Cello Endpin Rods as Chimes -- Compare the sound of different materials!

Listen to 20-inch cello endpin rods made of the following materials as chimes, all 10 mm in diameter:
1. Carbon Fiber Pultruded Rod
2. 6061 Aluminum Solid Rod
3. 7075 "Aircraft" Aluminum Solid Rod
4. European 272 Brass Tube, 1.5 mm wall thickness
5. Seamless Carbon Steel Tube, 1.5 mm wall thickness
6. Titanium Solid Rod
7. Stainless Steel (304)
8. Stainless Steel (420)
Check them out at:
SaddleRiderMusi...
and learn how to make your own endpins at:
SaddleRiderMusi...

[@jessewilliams102]

I love sound science. I never thought about the end pin being such an influence. Now I am looking at everything around the house differently lol

[@gr8bskt]

I absolutely loved the brass, recoiled at the Titanium, and was not expecting the thud of the first stainless steel.
Interesting -- thank you!

[@cornell_cello]

Brass sounds very nice as a chime! On a cello, unless it's combined with other metals like the Mistuke endpins, it can sound a little thin in the upper range.

[@cornell_cello]

PS I agree that Titanium isn't a favorite. Interesting that Titanium endpins are so popular, and in some cases very expensive!

[@gr8bskt]

@@cornell_cello I'm fascinated to learn that every single detail can have a huge impact on the cello's voice. Amazing!

[@gr8bskt]

@@cornell_cello I was talking endpins with a luthier recently. He said that the frequency of wood and carbon fiber are fairly different, and can work against each other, but brass has the same frequency as wood, which is why is makes for a lovely endpin and rock stop. I'd never heard that (I'm a beginner, so just about everything I've never heard before)...do you know if that's true about the frequencies?

[@jasminkan7411]

Love the sound of Titanium Rod most! ;-)

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

I notice some of them have a good ring to em

[@Saddle_Rider_Music]

Yup, that’s the idea! Choose a bright sounding one for a dark cello, and a warm rich sounding one for a bright cello.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@Saddle_Rider_Music The type of end pin is also going to change the Cello's sound. My Cello is a 5 String Acoustic-Electric Cello. I changed the friction pegs out to mechanical ones so that it holds tune better.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@Saddle_Rider_Music My Cello is a 5 String Acoustic-Electric Cello w/ a High E String made by Yinfente & it's fantastic.

[@GregoriusAstra]

Although apparently there is large difference in the strength of the vibrations and pitch, do you really hear differences in the sound of your cello?

[@Saddle_Rider_Music]

Absolutely! Particularly between, for example, carbon fiber and steel. And you would be amazed that relatively small differences in steel composition are audible (that surprised me!). This is one of the topics I’ll be demonstrating as a guest artist at the Oberlin Acoustics Workshop in June

[@GregoriusAstra]

@@Saddle_Rider_Music If there will be recordings, presentations, etc at the Workshop, it would be interesting to see that! Good luck with your demonstration!

[@GregoriusAstra]

It might be interesting to hear the sound if you hold the endpin not in the center, but rather at one end, as it is more realistic !

[@Saddle_Rider_Music]

Interesting point, but it’s much harder to hold them that way to get a consistent ring. I’ve found that the resonance you hear when suspending them in the middle gives a good sense of how they sound, comparatively, on a cello. Titanium, for instance is bright and has lots of high frequency resonance, etc.

[@GregoriusAstra]

@@Saddle_Rider_Music That is exactly the point, the sound of an endpin held at two ends (cello + floor) should be quite different from the "perfect" situations of a free endpin held in the middle. To some extent you even excite exactly the opposite harmonics, i.e. if you fix the middle point, only the ends move. Instead on cello + floor it is more realistic to assume that the ends do not move, while the middle part mainly is moving. On the other hand, it might be that some general conclusion will still be in place (high/low harmonics, broad/narrow resonances, etc)

[@GregoriusAstra]

@@Saddle_Rider_Music Another possible effect, is that depending on the length of the endpin, and how much it is extended the frequency response will change.

[@Saddle_Rider_Music]

@@GregoriusAstra you make a good point! In retrospect, I could have drilled little holes in the end of the endpins and held them vertically like wind chimes. But, interestingly, balanced as they are lightly held with tape, the harmonic node isn’t clamped tightly and the resulting pitch and overtones are the same either way. This experiment is just meant to show the comparative tonal “flavor” of the different materials, not a scientific study of the exact way an endpin interacts with a cello and floor. As you say, extending the endpin to different lengths also changes the way an instrument resonates for multiple reasons. But, still, when testing endpins, in my experience an impact test intuitively tells a lot about what to expect when putting endpins into a cello. The most cutting edge violin luthiers like Joseph Curtin in Ann Arbor use impact hammers to test violins as well! Tapping the side and top of an instrument’s bridge is an extremely accurate way to record the sonic “fingerprint” using FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analysis.

[@GregoriusAstra]

@@Saddle_Rider_Music Another idea is that if the relevant frequencies are not too high (below 1000 Hz), then it would be possible to film directly the vibrations and see what is actually happening, some modern phones can take such videos. For higher frequencies the vibrations themself will not be visible whole the amplitude yes. It will be especially interesting for verification to which extent the cello itself is immobile. To me it seems natural that a solid floor should not move while it is not clear how the cello will react. In any case I am not an expert in acoustics while I have some knowledge of physics.