What is this foam thing?

[Aidenn7]

 

[Ben Clarke]

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.
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Yeah, $50 is not a no-brainer for something like this.

But a huge part of the value is being able to swap it on and off between songs or even sections of songs. Not hard to DIY something that is easier to do that with than kitchen sponge wedged under there, but the Nordymute is still easier to get on and off than mine that described.

 

[cyberfola]

does anyone have experience using a tennis racket string dampener as a bass mute?