)

Cheers Carlo

If it is a sweeter sound you are after an old Amati model, perhaps 18th century English, will fit the bill. These are fairly cheap if you look out for the trade violins made in St Paul's churchyard at that time.

Cheers Carlo

Cheers Carlo

Trouble is then that you have to play in all the positions and with all those extra notes ... (wink)

Seriously, though, I use two brands of string on agressive instruments: Aricore and Pro Arte. Ask for the low tension versions. A thicker bridge will give slightly muted effect.

New "industrial" violins, even of a good brand, usually sound brash.

Oh come on now, they're cute!

If you don't like the power of a violin however, that could be a problem. Even dark and sweet ones should have some richness and power. That's why they are violins!

I, too, like Violinos--they are sweet (and reasonably priced, too). My elderly violin sings with them.

Joking apart, a violin with no sound post does not sound soft, it sounds like a bad radio set, full of wolf-notes!

Pursuing my brilliant idea of a rubber bridge:
I needed to heighten my bridge by half a millimetre, so I stuck two thicknesses of bristol visiting-card under each foot; the tone was a little subdued until I hardened the card with glue. (My bridge now has pretty little white socks!)(No snide remarks, please, Peter..)
So, for the opposite effect, we could try, instead of hard card, a thin layer of cork to absorb some of the tone without completely changing the character of the violin.

If the second, you've gotten lots of good advice (and some--typical for this site, alas--nonsense).

If the former, however, you might consider using an ear plug in your left ear. That helps protect you, and lessens the sound, without distorting pitch or quality, because you acquire those through bone conduction.

I use Etymotics when I practice (hearing damage from too many hours without protection, coupled with too many years in front of brass players in orchestras) but I find it helpful in reducing sound anyway.

Matching your neglige (with an accent) no doubt!!

Sorry, couldn't resist that one!

1. Intonation / Accuracy
2. Playing a conventional violin
3. Sound reduction for neighbors and self

Your teacher's justification for (2) is (1), which we take to mean that your teacher wants you to have an instrument which has audible sympathetic vibration. This has its own consequences -- a quiet or quietened violin might have significantly reduced sympathetic vibrations, defeating that purpose.

Intonation is not sufficiently addressed with just sympathetic vibrations on an instrument, so I think you should separate (1) and (2); address (1) specifically with various means, but also address (2) for its own merits. Intonation/accuracy is a big topic for violinists, and I am avoiding the temptation to give specific advice now.

For (3), you could continue with the instrument you have, and try a conventional violin with a different practice mute -- e.g. Artino, which is a rubber/metal hybrid which diminishes the sound significantly, but not as severly as a metal mute. However, you must also remove the mute at times, and play with the full sound of the violin. Doing this before lessons or performances might be sufficient. Perhaps you could find a good time or place to practice in this way which would bother others the least. You might also get by limiting the time you practice at full volume, explaining to others that you are minimizing that time.

You could also address the room and the ear. The ear is easy -- use a musician's ear plug. You can make a difference to the room with more damping material at the walls and plugging gaps at the door, but much of it depends on what you have to work with, and making a lot of improvement is generally hard.

...speaking of which...aren't there some kind of sound-dampening panels that you could just hang on the walls...and maybe get some heavy draperies and other sound muffling fabrics/area rugs, etc?

p.s....just found this:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7519911_homemade-sound-dampening-panels.html

...and this (with photos to give you more ideas):

http://www.audimutesoundproofing.com/sound-dampening.aspx

If all or any of the above is horse feathers, then I'm quite sure I'll be told about it forthwith!

So, I upgraded and got a violin that projects a lot more (and I started wearing an earplug in my left ear when I practice because the difference is quite noticeable). I gave my old violin to my 12-yo daughter as her first full-size instrument. She's played my new one a few times and doesn't like it at all, saying it's "too loud." She likes the softer, understated tone of her violin. So I think at least for now it has a good owner who appreciates it.

But I think the poster above who commented that these violins aren't that popular is correct. I showed my old violin to an appraiser and told him I'd acquired it for $800 back in the late 1970's, and he told me it was worth only about $500 now. I personally much prefer the sound of my new, "louder" one as well. So I think you might be able to get a soft-sounding violin for a pretty reasonable price if you look for an older German factory violin, based on an Amati model.