Menuhin Mute?

March 7, 2014 at 09:47 PM · Expensive

March 7, 2014 at 11:47 PM · Here is Alpine Mute Co.'s page:

http://thealpinemuteco.com/.

If you want a new"shield mute based on the old design, their product is it!

Another good modern alternative to the Shield Mute:

http://www.swan-mutes.co.uk/

Some of my friends swear by the Polly Mute as well, although I find it doesn't dampen as much as I'd like.

March 8, 2014 at 07:16 AM · One of my viola students bought an Alpine Mute Co. shield mute, and showed it to me tonight at orchestra rehearsal. It works great!

Then again, you can get one of the basic rubber ones for 99 cents and it works just fine too. :)

March 8, 2014 at 06:49 PM · Ben - the link you provided does not work.

I think the best strategy with mutes is to go to your luthier and try some. See what works the best. Many of the good ones are inexpensive. I use the Spector on my violin, although some may find it does not mute the sound enough.

March 8, 2014 at 08:45 PM · I hope they fixed the intonation problem of the original YM mute. It used to raise the pitch of the middle two strings when it was on.

Cheers Carlo

March 9, 2014 at 03:58 AM · Carlo, you mentioned this in the other thread on the YM mute too. It's probably an issue with the strings on your instrument cutting into your bridge. I've never had this issue on either my violin or viola, and I've played on my shield mutes for almost twenty years.

March 12, 2014 at 09:56 AM · Gene, you may be right. I just gave my original YM mute to a colleague, who was very happy to receive it. I like to use the finissima artist mute. This is silent to put on and off, mutes with good tone, doesn't rattle when off, doesn't change the pitch when on, and looks good. I keep one on four of my fiddles.

Cheers Carlo

March 12, 2014 at 05:38 PM · The Finissima is really nice! I swapped my mute with a friend on a concert a few years ago and it was very simple to slide it into position.

March 14, 2014 at 03:37 AM · Just came in the mail today...I tried it for a few minutes, and it truly has the best muting effect I've ever heard. It might dampen the violin a bit when not on the bridge, but I didn't experiment enough to fully judge that (and my violin does have a very powerful tone, so if it were a little quieter it wouldn't be the end of the world).

Gene, I have been using the Finissima mute until now, for anybody that doesn't want to pay $30 for a mute, that is what I recommend.

May 8, 2014 at 09:11 PM · Anyone else has problems getting it to stick to the bridge? It's slipping 100% off the time for me, which is no fun. The sound is great but it quickly all goes to waste because it just doesn't stay on the bridge. Even without playing the violin it just little by little removes itself from its original muting position. I wish I had an answer to this situation because it seems no one else in the whole world has commented on a similar problem with either the old or new version of this mute online(hopefully it's only my problem and it's not happening to too many people due to releasing it without testing it enough-I am happy for all those of you who managed to keep it into place.) This is too expensive a mute for this to happen, quite honestly (I do like the sound, but if it can't remain in the bridge, what's the point? Muting for 30 seconds?)

Sorry if the above sounds harsh; I just feel disappointed it's not working at all as it should.

Edited to add it MAY be the parchment on the bridge on the A string making it slip (that's the one that pushes the mute out even without playing.) If that's the "problem (which shouldn't be a problem, because these parchments have been around for a while) what could I add to the mute to add more friction to the rubber in the right side? It's so frustrating because it's otherwise unusable.

June 9, 2014 at 12:11 AM · I tried both the Alpine mute and Swam mute. Sound wise they are the best among the ones I tried. Warm, clear, not muddy like some. But both of them raised pitch on A string for one of my violins that I have Warchal Russian A on; on another violin with Dominant it was fine. I think the steel A had cut into the bridge a bit. They also don't fit so well on some thicker strings like Passione Solo. A friend said it rattles on her violin when it's off; I didn't have that problem so maybe it's a defective one?

I stop using them at the end because of the pitch issue. I am using Polly mute now, which does not have as much muting effect but doesn't raise the pitch. If I switch away from steel A I would like to try them again.

January 30, 2015 at 03:21 AM · Resurrected thread just to note that it was one of my strings pulling down the mute, since it had an odd angle due to the ball on the fine tuner. I had no idea this was happening until today, after I switched my ancient steel A for a fresher-though slightly used-Orchestra Prim A, that does have a removable ball, and thus unknowingly eliminated the problem I had last year. I can therefore conclude that it shouldn't be a common occurrence with many if not most violins, so it's only fair that I made my findings public-as well as hoping nobody had a wrong impression of the mute based on my earlier complaint.

This mute (Alpine) does sound wonderful-will report if I have any out of tune problems this evening during my late night practice session. It doesn't rattle whatsoever and seemingly doesn't impact the tone when off the bridge, vs my old Spector mute, which does a little bit when not being used.