Mute Clamp Concept

[maguire]

Lets compare to the drawing:

[FrednBass]

Nice!

Can you make a video, demonstrating it?

[SBassman]

Great. How is it performing?

[maguire]

Here are some notes about the functionality.

Good News:
1. Floating: I dont think the mute clamp needs to touch the body of the bass to work properly! The foam can be split in a way that one side of the jaws has a thick pad and one side has a thin pad. The Muteclamp will float if you put the thin foam division at the bottom. Or flip it over and put the thick foam pad on the bottom to wedge the clamp between the body of the bass and strings for more tension and hence more muting.
3. Sliding the Clamp: A very cool feature - you can slide the Muteclamp up and down the strings to adjust muting. The closer to the headstock the more muting you get.
4. Whammy Clamp: You can also rest your hand on the Muteclamp to vary the degree of muting.
5. Hand Rest. The Muteclamp rises up off the surface of the bass - rest your hand on it if you like that playing style.

Things To Improve:
1. Foam Density: Still needs to be experimented with - anyone know a good source for a variety of foams?
2. Clamp Rigidity:The clamp arms are a bit too flexible in the current material, therefore some tension is lost near the G string. Final material should have more rigidity.
3. I haven't attached the foam to the clamp yet - not sure what to use - I am thinking a double stick tape or an adhesive. Though I always prefer a mechanical connection...

Overall - I'm pretty much convinced that this is going to be a really fun, versatile tool.

Still some work to be done...

[maguire]

[SBassman]

I would think adhesive would be better than double-sided tape.

Great work. I'll be buying two, for sure. [You're going to sell them, yes?]

[maguire]

Originally Posted by SBassman

I would think adhesive would be better than double-sided tape.

Great work. I'll be buying two, for sure. [You're going to sell them, yes?]

Thanks for all of the encouragement.

Im not selling quite yet, I really want to make sure that I can craft a durable product. The current clamp shells are made of an epoxy-based printing material, so I wouldn't really want to recommend using that kind of thing near a nice bass finish. I'll have to look into some more neutral materials or castings.

I just unearthed my bottle of Gorilla glue... luckily I have 3 prototype clamps so I can mess up one or two.

[milkman2k10]

Sub'd. Very interested in one of these. Really great stuff.

[wvbass]

Nice! I'd still like to try one when you are ready.

[maguire]

Bah - Video file is pretty large, but here is a link to the whammy effect on open G and D strings. Give it some time to load - its 20 MB.
BAMMY EFFECT

It's less effective on the A, E and B strings.

What I like about this "Whammy" effect is that it is very Bass relevant. You're not bending notes, you're just varying the sustain.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by maguire

Here are some notes about the functionality.

Good News:
1. Floating: I dont think the mute clamp needs to touch the body of the bass to work properly! The foam can be split in a way that one side of the jaws has a thick pad and one side has a thin pad. The Muteclamp will float if you put the thin foam division at the bottom. Or flip it over and put the thick foam pad on the bottom to wedge the clamp between the body of the bass and strings for more tension and hence more muting.
3. Sliding the Clamp: A very cool feature - you can slide the Muteclamp up and down the strings to adjust muting. The closer to the headstock the more muting you get.
4. Whammy Clamp: You can also rest your hand on the Muteclamp to vary the degree of muting.
5. Hand Rest. The Muteclamp rises up off the surface of the bass - rest your hand on it if you like that playing style.

Things To Improve:
1. Foam Density: Still needs to be experimented with - anyone know a good source for a variety of foams?
2. Clamp Rigidity:The clamp arms are a bit too flexible in the current material, therefore some tension is lost near the G string. Final material should have more rigidity.
3. I haven't attached the foam to the clamp yet - not sure what to use - I am thinking a double stick tape or an adhesive. Though I always prefer a mechanical connection...

Overall - I'm pretty much convinced that this is going to be a really fun, versatile tool.

Still some work to be done...

It looks really good. The cut in the foam is going to have to be wider near the E and narrower near the G. I'm not sure how to do this except to either have separate foam pieces per string or to install it from below the strings. The other issue would be people with non-standard gauge strings (either thinner or thicker).

Now that I look at the pics I see part of the problem. The E-string is close to where the plastic bends and the G is way out near the opening. The foam near the bend is being compressed more than the foam near the opening and also happens to be on the thicker strings. Try taking prototype and installing it backward so the G is near the bend, etc. See how that works out.

[Immigrant]

Nice!

If I was a partner in this venture, I'd suggest thicker foam on the side that the issue happens (B,E,A) progressively thinner towards treble side. So thick that the foam would measure thicker than the plastic gap is wide, or higher density foam. ?

I'm still amazed at the current prototype, from initial sketch to working model.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by Immigrant

Nice!

If I was a partner in this venture, I'd suggest thicker foam on the side that the issue happens (B,E,A) progressively thinner towards treble side.

I think you have to reverse that so that there is more foam on the thinner strings.

[maguire]

Thanks for the feedback.

I am going to get a fatter foam block tomorrow so it has more compression between the jaws - good call immigrant.

Fourstringbliss - I also tried flipping it and found that whatever side the back jaw is near - the better muting you get. So yes, it needs some tweaking to find the most even muting.

[fourstringbliss]

Originally Posted by maguire

Thanks for the feedback.

I am going to get a fatter foam block tomorrow so it has more compression between the jaws - good call immigrant.

Fourstringbliss - I also tried flipping it and found that whatever side the back jaw is near - the better muting you get. So yes, it needs some tweaking to find the most even muting.

Did it even things out at all to flip it around?

[FrednBass]

You should sell your idea to some brand. You could make some money out of it.

[scotch]

Looks like a neat idea! I would love to try it out!

[maguire]

Wow - Thanks Justin - Very cool to get your encouragement. I'm loving the Crazy Aces sound.

[maguire]

Okay - got it on the Stingray (which is ironic because that already has built in mutes).

Here you can see how important the bottom pad of the mute is. The G string is getting a more exaggerated effect than the other strings.

In this case the mute clamp is wedged between the body of the bass and the strings - it has a stronger effect with this particular foam.

So the next foam pad will have an angular cut - let's try that.

Im wondering how necessary the top foam is in this configuration. I see a lot of possibilities for how this thing is going to finally work with most basses... so I have to try to narrow it down.

[maguire]

Hesitantly posting some videos here. I would like the "damping" effect to be stronger, but this is a work in progress.

Open the first two videos side by side to hear the comparison.

So far I would say that it has achieved "light muting".

Open SRC5 for sustain reference

SRC5 Muteclamp Legato

SRC5 Muteclamp Staccato