About ramps. Something I don't quite get...

[Kwesi]

Why are they so often radiused when the pickups themselves are not? The whole point of play over a ramp is to simulate playing over a pickup, right? And most of the time pickups are flat so why the radius on the ramp? Of course, it makes perfect sense if the pickups are also radiused because then everything is uniform and congruent. What do you guys think?

[Von Felgenhauer]

I thought the point of a ramp is do you didn't have to play over the pickup and it was an achor to play wherever?

[SLaPiNFuNK]

You shouldnt be touching the pickup while u play,

The ramp forces you to not pull the string too hard.

[Fishbrain]

The curve is too match the finger board radius rather than the pickups

[UncleMattGuy]

What the hell is a ramp?

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Dont bother if you dont know what it is you are better off...

[Rickett Customs]

Not everyone makes a raduised pickup. Yes, one of the purposes is so that you're not digging in too hard. But when You say uniform and congruent, it leads me to believe that it's from an aesthetics point of view.

[Kwesi]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

You shouldnt be touching the pickup while u play,

Is that a personal philosophy or is there some kind of con to touching the pickup as you play? Just wondering.

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

The ramp forces you to not pull the string too hard.

I understand that part.

[Kwesi]

Originally Posted by Rickett Customs

Not everyone makes a raduised pickup. Yes, one of the purposes is so that you're not digging in too hard. But when You say uniform and congruent, it leads me to believe that it's from an aesthetics point of view.

Partially, yes, but, it's mostly functional... in my head anyway, lol. I've played over radiused ramps before and it just felt strange that a large section of the "playing area" (the ramp) felt different from the rest of it (the pickups). Nothing I'd pull my hair out over but I'd just rather have the radius match the curvature of the pickups.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Some pickps are noisy or thud if your fingers and snapping into them after plucking the string. That depends on the bass and its electronics.

Imho its good to play over the pickup to get a stronger punchier tone, but i dont hit the pickup with my finger tips.

Plus, you also dont want the pickups so close to the strings that your finger tips touch them. (depending on the bass and its electronics).

[punkrocko]

Gary Willis designed the ramp to simulate the feel of playing over the pickups so you wouldn’t dig in too deep under the strings. In his case early Bartolini soapbars that were radiused.

[spade2you]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

Plus, you also dont want the pickups so close to the strings that your finger tips touch them. (depending on the bass and its electronics).

Definitely depends on pickups. Pole pieces will click. Bartolini, EMG, and Peavey's Cirrus pickups will allow for playing right over with the string practically touching. Even though the tops of the Barts and Peavey are radiused, the magnet isn't, just the surface.

[Kwesi]

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

Some pickps are noisy or thud if your fingers and snapping into them after plucking the string. That depends on the bass and its electronics.

Imho its good to play over the pickup to get a stronger punchier tone, but i dont hit the pickup with my finger tips.

Plus, you also dont want the pickups so close to the strings that your finger tips touch them. (depending on the bass and its electronics).

That makes sense. That's what would be considered a microphonic pickup right? Are some pickups naturally microphonic or is it the sign of a faulty pickup? So far none of the basses I've had make any audible sound when my fingers brush the pickups. It's not like I'm rapping on them with my finger of anything, lol.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

As spade2you says, it all depends on the pickup.

Some pickps have so much of a pickup cover to them that the pole pieces are still the correct distance from the string while the pickup covers or front casings are close to the string enough to be used as a ramp.


Playing with a ramp or using the pickp as a ramp is gping to be a personal preferance to be decided by the player. There is no right or wrong way to play a bass. Although personally, a ramp is not for me.

[Kwesi]

For me, I think I'd like having a ramp on a fretless bass but not fretted.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

If it helps you get the sound you want go for it...

When i play my fretless 6 and i want a mellow more mmmmmmmmmmmwa sound, i play over the 20-24 fret area of the neck. So in a way i am using the fingerboard as a ramp.

Playing over the neck pickup and back has a stronger sound in general, and i like full control of my dynamic range and amount of meat i put to the string.

But thats just me on my basses,,, even my fender jazz fretless...

[jnuts1]

the reason it has a radius is so you have even depth from the string to the ramp on all strings. with a flat ramp your strings will get progressivly farther from the ramp at the E as compared to the G string.

[Kwesi]

Haha, I'm pretty much the opposite. My fingers stay around the bridge pickup. Every once in a while they'll wander to where the neck pup on a jazz bass would be but that's about as close to the neck as I get. I play with tapewounds so the sound is naturally pretty mellow.

[Kwesi]

Originally Posted by jnuts1

the reason it has a radius is so you have even depth from the string to the ramp on all strings. with a flat ramp your strings will get progressivly farther from the ramp at the E as compared to the G string.

Actually, if I remember correctly, the height of each individual string should be about equidistant from the neck. In other words it should also follow the radius of the neck.. not sure how often that's used in practice though, lol.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Yeah, like i said. Everyones personal taste.

There are so many sounds you can get from a bass. And thats your style go with it!

If you mainly play over the bridge pickup though,,, cant really put a ramp there...