I see players use foam under the strings and I understand that its to mute, get a thumpier kind of tome going. Did it start as a way to get rounds to sound more like flats? I know its used on flats too.. Just curious about where it started and why.
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The Foam...
- Thread starter TheArchitect
- Start date
In my view, it's more of a hack to get bass guitar closer to upright. Of course, it only gets you in the ballpark.
Started in the 60s. Browse youtube for Motown, Wrecking Crew, Carol Kaye. These guys developed fast bass quitar funk style, based on usage of many precise 16ths. The foam helped to make the attack more agressive. With fast precise timed notes, they wanted a pronounced attack. Nowadays, with modern amps and arsenal of right hand techniques, I'm not sure whether the foam is really an important improvement still.
- Sep 9, 2007
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Not quite. Foam mutes were stock in 1951 when the OG Precision was released, as a solution for a more portable upright bass. The mute played part of creating that thump and quick decay of the URB.
But like @two fingers said, the results aren't exactly URB-esque.
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I really like an oldschool thumpy tone and have been experimenting with adding a foam mute recently. The winning solution in the end was a small piece of adhesive foam rubber weather stripping stuck to the underside of my Precision’s bridge cover (pushing down on the strings from above, just in front of the saddles), which as far as I can tell is exactly the method Fender used at the factory back in the day. I’m very happy with the result and it’s also eliminated some annoying overtones I was getting in a couple of places with a new set of flats.
