Hi Rique, As with anything concerning a gurdy there is no straight and simple answer. The factors surrounding this difficulty that you have are well explained in previous posts: - Amount of Rosin, amount of cotton, string pressure on the wheel, 'trueness' of the wheel, alignment of the strings across the wheel, speed of turning the wheel when playing in the upper octave and type of strings.
What type of music are you wanting to play? What strings are you using? Gut, metal or synthetic? What tensions are they? Light, medium or soft? If you are wanting to be able to play in the upper register without the stress of thinking "Is it going too sound harsh" and the strings you are using are causing this, then one way to eliminate these multiple factors is by changing one factor at a time and seeing what the effect has on the sound you are wanting to achieve. The way in which I would approach this is by first "refreshing the wheel". That is remove the rosin you have on the wheel (having lifted all strings off the wheels surface). The way in which I was shown was too use a 1000 grade 'Emery' paper (used for polishing metal) hold it firmly on the wheel and turn it fast for a few seconds. You will find on the paper a dark build up of the rosin you have taken off with a lighter lesser amount of fine wood dust from the wheel. Taking a lint free cloth hold this on the wheel and turn a few times to clean any remaining dust particles off. Taking your rosin block hold it onto the wheel and turn the handle a few times to apply a 'fresh' layer of rosin. Finally taking the lint free cloth again hold it on the wheel firmly and turn the wheel fast to remove any excess rosin. Place your melody strings back on the wheel and see whether it has improved the sound or eliminated completely the harshness? If so, then the reason was too much rosin. If not... Raise the string by adding a thin shim under the strings at the bridge end, tuning back up and seeing if there is a change in the sound in the upper register? If not.... Replace the cotton slivers that you have wrapped around your strings, as when you rosin a wheel it builds up in the cotton and can cause the sound to become harsh in the upper register. If this works then everything is fine. If not... Check if the string is lying flat across the surface of the wheel? If it is raised at one edge of the wheel or the other this will have a big influence on the play-ability of the upper register. To solve this is by a slow process of trial and error of adding and removing shims at both the bridge and nut to get the string to lie flat across the wheel when tuned to the note you require. Your instrument maker will be able to give you further and more experienced advice on how to achieve this. If still no improvement on the sound which you are looking for, then you may want to try a lighter tension string for your instrument or different material of string. Finally, the advice of turning the wheel slightly faster when playing in the upper register is true and can help a lot. Regards Andrew On Monday, July 2, 2012 6:18:14 PM UTC+1, Rique Meirelles wrote: > > > Hey, folks. > > As some of you may already know, I'm a begginer who's basically alone with > my gurdy in Brazil (I do have Augusto around, but he lives kind of far from > my city - plus, we play in different tunings). Anyway, I've been able to > overcome some bothersome problems such as sticky keys and some maintenance > issues, but there's this one tiny detail I can't seem to vanquish so soon: > the two chantarelles playing high notes together. I mean, the first keys > are ok, I don't have that much trouble on the first octave an a couple of > notes after it, but the really high-pitched notes are really hard to play > when both strings are on. > > How were you able to achieve a pleasent sound when playing those keys? Any > tips? > > > Kind regards, > > > Rique > > -- > "For he comes, the human child, > To the waters and the wild > With a faery hand in hand, > From a world more full of weeping > than he can understand." > > The Stolen Child - William Butler Yeats - > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
