Hey, I was wondering if anyone would know what kinda metal the stingray bridge mutes are made out of. I plan to make some my own for my P bass for the ol' foam under the bridge trick. I really like the idea of the stingray mutes (ie the new classic series or any of the older stingray models). Seems to be a a screw, some glue, some foam, and some kinda of metal that well bend without snapping (excuse my lack of metal knowledge) Anyone tried this? got types of metal suggestions?
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Homemade String mutes
- Thread starter thtbassloser
- Start date
The answer is: no kind of metal. Spring steel is tempered after forming it to its final shape. But it can be bent to a certain point before it breaks. It is very difficult to work with when tempered though. You can de- temper it and work it and re-temper it with a blowtorch and tutorials; I have done it when making landing gear for rc planes. There are tutorials out there in rc land.
Not really worth the hassle though unless you are a pro fabricator but then you would know all that I have stated above. Use some foam or thick felt jammed under the strings at the saddles or belly up and drop some dough for the real thing.
Not really worth the hassle though unless you are a pro fabricator but then you would know all that I have stated above. Use some foam or thick felt jammed under the strings at the saddles or belly up and drop some dough for the real thing.
^ thats similar to the Rickenbacker bride system.
To the OP: You can just buy and install this if you really want:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Jazz...017?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item337b11ef39
There are some other companies that offer mutes as well:
http://www.bassmute.com/
To the OP: You can just buy and install this if you really want:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Jazz...017?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item337b11ef39
There are some other companies that offer mutes as well:
http://www.bassmute.com/
As an eBay Associate, TalkBass may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
I saw this mute a few days ago, here on TB. Looks like a great design. I'm gonna try to make one of these.
Sorry but that won't work well at all.
The barrels, since they must be adjusted to keep the strings to the radius of the fretboard, will then force the outer and the inner strings all on the same level, negating the setup.
Bad idea although it might work better on a guitar but even there it will change string radius height and force some strings sharp.
I saw this mute a few days ago, here on TB. Looks like a great design. I'm gonna try to make one of these.
+1
This was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread. Great idea and much less expensive then the pre-made mutes.
It seems to me that as long as the mute is just gently resting under the strings and not pushing them up then it would work just fine. If it was cranked way up so to pull the strings up out of the saddles then it would be an issue.
Well why don't you do it the fender way?
Invalid Link Removed
There is actually a very interesting system that I saw Bob Babbit use sometime ago. Check it out here. What is cool about this one is that you can choose the amount of damping. http://www.bassmute.com/
Invalid Link Removed
There is actually a very interesting system that I saw Bob Babbit use sometime ago. Check it out here. What is cool about this one is that you can choose the amount of damping. http://www.bassmute.com/
SurferJoe46 said:
I think it would work just fine if the upper piece of the mute was bent to the radius of the neck. As long as your bass is setup properly to work with the mute, there shouldn't be any issues.
gjbassist said:
This too. So if the bend of the mute matched the setup's radius, and you didn't crank it up to the point of pushing up the strings, it would work just fine.
Id probably end up going the fender route other then the fact my parents arent a fan of ebay and Im restricted in that sense of "where I can buy" online. although looking at that tune-o-matic bridge style muting system... i think i may try that, im replacing a bridge in an old hollowbody that ive got because that saddles are rusted and broken beyond reasonable repair (its about 30 years old and was on some guys wall) so thank you Rip.
(if the foambridge mute things radius matches the p-bass' it should be fine)
(if the foambridge mute things radius matches the p-bass' it should be fine)
We should ask the person who is currently using it -- (a) it's a TBer, and (b) it's screwed into the bass, so s/he should probably have some concrete results on how it performed.
I did an experiment last night, I clipped a cleaning cloth to the body, hovering above the strings. It made it sustain less without dulling the sound. Worth into looking more?
I don't see how it can mute the strings without being uneven in pressure. Not all strings are equ-level because of the neck radius and the same theme carried out at the barrels.
The material doesn't appear to be soft enough to actually still the vibrations either.
The best way is just using closed cell insulation foam:::
Notice that this doesn't actually press up on the strings with much force at all; it just kills the sustain and won't affect the tuning or intonation either.
I don't necessarily disagree -- just figured it was a pretty permanent installation, so there must have been something they liked about it, or some comment they could make on its effectiveness (e.g. "I had to experiment with bending the plant to match the fb" or something like that).
I was just experimenting with foam last night (pure coincidence) just like that pic you posted -- haven't found setup I like yet, but after seeing a few posts here, I'm going to try a combo of foam and felt tonight.
If you look at the pic, it looks like they installed the mute about an inch in front of the bridge. If so, it wouldn't take much to mute the strings, and you wouldn't need to match the radius as long as the foam is thick enough.
After really thinking about this, I'm convinced that the mute in the pic would work just fine, probably even better with thicker foam.
I've considered adding a Jazz bass mute set to my main P, but so far foam has been all I really need.
After really thinking about this, I'm convinced that the mute in the pic would work just fine, probably even better with thicker foam.
I've considered adding a Jazz bass mute set to my main P, but so far foam has been all I really need.
I saw this mute a few days ago, here on TB. Looks like a great design. I'm gonna try to make one of these.
I wouldn't use this system. Apart from the problems mentioned already, this mute may transmit vibration energy from one string to another. The foam mute always works, is very cheap and can be simply adapted with a knife or a pair of scissors.
The foam SurferJoe46 uses, really works fine. You can also cut a dice for each string separately.
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