Last week, a student of mine stopped playing to critique herself. “I just can’t make this note sound good. What am I doing wrong?”The note in question was an F# on her D string (third finger in first position), and no, she wasn’t doing a thing wrong. The problem was with the cello. Most cellos (and occasionally, violins and violas) have a “problem” note—one pitch that sounds annoyingly different from all the others. There may be resistance between the E and F# on the D string, but you’ll probably find an all-out howl when you play the same pitch in higher positions on the G or C string. The note can even have audible beats to it—sounding rather like a sick cow, particularly way up on the C string.

Meet the wolf note.


What Is a Wolf, Anyway?
Instrument maker Chris Dungey describes the wolf as “a result of the instability between the vibration of the body of the cello and the vibration of the affected string, which then serve to cancel each other out. The note has barely begun to sound when it disappears. This is repeated, resulting in a stuttering sound. The wolf note is mainly found on the lower strings of the cello. Not the result of a basic structural failure, a faulty repair job, or a misplaced soundpost, it’s characteristic of the instrument. Every properly proportioned cello has a wolf note.”

The process of amplifying the sound of the string through the body of the instrument is imperfect, and can interfere with ideal sound production. Seattle-based maker David Van Zandt says, “In a wolf tone, the air volume and the top, or the air volume and the back, want to cancel each other out. If there are two sound waves going up and down in sync the sound will be twice as loud. However, if the sound waves get slightly out of sync, the wolf note appears—the sound gets louder for a bit and then the waves cancel each other out. There is so much energy when the two notes are slightly out—so at the top of a sound wave the pitch goes up, and at the bottom it goes down.”

Fan Tao of D’Addario Strings mentions that better-sounding instruments tend to have stronger wolf tones. “There is some truth to the belief that good-sounding cellos and wolf tones go together. Powerful resonances are required for good-sounding cellos, but they also increase the likelihood of wolf tones.”

Strangely enough, if your cello is in good adjustment, the wolf can be more pronounced. As restorer Ken Meyer says, “The better the instrument is adjusted, the worse the wolf shows. When the instrument is not well adjusted, all the pitches are wobbling. There’s no ring while you play and the harmonics are off pitch. This can hide the wolves or make for just general wolfy areas. When harmonics aren’t matched, you get a range of pitches for each note, and nothing is focused.”

In that case, bring your cello in for an adjustment—make sure the bridge and soundpost are fitting properly—then you don’t have to struggle to play in tune, and also you can figure out how much of a wolf problem you really have. And if your wolf is quite present on the D string, then you should also bring your cello in for a checkup. Dungey says, “If you can elicit the wolf ‘stuttering’ on the D string in first position, the soundpost is not giving the cello enough support. Your repairman will need to reposition, tighten, or make a longer post at this point.”

Finding the optimal balance between good sound and annoying wolf is the key. Leslie Moye, a professional cellist and a cello repairman, says that “the soundpost and bridge adjustment have a lot to do with wolves. One setting of the soundpost may make a strong sound but also have strong wolf. Unfortunately, there is no perfect solution.

“You want to maximize the sound of the instrument but minimize the wolf.”