shrill e string..resistant to bridge tuning and sd post adjustment

[chanot]

A very shrill e not eased by sd post adjustment on a 19th century French Instrument I'm restoring..tuning of bridge also no help..."heavy bridge" has been recommended....odd..  If I affix a tiny piece of silver on bridge on treble side it does reduce the shrillness... but I don't like to do this  as I think it affects the other strings adversely .

.Maker since 1980...Where and how would one find a "heavy bridge? I usually choose the  best Aubert/Mirecourt... If I leave top of bridge at 2.5 mm instead of 1.3 mm still doesn't reduce the problem....

Also i have a recurring problem in lack of richness of D string in some of my violins..?? thicknessing problems...self taught

 

Advice appreciated

[Violadamore]

Have you tried a Goldbrokat E string?  They usually solve most "whistling" problems, and are cheap.

[David Burgess]

One of the wound Es might be a little less shrill. And if you don't already have a bridge parchment under the E, that might take a little of the edge off.

[TimDasler]

Ditto on David's suggestion. When you say you tried post adjustment did you also try a slightly looser post and a softer post with wider grain? I know the post material is sort of a controversial issue, however, I have had the experience of replacing a soundpost with grain so wide there was only one winter grain on it (don't remember the reasons for replacing it). The customer felt as though their E string had become too piercing, so I put a moderately shorter post in place with a good quality piece of spruce that was wider grained (hand made soundpost) and it resolved the issue. In that particular instance. For what it's worth, in this particular instance the customer's taste was out of the norm and I disagreed that the E was piercing. I think it was pretty normal, but they liked what they were used to and seemed to be more sensitive to the higher frequencies, thus wanted the E a bit muted. 

For the D string I'd suggest trying to pull a little more string through the peg hole so you have fewer wraps around the peg before it goes into the hole. I know that sounds like something that shouldn't matter, and I'm still a skeptic even though I've done it many times (including blind tests) and players consistently notice the same effect. I first tried this because a luthier in Boston well known for instrument adjustment fusses over the amount of string wrapped around the peg and players keep asking me "does that really matter?'. I would typically tell them that I respected his reputation and wouldn't say what he's doing doesn't matter, but I would be really surprised if it was anything more than a placebo. When I finally tried it I was shocked at the effect. It seems to effect the lower 2 strings more so than upper strings, and some instruments are more sensitive than others.

After trying it many times I have come to suspect that it's a little like systolic and diastolic blood pressure. You have string tension at rest and string tension under the bow. The only way I can imagine that this adjustment does anything is if the string is actually stretching past the first 2 wraps around the peg, which might be possible for the core of the string. I'm still a skeptic even after seeing and feeling the difference. I don't want to describe the effects of the change precisely because I'd like to get more feedback from people doing that adjustment and see if they're also feeling the same thing. Even though I've had numerous players describe the same effect in blind tests I just can't get over the fact that it doesn't seem like it should work, so I usually don't mention it if I make that adjustment. Occasionally, though, players say 'wow, that's a lot better, what did you do?' or something along those lines in which case I explain it.

[violinsRus]

Ha, this is interesting.  I just attached a small metal weight to the treble side of a bridge on a very responsive violin to take a bit of the sharp edge off the sound of the upper strings.  Just 0.15 grams.  It seems to have made the difference I was looking for, so I'll leave the next bridge a bit heavier when I do a replacement.  Might have the same effect, we'll see.  

[chanot]

Thanks to Tim for advice will try the trick on D.peg turns..

Violin Rus: glad the weight worked..will you be able to cut the new bridge to be heavier..it may not work as well as the located metal weight..I have tried to create the heavier bridge and left the top thicker up to 2.5 and over  4mm in center and left feet and knees at 5 but it seemed to dull all strings.....wondered about trying a 7 mm post and place it more south for a real shrill e? Apparently the narrower top of post gives better fulcrum.. so who knows about the 7mmm... will try it

a question just popped into mind..probably crazy? ..could sound post ever be moved west  actuallyoutside of the back of foot..That is, cut a longer post for primary placement in that position that unusual position?