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Buzzing violin
Somebody who plays violin for a long time must have met one time at least the buzz which was disturbing the playing a lot. It is difficult to identify the cause of the buzz even to an expert but there are ways to find it and eliminate it. The most common thinking is that it is caused by the bass-barr but it never happened in my professional carrier. There are some clues to start with:
1. Which string makes the buzz, is it only one or four of them?
2. If it is all the way up the string or only few notes. Check for the unraveled winding on the core, change the string if it is the case.
3. If you hear the buzz only on higher positions that can mean that the string is bumping into the grooves of the fingerboard. Reshooting the fingerboard will eliminate the buzz.
4. Sometimes people forget to take little tubes which float around at the tailpiece end on some strings. Those little tubes may cause the buzz even when they are in use in the bridge notches because they are sticking out too far into the vibrating length of the string.
5. Check the accessories: chinrest clearance at the tailpiece, tailpiece distance above the top plate, the screw legs of the chinrest, a sliding mute, loose fine tuners, loose fine tuner screws or maybe the fingerboard have come unglued at the base of the neck.
6. Other buzzes can be caused by shirt buttons, zippers jewelry, metal music stands, something having come loose inside the frog, incompatibility of the instrument and the bow resulting in a lot of surface noise when you bow, or just something else vibrating somewhere in the room.
7. Most frequently buzzes are caused by loose purfling, especially in the older violins which have overcome lots of changing humid-dry cycles and have ed.
8. All seams must be checked thoroughly if you still hear the buzz after all fittings were taken off. The best way to find unglued spot is to tap gently with the knuckles all around the perimeter.
9. on the older instrument must be examined carefully because they even after repair work quite often reappear again.
10. Decorative fittings such as gold mounted collars on boxwood pegs or mother-of-pearl inlays on the tailpiece or other places can be the reason way you hear the buzz.
So, where to begin and what to do? Get someone like your teacher, who can also hear the buzz, to aid you. You play a note so that it buzzes constantly while the other person should then firmly touch everything that could possibly be the reason of the buzz. Hopefully, you can identify the buzz. Try playing the instrument with a different bow, just as an experiment. When you find the thing write down precisely what you have noticed and go to the repair shop as soon as possible. Once you get there, show the repairperson exactly what causes the buzz and how you got it to stop. It will prevent him from guessing and save his time and your money. Good luck buzz hunting!
Birute
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