P-U covers and sponges

[Gecko 5]

I'm on a HUGE James Jamerson kick, and a have a few questions.
In the book, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, several of the folks that played on the cds tell the basses they use.
A few of them say they used a sponge under the strings.
Saturday night I watched the documentory.
In the live footage you can see Bob Babbit has a sponge under his strings. Why? What does it do?
What is the purpose of chrome pickup covers?
Thanks

[Jim Breece]

The sponge mute helps dampen sustain. The original idea was to sound as much like an upright bass as possible. Flatwound strings and the foam were part of the formula (playing with a felt pick or your thumb too) , especially since the Bassman and other bass amps back then sounded pretty trebly. By the late 60's the ideal bass sound, in rock at least, went toward more sustain and high end and the mute went away. I honestly don't know what the covers over the pickup and bridge did to the sound- it was already uncool to have them in 1969 when I started. I always thought they were to keep your fingers away from where it sounded good.

[JTE]

The bridge cover had the mute glued to it, so when you put on the cover it damped the sustain of the strings. The PUP cover functioned to support the wrist. I can't find it, but there's a great picture of Leo Fender holding an early P bass, and he's playing it by strumming it with his thumb. His hand is resting on the PUP cover, and his fingers are wrapped around the finger-rest (that's why it's under the strings). Plus, the instrument was designed in the '50s, the time of chrome on everything. I'm sure part of the reason for those big covers was to dress up the appearance.

Lots of players found that the covers got in the way of playing so they strated coming off. But if you wanted the muted sound, then they started stuffing foam of some sort under the strings just in front of the bridge. Try it and see if it works for you.

I used to keep a chunk of foam in my case, and would stuff it in for specific songs- but I've not done that in decades. I did put some under the bridge of my P bass for a while, but decided it's not the sound I really want all the time.

jte

[kenjikun]

I noticed on some of Mr. Jamerson's videos that he anchored his right middle and ring fingers on the pickup cover while plucking the strings with his index finger. For some players, the pickup cover has function aside from cool looks.