| Plenty of basses have come stock with felt mutes. The Precision bass had them built into the inside of the covers, the Jazz had them under each individual string, the Gibson EB series had a lever behind the bridge that you could shove forward and raise the felt mute, the Rickenbacker 4001 had little thumbscrews that raised and lowered the mute.
As far as using a not-stock mute, check out the film clip for the Beatles' Revolution. McCartney had a big-a$$ chunk of foam underneath the bridge.
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*Recipient of the 2006 Time Magazine "Man Of The Year" Award*
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