Playing Fiddle

Okay, this is embarrassing but perhaps I can save someone ELSE the embarrassment. I was playing the other day and heard this odd vibration. I shook my fiddle a bit and thought I heard something inside it. Now, when I used to play guitar and mandolin sometimes I’d drop my pick inside (sloppy I know but it happens!). But I couldn’t figure out how I’d managed to get something inside my fiddle!  And it was really annoying me.

I mentioned it to my teacher at the next lesson and he instantly pointed out the problem. I had broken an E string (or begun to break one) so had changed it. And hadn’t paid any attention to this little slip of plastic around the string. I guess some folks put this “insulation” for lack of a better word up at the bridge to mute the high strings just a bit. That was what was rattling!  We slipped it down over the wound end and voila!  No more bothersome vibration.

It’s the little things like this that can plague a new player and some folks might be too embarrassed to ask. Or maybe you’re learning all on your own like I was when I started. So if you hear a buzzing… check out your strings!  Oh and one other time I’d heard some buzzing and it turned out the chin rest was just a little loose. Easily tightened up a bit with a bent paper clip, although I’m sure there’s also some special tool to adjust these!