Tourte Mute for Viola, ZD-V238A

Rubber mute for viola in the Tourte, shaped version. It threads between the strings and stays on the instrument permanently.

• Rubber, does not scratch the varnish
• Con sordino is therefore an instruction about colour, not about volume.
• Rubber mutes may stay permanently on the strings between bridge and tailpiece. To play without, slide them towards the tailpiece.

Technical data

Features

• For viola
• Tourte, shaped version
• Stays permanently on the strings

In practice

• A mute adds mass to the bridge and slows its vibration. Overtones are damped more than fundamentals, so the sound becomes quieter and at the same time darker.
• For a mute to work it has to sit close to the bridge.

Sound and physics

On the top of the bridge the mute above all reduces the high-frequency bridge vibrations. The overtones recede as a result, and con sordino becomes an instruction about tone colour.

Frequently asked questions

Why does an instrument sound darker with a mute?

The added mass lowers the bridge resonance, so it transmits high frequencies less readily. Overtones are therefore reduced more than fundamentals.

Why must the mute sit on the bridge?

Its mass acts where the bridge vibrates; at the top of the bridge it damps above all the high-frequency bridge vibrations.