I was just wondering if anyone uses or has used practice mutes. I live in an apartment and want to practice but don't want to annoy my neighbours! I just recently came across practice mutes & it seems that this just might be what I need! My only concern is: since the mute is being attached to the bridge, will if hurt the bridge after awhile? And which type of mute is better: wooden, steel, or rubber?
Thanks!

yes i have used practice mutes. they are quite handy. what material you use is personal preference. I have not heard of or experienced any warping due to practice mutes.

My experience practicing cello in an apartment may apply to the violin as well. I use a rubber practice mute when I practice after hours. I assume it does no damage to my bridge at all. I've never worried about that. It's not an ideal solution, though, because it also changes the timbre, and it doesn't reduce my volume so much that I don't take other precautions as well: I hang blankets on the wall to absorb vibrations and so on.

A cello produces more sound than a violin does. With a heavy practice mute, a violin will be muted enough so that you will not annoy your neighbors.

I don't know about that. A cello is more resonant, of course, but a violin can really cut through, and I think the higher pitches are the ones you need to worry about.

I dont agree and recommend you to practise your violin with the mutes(sordini). It will make some noise which is not wanted when you practise. The sound projected out is also not nice, I have tried practising my violin using the mutes and it sounded like you are playing the violin in a sewer pipe. So, dont use the mutes when you play violin okay?

I've not used a practice mute on a violin, since I've got an electric violin I can use for quiet practicing. I'm using one on the cello though, it's a heavy rubber kind and works quite well, though it's not quiet enough to play in the middle of the night. The mute seems to emphasize the flaws in the sound, the original chinese strings that came with the cello sounded really horrible with the mute, but when I switched to Jargars the sound with the mute improved even more than the sound without it. On the violin I use a small Tourte-style (rubber disc) mute most of the time, I like the sound more with it than without,but not being a practice mute it doesn't really lower the volume, it just cuts the high frequencies a little so the sound is less "piercing".

I use the rubber mute and it works quite well.

vc

I had a practice mute up until recently. I think it fell out of my case at orchestra rehearsal and we have had 2 weeks break so chances are that my mute is long gone. I am going to order the one I had before; a heavy rubber one.

I also live in an apartment. One of my few joys in life is my violin so I need to play it...a lot. During the day I dont use the mute but put it on at night for late night practicing. I find that it does change the timbre, like a previous poster stated. Your ear also gets used to the sound of a muted violin after a while so when you take it off the regular violin will sound crunchy to your ear for about 5 minutes or so.

I use this one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002II6V0/

It is made of rubber so unlikely to cause any damage to the instrument. Also, it does not change the tone of the violin(have seen some others that cause a easily perceptible change)