| Author |
Subject |
FrozenYankee
Registered User
(1/27/01 7:49:51 pm)
Reply |
Keeping
the wolf at bay...
I bought an artist cello which I
like very much but unfortunately has the wolf note from hell. It's
so bad that it even shows up on the D string (F#).
I bought
one of those nice shiney brass de-wolfers and put it on my G string.
Had no effect. Moved it all around. Nope. Tried the C string. No
luck there either. Unless I moved the thing right up to the bridge
so that it really acted as a mute, it made no difference at
all.
Thinking about the fizzicks of all of this, I believe a
good wolf eliminator should be designed so that it tunes one of the
string afterlengths (preferable the C string) to the wolf note. The
C string vibrates up and down the most when the wolf note is played,
so it is there the eliminator will have the best chance to soak up
the unwanted energy.
If you go kerplunk on the C string
afterlength, the note is way up there. By adding weight to the
string, the note can be brought down. When you've added enough
weight, going kerplunk on the afterlength will sound the same F#
that the wolf haunts.
Now, if all you do is add the weight,
then what you'll accomplish is to make two smaller wolf notes - one
on either side of the original one. You have to make this resonator
lossy - so it'll dissipate the resonant energy, not redistribute it.
I guess that's why there's a rubber sleeve inside the shiney brass
de-wolfer. The rubber soaks up the energy.
So why didn't the
brass thing work for me? It was too heavy. It brought the
afterlength note way, way below my wolf note.
I removed the
brass thing, and started experimenting with heavy gauge wire solder.
I'd snip off 2" pieces and twist them around the afterlength of my C
string. Then I'd go kerplunk and check the note. It got lower and
lower and finally reached the magic F#.
I carefully unwrapped
all the solder pieces and weighed them accurately. 3 grams exactly.
The brass thing weighed 9 grams. No wonder it didn't work.
I
took the rubber insert out of the brass guy and cut a single long
length of solder and trimmed it until, together with the rubber
piece, it weighed 3 grams.
I put the rubber piece at the
middle of the C string afterlength and carefully coiled the solder
around it. I pulled the two ends of the solder coil towards each
other and twisted them together so the whole coil snugged around the
rubber.
I know, I know, what a complicated procedure. But it
works! The wolf is gone. Now that I've proved out the theory, I need
to come up with a more permanent device. Solder is soft and I don't
think it's going to hang in there for long. I thought of cutting
down the brass thingy, but just the locking screw on it weighs 3
grams.
By the way, the solder I used is about 1/16" thick and
is lead-based electronic solder (Radio Shack?). Plumbing solder
nowadays is lead-free and isn't as heavy, so you'd have to use more
of it to get the weight you need.
Richard
Edited by: FrozenYankee
at: 1/27/01 7:49:51 pm
|
Len
Thompson
Registered User
(1/29/01 4:33:24 pm)
Reply |
Gold
Mine!
Very interesting Richard. What do
you think accounts for the differing weight needs? The mass of the
string itself? The lenght of the after length, or the cello body
itself? I also have a wolf that shows up on the D-string. Installed
one eliminator that was rather large in size, and black in color. It
turns out that it was copper rather than brass. It didn't touch the
wolf. Tried another smaller brass eliminator, and although it didn't
get rid of the wolf altogether, it did move it so that it does not
interfer as much. I think the brass may weigh more for any given
volume than the copper, (not sure) but I did consider the weight at
issue when I replaced it. It weighs less overall than the copper
one, but how much I don't know. You know, I used to work for an
electronics co., and for setting up some of the mechanical parts we
made, we used these brass pealable washers. They start off about 1/4
inch thick, then you peal off a piece about .002" for each segment.
Seems like something along that line could be done for a eliminator.
Could be a little gold mine!!!
Anyway, good thinking! I've
printed out your post.
Len
|
Len
Thompson
Registered User
(1/29/01 4:35:09 pm)
Reply |
Gold
Mine!
Very interesting Richard. What do
you think accounts for the differing weight needs? The mass of the
string itself? The lenght of the after length, or the cello body
itself? I also have a wolf that shows up on the D-string. Installed
one eliminator that was rather large in size, and black in color. It
turns out that it was copper rather than brass. It didn't touch the
wolf. Tried another smaller brass eliminator, and although it didn't
get rid of the wolf altogether, it did move it so that it does not
interfer as much. I think the brass may weigh more for any given
volume than the copper, (not sure) but I did consider the weight at
issue when I replaced it. It weighs less overall than the copper
one, but how much I don't know. You know, I used to work for an
electronics co., and for setting up some of the mechanical parts we
made, we used these brass pealable washers. They start off about 1/4
inch thick, then you peal off a piece about .002" for each segment.
Seems like something along that line could be done for a eliminator.
Could be a little gold mine!!!
Anyway, good thinking! I've
printed out your post.
Len
PS I've already applied for the
patten, so forget it!
|
Len
Thompson
Registered User
(1/29/01 4:40:13 pm)
Reply |
SORRY!
I only wanted to add the post
script, not the whole post again. Seems I touched the wrong button,
sorry!
Len
|
Andrew
Victor
Registered
User
(1/30/01 12:21:42 pm)
Reply |
Different weights of wolf eliminators.
It seems to me I recently read of
different weights of wolf eliminators. I can't recall who was
selling them. Might have been David Bice at New
Harmony.
Andy
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