String Dampening @ Nut???

[twangchief]

What is the mod that I see on some basses? It looks like a piece of material wrapped around the headstock and dampens the strings? I've seen installed towards the tuners but I've also seen it towards the first fret.

[Dave]

All it is is one of those hair scrunchies, but you can use something like a wristband or something like that.

[twangchief]

Why are they used? Is it just to reduce overtones from open strings?

[Dave]

Yeah, it just helps dampen strings and keep them from ringing out when they arent supposed to.

[NKUSigEp]

Anytime I've seen this, the guitarist or bassist did a lot of tapping, which would make sense because it frees up your fingers for playing instead of muting other strings.