I’m using a rubber tourte style mute on my cello and it has been leaving black marks on my bridge. Is this normal? Is there any way to get the marks off?
I'm guessing that the really cheap mute made of cheap rubber dyed into black color using cheap ink will leave a mark so changing to a better quality one may help.
Karimmaggio: 1) I don't think it's normal. I use a very inexpensive round rubber mute and a heavy rubber practice mute on my cello. It's never happened to me, and I've never heard of it happening to anyone else. No one in the orchestra I played in for three years as an adult ever mentioned it, and no one in the school orchestras I played in ever mentioned it. None of my three cello teachers ever mentioned it. None of the cello students I went to college with as an undergraduate or as a graduate student ever mentioned it. I use the practice mute nearly every time I practice. 2) I don't know how to remove the stain.
Sam's Music: My impression is that rubber mutes are rubber mutes are rubber mutes. They're all inexpensive, and none of them normally leave marks.
