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Tom K.
Veteran Member
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 483
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 Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2003 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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Does anyone alter their mutes for a different sound? I once poked holes in a harmon metal straight mute I didn't like and it made a reasonable sounding bucket mute, kind of like a jo-ral bucket concept but smaller.
I also sometimes cut a piece of cardboard about 2 inches long and roll it into a tube and place it into the hole in my harmon. It focuses the sound just a bit more and eliminates the stuffiness. I noticed Dizzy Gillespie sometimes had what looked like a piece of plastic in the harmon hole, maybe for the same reason? or is there a brand that comes with that?
Another trick is to stuff the harmon with cotton balls and it makes a very quiet practice mute. |
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pfrank
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 21 Feb 2002
Posts: 3523
Location: Boston MA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2003 5:59 am Post subject: |
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| About Dizzy's mute mutation: I found that a harmon with the stem in (but almost pulled out) has fine intonation in ALL registers and more of the no-stem sound than when the stem is all the way in. The stem sticks out a few inches and it makes it hard to use a microphone, but it also makes a great practice mute. Less resistance too. Maybe Dizzy was taking advantage of this phenomena with that thing in his harmon so he could play low notes in tune. |
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