My violin just sounded awful all of a sudden
Ok, some of you probably read my topic about humidity affecting my violin.
I haven't get in touch with the luthier yet cause he's outstation at the moment.
My violin just sounded awful out of a suddenly, few days ago. I have a habit of shooting videos of me playing with my carema phone/computer (audio only). It's obvious that my violin just lost the complexity of sound out of a sudden.
It simply lack of billiance but yet sounded metallic and noisy (disturbing to listen), according to my friend who heard it before-and-after (it left a very very strong impression that the sound was so up front and smooth that my friend wants to hear it again after few days, and was disappointed like I did).
It just sounded dull and not appealing at all - which is the total opposite of what it was a week ago. I never change string, never move any component on the violin, strings are on proper tension all the while.
I know, the best thing to do is to bring it to luthier and check it. But I really wanted to know what can cause the violin to sound that bad in all of a sudden.
Also let me know what kind of information I should provide. Anyway, the strings are dominant, few months old. The brige was recently fine tuned by the luthier (lowered), and sound post has been moved, both are done since last 3 1/2 weeks. Could it be that the violin is still settling on the soundpost position and getting used to the new bridge height?
I'm very disappointed with the sound and literally making me go mad about it, and can't sleep well...Please help, and thanks in advance!
Replies (11)
Alright, aftering shooting some fresh videos of my playing the violin and compare to some older ones (2~3 weeks ago), I finally conclude that the sound ain't fully resurrected yet.
The sound is now have much better volume under the chin, but lack of body/richness both under ear and listener perspective. It has also become much strident and lost that "bell ringing" core quality.
I've check the violin body, there's no open seams I can see, nor crack (touch wood). Weather hasn't change dramatically though.
I don't think the strings are dead too, still producing strong sound, but lacking in richness and being much strident now.
Guess I'll have to pay a visit to local luthier and do a full checkup. Argh...
Ok, case closed.
My violin just back to normal now, double confirmed by comparing video and audio recording.
I put my violin case in other room in my house last night, and it seems to help. I'm not sure why, I sometimes put the violin case in 2 different room (including my own bedroom). Maybe the violin liked the other room??
I also kinda "refreshed" the violin by replacing the old string with a new set of dominant (old one was also dominant) for a while, THEN put back the old strings. I also kind play it with brutal force (with bow, of course). I also apply extra rosin on my bow.
Voila. Now it sing so beautifully! Not sure which move resurrected the violin. It's now all good. Phew!
I hope my violin won't go temperamental again in the future (touch wood) or else I can't sleep tight!
next time use a wine cork to clean
But drink all the wine first.
I find the violin gets sounding better and better the further down the wine bottle I get, os whn I gett tp the bottle of teh bottom, I pla purtye good!
=D Roland
Don - I guess so, maybe when the rosin starting to ruin the sound and gets cleaned off it'll need some heavy rosin kick start, how know? Sound changing on violin without obvious reason is definitely tiring, oh well just like human being!
Not sure if violin commonly refered as "she", but "she" has a great body shape don't ya think? =D
And thanks for the jokes haha!
I clean the rosin off the strings of every instrument after I play it and before it goes into its case.
As soon as one of my students sounds "bad" the first thing I do is check the rosin condition of their bow and next, the rosin condition of their strings (assuming they have already tuned up).
Sometimes the rosin condition of the strings or bow gets beyond healing by simple "dry cleaning" and it is necessary to remove the rosin that may have melted on to the bow hairs or into the string -winding grooves.
Adding more rosin to the bow may be a temporary fix in the middle of a performance, but the deeper cleanup will still have to be done.
Only once in my life have I seen a situation in which rosin melted on to the hairs of a bow actually made one particular instrument (a particular cello) sound better than with the same bow properly rosined.
Andy
Just wondering, Victor. Can all these happened in just a mere few days? Say, one of your student sounded pretty good all the while and suddenly the student's violin sounded weird since the last lesson say interval of 5 days~1 week, insteady of the sound slowly dying?
I have not done any bowhair cleaning, how I can clean the hair? I've read somewhere on here, that cleaning with soap is OK - it's organic material anyway. Or any better method?
After doing some research, I bought some white spirits off an art shop, apply some on a cloth and clean up the bow hair.
Now the sound got even much better!
I find that cleaning the bow hair seems to restore the full body/richness of the sound and overall respond, and I can't seems to put down my violin now!
Thanks Victor for the really great information!
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July 20, 2008 at 01:56 PM · How dare I miss out this topic which I actually posted a reply.
Problem Solved (No kiddin')
by Don Roth
Exactly the same problem, and cured within 2 mins - loosen each string (except E), and the rosin should "let off", clean up, voila. The violin just sounded SO MUCH better, i can literally hear the echo nearly as loud as the sound I hear under ear, when playing in the living room (which is not the case before the fix).
Sorry for this lousy topic and literally wasting v.com resources... :(