Hello.
Here are my solutions, that have worked with tekero by Balazs:
- lighter wood
- narrower heel of the dog,
- also a little narrower "toes" (those sides that rest against the sides of the slot where the "nail" goes in
- overall narrower design of the dog; seen from the players viewpoint more like letter V upside down, not like \_/
- sometimes hour glass shape (narrower "back" between the heel and the tip) has helped too
- thinner string
- do not make the dog shorter or lower, keep the string in the same position as it is in the present dog. Do not change the string geometry, I mean. Then you can quite easily switch between meaner and nicer dogs. Most likely the old one will work with the new string quite well, in case you decide to change the string. Maybe you have to fill the gap of the string and file a new narrower one.
All this is reducing the mass (=energy= loudness) of the dog-string -system.
And just make a dozen of dogs as a starter set -just to get in touch with the life of the trompette system. There is no easy way, actually.
I have found quite good combination for my tekero with 40cm mensur:The higher melody string and trompette have both same gauge, 0,75 mm. I use Savarez gut guitar strings. The tuning is G/C.
Esa Mäkinen, Finland
Arle Lommel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> kirjoitti:
Hi all,
I have a design question for you. I am currently playing a Balázs
Nagy guitar-bodies French-style instrument. I really like it,
especially for the powerful buzzing bridge (a characteristic of
Balázs' instruments), but there are some contexts where a more subtle
bridge sound would be more suitable. So the question I have is how
one goes about making a buzzing bridge to be responsive yet quiet.
What design consideration goes into it?
If it helps, here is an image of the current buzzing bridge:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/
FrenchBuzzingBridge.jpg
I would ideally like to have a different bridge for when I want a
quieter sound and to keep this one for when I want a powerful sound.
I should also add that the string geometry is correct: this isn't a
case of an instrument with a strong deflection of the trompette at
the wheel, which I know is often a problem. Instead it is almost
perfectly tangential to the surface of the wheel with no visible
deflection at all. Therefore it isn't a simple matter of adjusting
the location of the bridge or its length.
Any thoughts from anyone on the list?
-Arle
