What causes the ringing?

[Tracebassplayer]

What's a flagiolet? Google is failing me.

Definition of Flagiolet

A small wooden pipe, having six or more holes, and a mouthpiece inserted at one end. It produces a shrill sound, softer than of the piccolo flute, a..

Probably the source of the "ringing"

 

[Tracebassplayer]

Or maybe he meant ringing from the Flageolet Beans

The caviar of beans - Flageolets are tiny, tender French bush type beans that are very popular in French cooking. Cause much gas ...

 

[Tracebassplayer]

You will find many players that use the top string on a 4 or 5 string as a thumb rest which also mutes that string. The larger strings are more prone to unwanted vibration and muting them is necessary.
Rocky

OK, Now that I'm done joking around.

What he said above ^^^^.
Most players (maybe unintentionally) mute the 4/5 string by resting the thumb on it. Back in the day it was common to see a thumb rest attached to the body at an angle above the top string, nowadays - not so much.
But, yeah, learning to mute with the pup hand as well as the fret hand is at least recommended. I would not say mandatory as evidenced by scads of videos where you can obviously see and hear there is no muting happening but tons of records are still sold!

 

[Jay2U]

Thanks to all! Muting, of course, is a second nature. If I finger, my right hand thumb rests on the lower strings. Still this E-string manages to resonate audibly. Picking is a lot worse, as much of the muting is then being done with the other hand.
A piece of foam near the bridge does reduce it, but makes it sound dull.
I also tried to de-tune the E slightly. This reduces the ringing a lot. Unfortunately this de-tuning can be heared.

For writer "Over the Moon", playing a flagiolet (also written as flageolet) is done by deviding a string in harmonically mutually resonating parts, by just touching it with a finger. So if you touch a sting in the middle (fret 12) and play it, you will hear a note at twice the frequency of the open string. Once sounding, the finger can be removed from the string. This is also a great way to quickly check the tuning and intonation of your instrument.

 

[Jay2U]

Thanks to all! I'm one step further now. I swapped some strings, in order to put the E-strimg in the position of the A-string. This resulted in far less ringing. I think the bridge is the cause of the problem. For "over the moon", a flagiolet, also written as flageolet, can be found at Wikipedia.

 

[Tracebassplayer]

When picking you mute with the heel of the picking hand mostly...
Not to be confused with strumming....

 

[Tat2dHeart]

What's a flagiolet? Google is failing me.

Think tin whistle or penny whistle. It's a type of flute, but with a fipple.

 

[klaus486]

Oh he means Harmonics in the Jaco sense of the word! All I found via Google was the flute type wind instrument ref. Ok It seems to me you are not using enough force when muting. Esp with your left hand ie; not laying it down hard enough when your muting and unintentionally letting a harmonic sound. The right hand can also cause this by bouncing lightly off the next string over after plucking the adjacent string. Sounds like a technique issue to me if you've hunted down all the mechanical aspects.

 

[Tracebassplayer]

Oh he means Harmonics in the Jaco sense of the word! All I found via Google was the flute type wind instrument ref.

...and I thought he meant he was just was fartin around... ..............

Might be too that the tips of his fingers on the fret hand are touching the upper string just enough to
cause the harmonic to sound, as well as or in conjunction with the failure to properly mute said string/s.

 

[Jay2U]

... Well hello there! Last Saturday I wrote about the progress I made. It really has to do something with the bridge. The other strings are mutable and the P-bass I played didn't produce this very loud and stubborn ringing. So, now I'm going to ask if some of you valued bass-friends has some good advice regardig bridges. (with bridge I mean the metal part near the bottom of the bass guitar, holding the strings. . . .). Thanks in advance.

 

[Jason P Bass]

If it is definitely the bridge, check the springs behind the saddles.

Also check the springs on the pickup mounts.

Something else that (I think) has not been mentioned is the string BEHIND the fretted finger, between the nut and your finger. This should not be audible through the amp, but ya never know.

 

[Tracebassplayer]

Something else that (I think) has not been mentioned is the string BEHIND the fretted finger, between the nut and your finger. This should not be audible through the amp, but ya never know.

+1 transfered sustain via the neck, different basses have more or less of this and not many have enough to notice it.

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

Not only behind the fretted finger, but some basses if the string angle is not enough of a difference behind the nut, the strings may ring there... that can be fixed by more windings and winding the string lower to the face of the headstock.

Both of these shouldn't be too audible when through an amp, but if you make anything loud enough you may hear some of it.

Depending on the pickup setup especially!

 

[mech]

I've actually held both my left and right hands over all 6 strings and I STILL hear it ringing. Blah!

If you "mute" a string at a point where a harmonic will sound, it will ring. Very common.

mech

 

[Jason P Bass]

+1 transfered sustain via the neck, different basses have more or less of this and not many have enough to notice it.

I sometimes practice unplugged at night and I have a bass that turns every E powerchord (x577) into an E minor. The A string between the nut and the 5th fret rings at a perfect G pitch.

 

[Jay2U]

Mech, lots of harmonics are available between bridge and neck. My E-string, however, also produces some kind of double-tone, if touched at positions like the virtual 24 th fret.

Maybe I'm gonna use this Ibanez GSR200EX as a back-up bass and buy a Fender P or something like it. Once i own a second bass, it becomes a lot easier to experiment with the Ibanez.

 

[mech]

Mech, lots of harmonics are available between bridge and neck.

Yeah, some instruments are much more "live" than others. I've been playing for a LONG time and have muted with both hands for longer than I can remember. I have several basses that I have a difficult time totally controlling harmonic ring. Every now and then one or two just slip in. I have other basses that don't exhibit that characteristic even though construction/woods/strings/etc are the same/similar.

mech

 

[Jay2U]

On the other side of the scale are instruments with dead strings. So, I might conclude that I should play as many basses as I can, in order to select one which fits me best. Fortunately there are enough well sorted music shops not too far from here.

 

[Jay2U]

Just for the ones curious amongst you. I kind of cured the problem by applying a small piece of dense foam per string, so they won't couple through the foam. They are positioned close to the saddles. There is some effect on the sustain, of course. For the time being, it makes the Ibanez GSR200EX much more playable. Thanks to all and keep playing the subsonically!

 

[arsie]

Just for the ones curious amongst you. I kind of cured the problem by applying a small piece of dense foam per string, so they won't couple through the foam. They are positioned close to the saddles. There is some effect on the sustain, of course. For the time being, it makes the Ibanez GSR200EX much more playable. Thanks to all and keep playing the subsonically!

That is quite commonly called string mutes. A piece of foam under the strings near the bridge. Almost from the dawn of the electric bass, people were doing that to get a tone closer to the upright bass.