What is this foam thing?

[smoothbrain]

[Edit: I call them 'dampers']
I hated the ones that come with the Rickenbackers. I [Edit: adjusted them out of the way] removed them.
I guess some folks like them and have a use for them them. Not me.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

Carol Caye uses a piece of felt taped to the bridge. I'm pretty sure she said it mimics the foam in the bridge cover of an old Fender bass.

 

[REV]

You have to experiment with the thickness of the foam to get the dampening that you want. If it is so thick that it changes your tuning it is probably too thick or too dense. You can also mute with your palm if a short spot in the music calls for it. I keep several thicknesses of foam in my guitar case in case I need some thump at a recording session. I always have a piece of foam at the bridge on my Danelctro Longhorn. It's an integral piece of the sound.

 

[BuddhaFingas]

The Nordymute people seem to think Im made out of Nordybucks.
I'm Nordynot.

 

[jd56hawk]

The Nordymute people seem to think Im made out of Nordybucks.
I'm Nordynot.

You'd think they'd be able to offer more options than light wood, medium wood, and dark wood for $50.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Its a beer dam.
Stops spills from runnin down into your bridge.

 

[jdjk7]

Hey y'all I was watching a Youtube and saw the foam thingy on the strings. What is it called? and is it used to cut down on the ringing? Thank you.

View attachment 5281413

String mute or string dampener.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Hey y'all I was watching a Youtube and saw the foam thingy on the strings. What is it called? and is it used to cut down on the ringing? Thank you.

View attachment 5281413

That's a foam string-mute. My 1965 Jazz had a much smaller open foam mute glued to the inside of the ashtray pickup cover. It contacted perhaps 1/3rd as much of the strings as the one pictured. I bought my Jazz in 1966 and it wasn't until 1972 while I was touring with it that I removed the ashtray to clean underneath it and found that it muted the strings. I tore and scraped off that thing entirely before putting that ashtray pickup cover back on my Jazz. Suddenly my 1965 had some decent sustain. It always had a good sound but darn little sustain. Once I got rid of that if was much better. Fender used a number of muting schemes in the early 60's. They were trying to get a more "woody" sound out of their Jazz and Precision basses to make them sound more like an upright. It was the wrong move. I was sooooooo glad to get rid of that and have some decent sustain from my Jazz for the first time.

 

[Grinderman]

I never thought it did when I’ve done it. I think it could if you put way too much foam under the strings, but unless you want no sustain whatsoever, it shouldn’t have a practical effect on intonation.

It depends on how it's done, meaning the firmness and density of the foam used, how it's cut, or how thick/the volume of the cut piece, where or how it's placed against the strings, plus how stiff the strings in question are, etc. You know.

 

[Grinderman]

Dont listen to these people! Its clearly an interference device designed to block government tracking. Its either that or where you wipe your fingers after eating KFC.

They need to do their research.

 

[jdjk7]

Maybe this would work for you? I might end up getting one myself!

Gruv Gear Fump Bridge-Side Dampener For 4 or 5 String Bass

View attachment 5281544

I looked at some reviews of this thingy, and people didn't seem to like it - more like a choke than a mute.

Agree. The Fump sucks. The muting isn't adjustable, and the device also just doesn't fit many bridges-- if there is any kind of protrusion past the saddles, chances are it will get in the way of the Fump. I pointed this out in an email to Gruv Gear, and for some reason their response was to send me another one. So, I have two of them.

In addition, it uses the soft side of Velcro, and frankly, you can kind of hear it scratching against the strings if you don't have your tone knob turned down. I always found this annoying. Obviously it wasn't something that would come across in a mix, but it did bug me.

I have a NordyMute and haven't looked back. It costs a bit, but it's a high quality tool that is well designed and sounds great. The only disadvantage is you may need more than one owing to different string spacing.

 

[fourstringbliss]

NordyMute for 4 String Bass

 

[pbass2]

I never thought it did when I’ve done it. I think it could if you put way too much foam under the strings, but unless you want no sustain whatsoever, it shouldn’t have a practical effect on intonation.

It can make you a tad sharp up the neck if it's a pretty wide chunk of foam--I use foam a lot and try and use relatively dense foam so I can shape it narrower. Then again, these guys are no slouches and did just fine with a big 'ol wad shoved in there!

 

[B String]

You can also use a Nordymute : easy to put on and off and won’t damage anything.

 

[B String]

I've been using the Nordy Mutes on my electric and upright basses. The real "get what you pay for" type of thing. You can get different levels of muting depending how you have it set. Also.... It looks "Pro".

 

[franklindayala]

Hey y'all I was watching a Youtube and saw the foam thingy on the strings. What is it called? and is it used to cut down on the ringing? Thank you.

View attachment 5281413

This is a cool video:

 

[bobalu]

I never thought it did when I’ve done it. I think it could if you put way too much foam under the strings, but unless you want no sustain whatsoever, it shouldn’t have a practical effect on intonation.

Agreed. I use a soft foam - you just need it to "touch" the strings to dampen them - it has no impact whatsoever on intonation. Now if you ram/force a big chunk of denser foam rubber in there then ya, I can see a bit of an impact.

 

[Aidenn7]

go to the dollar tree get something like this.. take two and cut each one in half. burn each end.. then tie one around the strings at the bridge.. and one above nut.. you can move the mutes where ever you want. it acts like compressor and noise gate.. works on any strings.. cost you 5mins of time.. a little gas.. scissors.. and a lighter.. and $1.25 in hair ties.. use the black it looks nice.. helps you control your overtones.. and sounds nice..
View attachment 5282489

 

[Ben Clarke]

I have the 4 and 5 string Nordymutes. Great idea to have something so easily swappable, but I wish they offered different thicknesses or density of the neoprene they use. I almost never want it as dead as it is without fiddling a lot with it to have it barely hanging on.

I grabbed some thinner closed cell foam from a window air conditioner I had (not the dark stuff for between the upper and lower windows, the white stuff they give you for covering up the side louvers). It's about half the thickness of the Nordy. cut some notches in it and it works way better for me, and it was only a buck free eighty.

There is also a guy out there offering various levels of muting with a design that is... um... very much influenced by the Nordy design. I intentionally forgot the name of it.

 

[75Ric]

I use a mute on my pbass. It doesn't matter who makes it, $50 for a piece of foam seems a wee bit spendy to me. I just cut it from soft sponge - nothing fancy, shaped or angled, just a straight cut. Simplicity is a virtue. I have a lifetime supply and then some for little money. No tuning problems, but I do intonate with the mute, as it stays on this bass.