Josef Teller

The Tourte mute is a round, rubber mute. It is the choice of many professional bassists because it offers the player a great number of advantages over other products on the market. These include:

Ease of use: Two slits in the surface of the rubber allow the mute to be slotted onto the tail ends (the lower part of the string, in-between the bridge and tailpiece) of the D and A strings. When not in use, the mute rests happily, hanging over the top of the tailpiece. When the mute is required (con sordini), the mute is slid up the strings and placed over the top of the bridge. To remove the mute (senza sordini), one just lifts it away from the top of the bridge from where it is guided (Some players delight in allowing the mute to drop down the strings from this point. A somewhat rubbery "thunk" can be heard when it hits the tailpiece - which is fun - but not exactly what a composer would have wanted at the end of his atmospheric, muted passage.) back down to its place of rest above the tailpiece. It's as simple as that.

Extremely quick to fit or remove: The time taken to raise the mute up and place it onto the top of the bridge is literally one to two seconds. It can be removed even quicker. While your non-Tourte-mute colleagues are still grovelling on the floor or fishing about in their pockets for their wooden or metal mutes, you will already be reading the music ahead of you and be perfectly poised, ready to play.

Silent action: Because the mute is made from rubber, the action of fitting and removing the mute is totally silent. While your non-Tourte playing colleagues are accidentally dropping (At the start or end of a con sordino passage this can be an acutely embarrassing moment.) their ebony or aluminium mutes, you'll be perfectly relaxed in the knowledge that your Tourte mute has such stealth-like qualities.