Fender Vintage Ashtrays & Pickup Covers. Why?

[DJ Bebop]

Not just for looks folks, they were designed to serve a purpose. These days, I’d say most bassists have them onboard for aesthetic reasons or to be true to the original design. I have them onboard some of my P basses for their original purpose.

The bridge cover holds the mute and the pickup cover is a palm rest!

Leo originally designed the P to be plucked with the thumb using the tugbar to anchor the fingers and the pickup cover gives a spot to rest the palm to prevent mashing the stings into the pickup. Bassists that had a more traditional plucking style using index and middle fingers also used it as a palm rest. Jamerson is a good example, using a floating thumb, index finger, and resting palm on pick up cover. That’s how I use it too. Nowhere near as good as JJ did, but I use it for the same purpose. My bridge covers are stuffed with foam. Boom, boom, boom.

On my other Ps that have rounds on them, I strip the covers and go for max sustain, usually with a pick. No need for mute or palm rest.

Hope this helps clarify some stuff.

They were there for looks as well. To cover up the pick up and bridge. To give it a clean finished look, not having the "working parts" exposed.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Just a thought, but wouldn't the pickup trays be hum cancelling on those early unpotted and unwaxed pickups....?

 

[Mastermold]

 

[GreyBeard]

I left the bridge cover on mine but the pup cover had to go.

 

[JRA]

i think they look great --- a retro look! but i don't use 'em: personal preference.

 

[Matt O]

They were there for looks as well. To cover up the pick up and bridge. To give it a clean finished look, not having the "working parts" exposed.

“There for looks as well” is a good way to put it. We’ll go with that

If the purpose of the pickup cover on the p bass was only for aesthetics, Leo would have covered it like he did with the Tele neck pickup. We would have a lipstick cover on the first P bass and a mudbucker type cover on the later split coil. For the first several years of the P, the pickup cover was grounded. It’s a palm rest.

Like you say, it’s there for looks as well, But not looks alone as some are saying in this thread.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

I not only keep them but add them if they're not included. PU cover is practical for me for all the reasons already mentioned. Don't use a mute under the bridge cover but it's nice to have the option and it completes the overall look. But most importantly: IT'S THE WAY GOD (uh, Leo) INTENDED!

The Bar Band Bassman

 

[Rebel Rocker]

I take the pickup cover off. But leave the bridge cover on. I like the big Fender "F" showing.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Covers on an SX.
With La Bella 1954 flats too!

 

[Rabidhamster]

Link Removed

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

I have often thought of a bridge cover, hinged at the far end, with a quick-set lever to adjust the string Damping.

I thought of the same thing. I even went as far as making drawing of a device that would add a hinge to the Precision Bass bridge cover that allowed you to engage and disengage the mute. My idea was that it could use the original bridge cover holes so you wouldn't have to modify your bass.

- Steve

 

[ELG60]

I have one bass which I left them on for aesthetic considerations:

 

[BassFalcon]

I have both on a bass for aesthetics but also because they facilitate my technique. I play with a Damien Erskine/Matt Garrison style right hand, and resting my palm specifically on the pickup cover gives me the tone and feel that I prefer. I use the bridge cover for that as well, but the pickup cover is home bass for me.

 

[leonche64]

I never really thought about it. Each of my basses are set up differently, so I play them as is. For me, it is just for looks.

And some without.

 

[lowplaces]

Laura Lee left them on her SX

I love the look but I like to palm mute at the bridge with a pick at times. So the cover would have to go.

 

[andare]

Just a thought, but wouldn't the pickup trays be hum cancelling on those early unpotted and unwaxed pickups....?

Pickups are potted in wax to keep them from vibrating and becoming microphonic. It has nothing to do with hum.

Hum is generated by the coils. If two coils are active and wound in opposite directions, the two hums cancel each other out. The magnets in the two coils must have opposite polarities so the pickups stay in phase. That's how humbuckers work. Side-by-side coils like in a PAF, split coils like in a P bass or the two single coils in a Jazz bass all work like that.

If I put the pickup cover over the pickups in my P basses, all of which are hum cancelling and shielded therefore completely silent, I can hear some hum. Like when J pickups have slightly different volumes.
I have a Bronco with a dual blade humbucker that always hums a bit - the two coils may have different resistance - and the cover makes it completely silent.
I can hear this with a DI or with my Rumble but not with my guitar tube amp. It's a mystery!

 

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I tried to work with both (the pick-up cover is one of the [many] reasons I never like Rickenbackers), but I just can't get my head wrapped around the pick-up cover. I removed (and keep) those.

I keep the "ashtray" on because 1) I like the look and B) it doesn't get in my way. Heck, I wish I could find an "ashtray" which would work on my Epiphone "P" bass.

The other advantage to an "ashtray" was (I'm told) 7ender's initial reason for including them; ability to easily insert a "mute" of some kind over the strings, held in place by the bridge cover.

I haven't done a deep dive into this, but I'm told 7ender only includes them on "re-issue" models, now. That's a pity.

 

[Pirate Captain]

Not just for looks folks, they were designed to serve a purpose. These days, I’d say most bassists have them onboard for aesthetic reasons or to be true to the original design. I have them onboard some of my P basses for their original purpose.

The bridge cover holds the mute and the pickup cover is a palm rest!

Leo originally designed the P to be plucked with the thumb using the tugbar to anchor the fingers and the pickup cover gives a spot to rest the palm to prevent mashing the stings into the pickup. Bassists that had a more traditional plucking style using index and middle fingers also used it as a palm rest. Jamerson is a good example, using a floating thumb, index finger, and resting palm on pick up cover. That’s how I use it too. Nowhere near as good as JJ did, but I use it for the same purpose. My bridge covers are stuffed with foam. Boom, boom, boom.

On my other Ps that have rounds on them, I strip the covers and go for max sustain, usually with a pick. No need for mute or palm rest.

Hope this helps clarify some stuff.

lot of good info here to counter all the...well...not so good info

 

[pepj]

I'm looking to add one, although a slimline on the neck pickup. Not sure if or how much it may get in the way..

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

If my jazz bass was of more traditional shape, I would put both covers on it. Since it isn't I don't.