G and D strings sympathetically vibrate when playing A and E stri

[Malugssuak]

Do you have to spend a lot of money and buy a really good instrument to eliminate sympathetic vibration when playing a D on the A string? Because this is driving me nuts. Every time I have to play a G or D on the A or E strings the G and D strings light up and vibrate enough that it is as if I were playing an open G or D. Am using J-74 and playing an Eastman Dawg Beacon mandolin.

Any ideas?

[LongBlackVeil]

This is natural and will happen on any mandolin of any price point. its just the nature of stringed instruments. it happens on all of them.

i dont see why it should bother you

[Tobin]

Yup, even the expensive mandolins do it. It's a sign of a resonant instrument. If yours doesn't do it, it's not a very good mandolin. Plucking any string will cause harmonics or sympathetic vibrations on the others, and it's just something you learn to dampen or ignore while playing.

[JeffD]

It adds to the overall sound of the instrument. I love it when mine does that.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

And be sure you're in tune.

[David L]

I have found that the best way to keep open strings from sympathetically ringing is to have the fleshy part below the thumb of your picking hand rest lightly on all the bass strings below whatever string you are picking. This is instead of "planting" your pinky. I find this especially helpful on electric guitar and banjo-mandolin, both of which can resonate greatly.

[Gary Leonard]

Yep, I noticed the same thing when I first started, after I took my Gretsch New Yorker in for a setup. Was wondering if I should blame the luthier. It was driving me nuts.

Then I went and played as many mandolins as I could get my hands on at the store down the street. Everyone there from the Collings MT (I now own), to a 1920's snakehead did it to some extent.

Take it as a sign of your ear getting better and knowing your instrument better. If it still drives you nuts, then do what I did, buy a instrument that sounds better while sympathetically ringing!

[LongBlackVeil]

Yeah that's part of a well built instrument. Luthiers are very aware of these vibrations

[Hendrik Ahrend]

I have found that the best way to keep open strings from sympathetically ringing is to have the fleshy part below the thumb of your picking hand rest lightly on all the bass strings below whatever string you are picking. This is instead of "planting" your pinky. I find this especially helpful on electric guitar and banjo-mandolin, both of which can resonate greatly.

Had the same experience, and I believe Doyle Lawson and Chris Thile do the same.

[Bertram Henze]

Let me put it bluntly: if overtones and subharmonics drive you nuts, then stringed instruments with more than one string (including harp and piano) are bad for your health; it's physics, and there's no way out.

[Ellen T]

Hey, remember there is a song about this: Good, Good, Good, Good Vibrations.

[jshane]

I agree that this is the nature of stringed instruments-- but I will add that I thread a small piece of rawhide in the strings between the tailpiece and bridge. I had noticed a bit of very high frequency "clutter" and a friend mentioned that dampening the tailpiece-to-bridge portion of the strings might help. I think it did.

[Tobin]

I have found that the best way to keep open strings from sympathetically ringing is to have the fleshy part below the thumb of your picking hand rest lightly on all the bass strings below whatever string you are picking. This is instead of "planting" your pinky. I find this especially helpful on electric guitar and banjo-mandolin, both of which can resonate greatly.
That's certainly one way of doing it. As a general rule, I try to keep my picking hand free and elevated above the bridge and strings for fluidity of picking. In fact, several years ago I had to work very hard to get my picking hand up and away from the bridge area for that very reason. Nowadays I usually use a free left-hand finger for dampening a string that's throwing off unwanted harmonics or sympathetic vibrations.

One particular case really annoys me. In a lot of tunes I play, I slide from a D up to an E on the A string (5th fret, sliding up to 7th fret with my ring finger, played simultaneously with the open E string). I use it all the time. But when I first hit that D note at the 5th fret, it sets off my D strings, and they keep ringing (very loudly, I might add) on the open D, even though I've gone on to the E. It creates a dissonance that usually clashes with the tune. When I remember to, I try to drag my left index finger on the D strings lightly to dampen them while my hand is sliding. I'm not sure I could get that kind of accuracy using the fleshy part of my thumb on my picking hand.

[Steve Ostrander]

What really annoys me is when my cell phone vibrates while I'm playing the mandolin. :)

[Richard J]

Using a Weber Wood Nymph works perfectly to soften those issues.

[Malugssuak]

Thank you, everyone, for helping me sort this out. Since I used to play clarinet and am new to playing a mandolin, and since there is no mandolin store around here this was just the experienced answers I needed. And guess what: I just went to a concert and saw the bass player--a real bass and not the guitar variety--touching his lower strings while plucking the higher ones. Guess dampening their vibration was the reason. Thanks again.

[LongBlackVeil]

I agree that this is the nature of stringed instruments-- but I will add that I thread a small piece of rawhide in the strings between the tailpiece and bridge. I had noticed a bit of very high frequency "clutter" and a friend mentioned that dampening the tailpiece-to-bridge portion of the strings might help. I think it did.

Not really what the op is talking about. the same thing that happens behind the bridge and behind the nut, also happens in the playing area between the nut and the bridge. Can't really mute this with leather, you have to use your hand. I don't bother trying to mute it, it's part of the sound of the instrument. But I do mute behind the bridge, those vibrations are very high pitched because the strings are so short there

[Tobin]

Using a Weber Wood Nymph works perfectly to soften those issues.
The Wood Nymph, like a piece of leather woven between the strings or rubber grommets, will only dampen the portion between the bridge and tailpiece. But I don't think that's what we're talking about here. It seems the OP is talking about the 'live' portions of the strings picking up the vibration from an adjacent string being played, and ringing on their own. There is no gadget or doo-dad that's going to prevent this without muting the entire instrument. Only playing technique can mitigate it.

[David L]

I do it all the time and have become very accurate at not touching the string being picked, but touching the adjacent pair.