Viola rattles!!?

Hi, I've had the same viola now for about 4 years and I never really noticed it until now...but whenever I'm vibrato-ing on my C string, the string rattles up against the neck.





Someone in my quartet ensemble suggested that I go and get that part of the neck shaved? What is this procedure called and how much will I expect it to cost?

Viola rattles!!?
Well, either that or you can get a new bridge fashioned. I would really have a luthier look at it. Sometimes all they have to do is put a little piece of wood up by the nut to raise the string. That stops the buzzing. I did it once myself with a matchstick...looked pretty ghetto. Now I have the luthier do it.





Good luck





~Lisa
Reply:You definitely need to take it to a luthier and have them look at it. It could be the nut, or the fine tuner, or a crack. A crack might be somewhat expensive to fix, but the other things are probably not.





I'm not sure what the neck would have to do with a rattle; more likely just the nut. But it's more likely a fine tuner.
Reply:I think you mean it is rattling against the fingerboard. The procedure is called "shooting" the fingerboard ; there is a slight concave curvature along the length of the fingerboard ie it "dips" slightly in the middle with the maximium dip at about the fourth position





I would have the luthier check the height of the C string by checking the nut and the bridge before getting him to shoot the fingerboard. It may just require a slight adjustment.





It can cost from $50 to $75 to do the fingerboard.
Reply:It is always better to go to the experts..