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Moon Bridge Mute |
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Moon Bridge Mute |
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There are all kinds of mutes available for banjos. Some of them go over the bridge, some of them go under the bridge, and some of them go around the bridge. You can also make a mute by stuffing a rag into the pot or under the strings.
But the Moon bridge presents a problem because it is curved. Many of the commercial mutes just don't work on it. In case you are not familiar with the Moon bridge, it looks like this:
Moon Bridge
Here is a closeup of it in case you can't see it very well in that photo:
Closeup of the Moon Bridge
In the past, I have muted the banjo by stuffing a cloth under the strings, but that changes the feel and the sound of the instrument. It makes it go "Thump thump thump" and destroys the resonance. It makes it quiet, but not very much fun to play.
There are some really good commercial banjo mutes out there that are made of a metal bar of some sort that fits over the bridge. The weight of the bar keeps the bridge from vibrating, so the sound that comes out is muted, and the resonance of the instrument is not destroyed. Unfortunately, those mutes are straight and therefore will not fit onto the Moon bridge, which is curved.
In one case, I read some advice that said you should just buy the straight mute ( about $35 ) and then bend it to fit the bridge.
Yeah. Right!
But that gave me an idea. So I ran off to the hardware store and I bought this.
Romex Wire
That is normal electrical wire for wiring in houses and such. According to the information on the package it is fifteen feet of 14 guage, insulated, two conductor, solid core wire. It actually has three wires in it, but because of the strange ways that hardware store items are labeled it is called 2 wire Romex. I guess they ignore the ground wire when they count. But hey, that isn't our problem here.
I paid $9.26 for the entire thing at Home Depot®
Disclaimer: I am not advocating or selling for Home Depot. That is just where I got it. So if you go there and get disappointed, don't blame me.
Anyway, I measured out 6 inches of the stuff
Six Inches of Wire
Then I cut it off with my Vise Grips® (Similar disclaimer, but I don't think that they are real Vise Grips® anyway.)
Cut the Wire
Bend it over double in the middle.
Cut the Wire
Once the wire is bent over double, you can easily bend it into the gentle curve of the bridge.
Curve the Wire
So here is how it works. You take the mute in your hand.
The Mute
Slip it gently onto the bridge.
Put It Onto the Bridge
And there it is, ready to use.
Ready to Play
I had to mess around with the curve of the wire a few times to get it right so that it didn't push the banjo out of tune or buzz. But once I got it working, it just slips onto the bridge and works. I put it onto the bridge from the top, but you can also put it on from the bottom as well.
From the Bottom
It seems to work equally well regardless.
This device also works on a straight bridge, as you can see below where I have put one on my Fairbanks & Cole A-scale banjo:
For a Straight Bridge
So that is it. Now you know how to make a banjo mute for about.... let's see.... 15 feet of wire... and I used 6 inches of it... so that is about 30 mutes... for $9.26.. well, OK with Mass sales tax that comes to about $9.84... so each mute would cost... about 33 cents each. That is about 1/100 of what a commercial mute would cost. Not bad.
