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<center>![IMG_20221005_174300.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/bengy/23wMeXYjV5C74J7eAYaEo3QCTeiJmEBRnW7dASCxzzNrZgGGJwv62yzyxndsY6q9iGaYX.jpg)</center>

I got my Viola d'amore back last week... it was out on loan for someone else to play in a concert, not something that I'm normally that keen on doing, but in this case... I was already asked for the project and couldn't do it, so in that case, it wasn't so much of a problem. What really galls me is when people ask for the instrument and NOT the player, in which case, I find that to be the height of rudeness!

Anyway, now that the instrument is back in my hands, I have to get stuck into learning a Vivaldi concerto for an upcoming concert. It should be pretty okay, I had a quick look at it previously before programming it and it seemed manageable... especially now that I'm in a bit of a quieter performing and travelling period and that means that I have a decent number of hours and days to allocate to the learning! Well... that is if I don't spend too much time on the garden and house... on the other hand, I generally don't like practising that much... so, it is likely that I would lose interest in practising before I ran out of time!

Anyway... the instrument needs to be tuned up from the modern Baroque standard pitch of A=415Hz to the modern standard pitch of A=400Hz... so a semitone higher for all the strings... which was something that I had neglected to test and check before programming the piece in the concert! Oooops... Anyway, that means hat hte instrument is under a bit more tension and all the strings will be a touch sluggier than I'm used to, but there should be a bit more power and projection to them. That is... if the gut strings manage to not snap under the extra weight. They shouldn't, as the d'amore is used to going up and down and all over the place due all the non-standard tunings... but you never know!

I'm not sure if was the raising of the pitch, or the change from the humid weather of away back to the slightly drier weather of home... but there was a little bit of a buzz in the middle sympathetic string... nothing disastrous, but when struck in tune with the top playing string... it is quite noticeable under the ear and away to some distance as well.... ah well, that meant that I needed to find a way to fix it, damp it, or just keep playing that note out of tune. Probably one of the first two would be better... 

So, I did locate the problem... and that is normally quite a bit of a pain in the arse, as there is so much string contact points for the sympathetic string to vibrate harshly against... the last time, it was touching bottom of the fingerboard as the neck had settled into a steeper angle as it had matured over time (a newly built instrument...). This time, it looked like it was vibrating against the hole in the bridge. The easiest fix would be to just stuff something under the string to damp the contact between the steel of the string and the wood of the bridge. 

I was toying between the idea of using Bu-Tack or a wedge of paper... in the end, I opted for a little wedge of paper, mostly because I couldn't remember where we stored the blu-tack... and if I asked my wife, I might have gotten a comment about whether or not I lived in this house!

Anyway, stuff a little piece of paper into the hole and shoving it in with a toothpick did the trick, and then I lifted up the string and wedged it underneath to make sure that it would hold... 

... it is a temporary solution for this week... I will do a small cut of chamois leather to do the job properly. The paper will be fine, but it is more likely to rip and fall out or do something silly like that. Leather should be more durable... 

So... little hack job to keep the instrument and player happy... nothing that an audience member will ever notice or realise!



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I can also be found cross-posting at:
[Hive](https://peakd.com/@bengy/posts)
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