IMO, that's the way it should work out. It should just reduce the sustain enough to be noticeable, but not so much as to totally deaden it.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
foam mute or not??
- Thread starter bearpaw
- Start date
IMO, that's the way it should work out. It should just reduce the sustain enough to be noticeable, but not so much as to totally deaden it.
you're probably right! i took a picture of my result - the foam might be a bit too much towards the G string.
Looks like you've got a big spongy piece of latex foam there.
That'll give you a different sound.
You need the harder firmer black rubber foam from Home Depot.
It won't completely mute your strings (that's not what you want)
It just takes out some of the ringing sustain and deadens them enough to give a funky sound and shorter ring.
Like I said in my earlier post, my old Jazz only had the foam in contact with the E-A & D strings.
Also, using flats will contribute a whole lot to the equation.
That's all we used to use in the old days. Combined with the foam properly installed you'll get the sound you're talking about.
Remember the foam only goes just over the saddle and slightly past it so as not to change your intonation. That's important.
That'll give you a different sound.
You need the harder firmer black rubber foam from Home Depot.
It won't completely mute your strings (that's not what you want)
It just takes out some of the ringing sustain and deadens them enough to give a funky sound and shorter ring.
Like I said in my earlier post, my old Jazz only had the foam in contact with the E-A & D strings.
Also, using flats will contribute a whole lot to the equation.
That's all we used to use in the old days. Combined with the foam properly installed you'll get the sound you're talking about.
Remember the foam only goes just over the saddle and slightly past it so as not to change your intonation. That's important.
:scowl:
I've got a '60 P, and after decades of Steinberger, Sadowsky, Alleva-Coppolo, and modded Fenders, I'm back with it as my main bass, now with la Bella flats and the tone knob all the way down. Who knows what happened to the ashtray, so I made a mute, out of a piece of sponge wrapped in felt, that I just stick under the strings at the bridge. I made half a dozen before I found the right amount of muting, which I have to say is quite a bit. It's pretty big and it does affect the intonation as depicted on an electronic tuner -- I tune at the third fret so the lower-fretted notes are a touch flat and it goes a little sharp as you go up the neck -- But I've gotten lots of positive responses, both live and in the studio, and not a single complaint about intonation. I do keep the G string a little less muted, but it's still damped down noticeably.
For reference it's interesting to hear Jamerson's isolated bass track for "What's Going On" (). Note the high C#'s at ) 0:32 and 2:18. They might be on the D string but I think it's more likely he's on the G string, just given his general near-the-nut, open-string-centric approach. They're quite heavily muted -- the first one in particular barely makes it to the middle of the bar before fading away -- and to me they sound pretty sharp, but only in isolation. In the mix, they sound just great to me. Once again, a solo'd bass track is a world away from the same track embedded in the music.
-Steve
For reference it's interesting to hear Jamerson's isolated bass track for "What's Going On" (). Note the high C#'s at ) 0:32 and 2:18. They might be on the D string but I think it's more likely he's on the G string, just given his general near-the-nut, open-string-centric approach. They're quite heavily muted -- the first one in particular barely makes it to the middle of the bar before fading away -- and to me they sound pretty sharp, but only in isolation. In the mix, they sound just great to me. Once again, a solo'd bass track is a world away from the same track embedded in the music.
-Steve
I'm sure it's a good product but a lump of foam cut from an old mouse mat is about 100,000x cheaper and does the job just as well.
A piece of foam can be moved in a couple of seconds. I guess if you need to mute/unmute/mute throughout a song then you could buy the expensive mechanical mute contraption, but if I had to do that I'd just use my palm instead.
Works for me:::
I use two pieces of the narrow door/window self-stick foam insulation from Lowe's, stacked on
each other sticky side to sticky side so it won't stick to anything on the bridge or body.
Once I get the bridge cover on here, I might change things
a little, but this insulation product is just great and it
doesn't affect the intonation at all.
It's neoprene if you are going to look for it, not closed-cell urethane.
I use two pieces of the narrow door/window self-stick foam insulation from Lowe's, stacked on
each other sticky side to sticky side so it won't stick to anything on the bridge or body.
Once I get the bridge cover on here, I might change things
a little, but this insulation product is just great and it
doesn't affect the intonation at all.
It's neoprene if you are going to look for it, not closed-cell urethane.
I figger that when the covers go on, I won't have the ability to palm-mute so something has the cut the sustain.
The Elixir Nanos make it a lot deeper and funkier and that's where I want this bass to go - so after all is said and done, it'll have it's own special voice.
I've been experimenting with just playing it in the places where I believe I can get to the strings and it sounds retro enough to make me happy.
The Elixir Nanos make it a lot deeper and funkier and that's where I want this bass to go - so after all is said and done, it'll have it's own special voice.
I've been experimenting with just playing it in the places where I believe I can get to the strings and it sounds retro enough to make me happy.
I think those high C#s are probably "dead" notes on his P-Bass. They would probably sound like that even without foam muting.
In recognition of Jamerson's style and tone, all major bass manufacturers have kept the dead notes at about the C#-D-D# on the G string in an act of reverential homage.
It's called 'The Jamerson Triangle', for future reference.
It's called 'The Jamerson Triangle', for future reference.
