i've had my violin mute for about 5 days.
i just took it off and my violin sounds very foreign to me.
is there any it could have altered it.
it is one of the big black rubber ones that go over the bridge.

it might have moved the position of the bridge, which would definitely change the sound. even really small movements to the bridge will change the sound drastically; the mute might have done something

I'm pretty sure its ok. My mute makes my violin sound different also, it shouldn't have affected the bridge but you never know but my mute makes it sound different also.

Hmm I just bought one of those from e-bay hope it doesn't scre my violin up :s

Hi,
I think you might have a Practice Mute. You use a Practice Mute when you don't want to disturb anyone. You might need a Regular Mute to play softly with other players (con sordino or con sordini written in the music). There's the small black round one about the size of a dime & the wire one with a clear tube. Hope this helps.