Hair ties to mute strings?

[gimmeagig]

I see more and more players who use hair ties on their basses to keep strings from ringing.
I have never tried it but especially when I play my 5 string I have to be careful about sympathetic vibrations . Muting everything that could possibly ring is a little more difficult for me on my 5er.
Live it's not as much a big deal as in the studio.
Do you guys use hair ties to dampen the strings?
And ( I know this sounds stupid) which ones are the ones to get?

[Volpe25]

I use them, but only really when tapping! As for which ones to get, Im not sure of what you'd call them but they're a head band type thing. I find scrunchies too thin to effectively mute all the strings (I've my 5'er strung EADGC). http://images.rakuten.com/PI/0/1000/226620840.jpg
Its that sort of thing, only no little plastic things.

[cthomas5200]

I stole one of my wife's hair scrunchies for my 5'er. I only use it when slapping just to control my somewhat sloppy technique. Works good for me.

[DiabolusInMusic]

I would also be curious to know. I have bought a couple of hair ties at this point and none of them work. They are either too small to mute or too large to get tight.

Also, it should only be used when popping and slapping or tapping, if you are using it to your everyday playing, you should work on your technique. Take Wooten for example, he always has one on his headstock but it only comes out when he doesn't have a hand free to mute.

[Rockin Mike]

I use a wristband from a halloween store with a pirate on it.
Wristband has enough heft and elastic to be an effective string damper and I can push it up above the nut when I don't want it.
Aaar.

[MidnightRadio]

I saw these the other day: http://www.gruvgear.com/mtd-fretwraps

[MostlyBass]

I like FretWraps from GruvGear.

[DiabolusInMusic]

Yeah I have known about gruv gear for years but I am not about to spend $30 on a pack I can get for $4 just because one is "Made for bass"

[VanillaThundah]

http://www.gruvgear.com/fretwraps

Probably your best bet

[Kuroth]

So if I may ask.. How do you install them?(Where exactly do you put them on the Bass etc)

[Eublet]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

Yeah I have known about gruv gear for years but I am not about to spend $30 on a pack I can get for $4 just because one is "Made for bass"

The Gruvgear wraps work much better than any scrunchie. If muting strings like this is a part of your playing, then IMHO they are more than worth the price. They mute evenly across all strings, and let you place them much closer to the nut unlike a scrunchie which will not mute the A and D strings very effectively as you move closer to the nut. They can be adjusted to get the tightness you want, and they look much better. A pair is likely to last you forever if you aren't prone to losing things.

[wcoffey81]

a while ago i watched a video of victor wooten's rig run down and in it he said he uses hair scrunchies from the dollar store. so that's probably why it's so popular

[gimmeagig]

I checked out the gruvgear clips on youtube and made my own.
Had some 3/4" velcro strips that had adhesive in the back and I glued a strip of neoprene rubber over the length where the stings touch.The wrap is about 10" long. Most of the muting is on the outside strings but that's also where most of the ringing comes from, so it seems to work pretty well.If I want more muting I slide it up to the 2nd fret that tightens the wrap.
Thanks for getting me started on this.

[StrangerDanger]

Originally Posted by MostlyBass

I like FretWraps from GruvGear.

me 2

[dagovna659]

+1 I also have 4 daughters that I can get scrunchies from or go to the dollar store and be done with it. I would never pay $30 for a fret-wrap. Dollar store good enough for Victor its good enough for me.

[Ian Perge]

Originally Posted by dagovna659

+1 I also have 4 daughters that I can get scrunchies from or go to the dollar store and be done with it. I would never pay $30 for a fret-wrap. Dollar store good enough for Victor its good enough for me.

Like people above I tried the Hair Scrunchie thing for many years (long haired, so I bought them myself ) and like people above I've bought a set of Gruv Grear @ 3 for 30 (not just 1!) and will never go back. Something actually designed for what it's supposed to do as opposed to something that's cheap and kinda-sorta works...

[eddododo]

This is not usually my point-of-view, but victor wootens control, efficiency, and pure technique surpasses many many pro's. I have seen him in an intimate setting without headbands, and with both hands flying his muting was still clean. So im sure they work great for him, but if youre to any degree RELYING on them, go.with the fretwraps

[rtav]

Use Gruvgear Fretwraps (got a set) or make your own using whatever dampening material you can find and a velcro cable wrap (I used some wetsuit material as a core [neoprene] and wrapped it longwise with a partial piece of a velcro cable wrap - soft side out against the strings) Works great.

[rtav]

Originally Posted by rtav

Use Gruvgear Fretwraps (got a set) or make your own using whatever dampening material you can find and a velcro cable wrap (I used some wetsuit material as a core [neoprene] and wrapped it longwise with a partial piece of a velcro cable wrap - soft side out against the strings) Works great.

A pic of the side view:

[JACink]

And you can use it to wrap your cable when you are not playing!

My question has always been how to get the hair tie on! If is big enough to go over the headstock, then it is too big to mute, or am I missing the obvious??