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ramp and slapping q

BiigM

BiigM

Nov 11, 2007
422
9
Denmark
#1
Hey

I've had a good luthier make me a ramp for my relic 4 string.

I like the feeling of playing over the ramp. Problem is that when i slap the E string it hits the ramp slighty which offcourse ruines the sound.

I strike right at the end off the neck, not on the last fret. You know, Marcus style. My setup is pretty low.

I could lower the ramp offcourse but that kinda defeates the purpose of the ramp in the first place don't it.

the space is something like 1-1.5 credit card at the g-string.

Anyone else have this problem? And maybe a solution :-)

Thx
 
#5
Hmm...
Seemed to work for me. regardless, if I can figure out how to search, I believe you can too. :)
To attempt to answer your question- albeit from the perspective of one who has no experience w/ramps- it seems slapping & ramps are for the most part going in two vastly different directions(correct me if I'm wrong).
 
#6
Got a pic of your bass? that can shed light on exactly what you're dealing with.

I slap near the end of the fretboard too and just like having a pickup there, having a ramp there would be a problem for me... so mine are installed farther away.

CIMG1007.jpg
 
#8
Sorry Bra i have no Pic.

But It's not to hard to desribe, cause it's just a Fender custom shop relic with the ramp between the pups. :-)
Christian even took a tad bit more of the e string side on the ramp to avoid the problem. If it was radiused to match the board exactly it would be even worse.

It's the same thing that would happen if the pups where to high i guess.

So maybe slapping and ramps just dont mix that well?
 
#9
i can slap just fine on my ibanez GWB2. hit the strings with just enough power to get the slap sound and hit the string in that way that you thumb stops at the string below and not in the way that your thumb bounces off the strings.

hope that helps:hyper:
 
#11
I guess slappin soft and victor style would help. I do this sometimes when I need doublethumb, but I do prefer the sound of the bounce. I'm not slappin that hard anyway :-)

Thing is, i've had celinder jazz style basses with arched pickup covers that was pretty close to the strings, and never had this problem. It should be the same :-)
 
#12
BiigM said:
Sorry Bra i have no Pic.

But It's not to hard to desribe, cause it's just a Fender custom shop relic with the ramp between the pups. :-)
Christian even took a tad bit more of the e string side on the ramp to avoid the problem. If it was radiused to match the board exactly it would be even worse.

It's the same thing that would happen if the pups where to high i guess.

So maybe slapping and ramps just dont mix that well?
Click to expand...

They mix fine for me. Because they're nowhere near where I slap, they're a non-isssue in that respect.

So what you're describing is basically like the bass I posted and you say you slap near the end of the fretboard (away from the ramp). The ramp in my pic is very high (higher than yours) and I couldn't hit it with the strings if I tried... I don't slap over it, I slap and pop in the open space between the end of the fingerboard and the neck pickup. Sounds like it may be a technique issue.
 
#13
Hmmm...that's wierd :-)

I could understand it if i was bangin away on the strings louis johnson style. But I'm pretty controlled there. Once upon a time where it was still legal to slap I did it a lot.

Maybe the string tension is lower on my fender than on your bass. That might make them dive further down.

Maybe I just have to give up the ramp thing :-(
 
#14
BiigM said:
Hmmm...that's wierd :-)

I could understand it if i was bangin away on the strings louis johnson style. But I'm pretty controlled there. Once upon a time where it was still legal to slap I did it a lot.

Maybe the string tension is lower on my fender than on your bass. That might make them dive further down.

Maybe I just have to give up the ramp thing :-(
Click to expand...

Were you hitting the pickups before the ramp was put on when you slapped?

I use medium to light gauge DR Fatbeams and have very low action so I doubt string tension is an issue... unless you're drop tuning by a fourth or something like that.
 
#15
Highbeams 45-105, standard tuning :-)

No I was not hitting the pickups with te strings. Pure clean slapsound. But they are somewhat further from the string, being passive, than the ramp.

We are offcourse talking millimeters in difference.
 
#16
Hello there! I too am a ramp user, got one fitted to my TRB 6P and do like to play a bit of Level 42 on it.

Suffered the same problem of the ramp being clipped on the side nearest the neck. One thing you could try doing is taking the ramp out, and there'll be marks from where the strings have been hitting it. Try putting a little groove in where each of the strings hit at the neck side of the ramp, gradually becoming level with the surface of the rest of the ramp at the bridge end.

Though I was going to do this to my bass, the sound of the ramp isn't all that noticeable to me, I play slap fairly softly and don't dig in lots as my action is low and will buzz if given a good thwack!

Possibly try out that idea with a dummy ramp made from a cheap piece of balsa wood first? Let me know how it goes anyway.

All the best of luck!

Joe
 
#18
It's possible to make a ramp incorrectly for a certain bass. If you have a bass where the strings are more of less parallel to the body, the ramp won't need to be tapered on the end nearest the neck. If there's more of a taper in the height of the strings to the body, the ramp will need to be tapered too.

If you have a correctly installed ramp and still hit it with the strings, you have another issue.

On the "playing soft" tip, I played in a more controlled fashion than most but there's nothing "soft" about it.
:cool:
 

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