cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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String vibration passing through floating bridge
Hello everybody,
When I pluck the strings on my floating bridge oud, I sometimes get this really high pitched buzzing sound. It happens more often with certain
positions on the fingerboard. I have just found out what the problem is. The buzzing is actually the tone coming from vibrations of the part of the
string from the floating bridge to the ties! I am not too familiar with the physics here, but some of the string vibrations are obviously passing the
bridge. In other words, the tone of the buzz is the same tone I get when I actually pluck the part of the string between the bridge and the ties.
Anybody encountered this problem before? Any quick fixes?
Thanks,
Chris.
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teslim
Oud Junkie
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Overtones
I have a seven coarse bashir style oud...the overtones especially on the higher strings that resonate behind the bridge are often disruptive to the
scales or makams as they may be a note that is not part of that particular makam,,,or they can cause vibrations that cancel each other out or in your
case create a buzzing sound...the quick fix is to use something to damp the string behind the bridge such as a piece of tape or a rubber washer...the
best solution i have found is the small rubber tubing used for electric wire insulation sold at home depot or most hardware stores .it comes in
different sizes and is fairly inexpensive (and reusable)... i end up putting both strings of the pairs through one tube that reaches from the bridge
to where it is tied in the rear....the strings from D and lower don't seem to need this on my ouds but it would depend on your instrument. hope this
helps.
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Greg
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When I had a bashir style oud, I cut small blocks of rubber from an eraser. Insert one of these between each string pair and it dampens both. And you
don't need to remove the strings to do it.
Regards,
Greg
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francis
Oud Junkie
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Location: Saintes , France
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It's also possible to insert a little patch of cloth or leather, between the strings and the table. You can move it as you want and bad vibrations are
removed.
I experienced this on my cittern, but I think it's probably avaible with most of floating bridge's instruments....
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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These seem like very nice quick fixes. It got me pretty worried that this started happening, and it seems the action has dropped just a tad. I
started to wonder if I wasn't maintaining my oud properly.
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
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Hey Guys
Its interesting how different people have their certain approaches to this common problem on bashir ouds, and they're all very similar! I've tried
the eraser trick, bits of cotton, tissue etc...But at the moment I'm really happy with good old "blu tak", I'm not sure if this product has the same
name in the states. But you simply roll up a small ball and press it down on the offending course of strings close to the tailpiece where the strings
are tied - it works a treat !
Cheers
Sam
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francis
Oud Junkie
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Location: Saintes , France
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Hey
I keep "blu tak" to tune my uilleann pipes regulators! ( another forum........)
but it works right to damp also.
I prefer it inside, 'cause it can damage varnish....."french" blue tak does this!
Be carefull!
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