Why do basses use foam?

[RBrownBass]

This is bothering me. Guitar pickups use springs or rubber tubes in the pickup screws. Why do basses use use foam?

You can replace the foam with springs if you like.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Use both.

Pickup Height Foam with Internal Springs - StewMac

 

[96tbird]

Foam has the timbre we need for bass. I suggest tort for tone as well. Springs and tubing have guitar timbres and work ok but if you REALLY care about your tone…

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Foam has the timbre we need for bass. I suggest tort for tone as well. Springs and tubing have guitar timbres and work ok but if you REALLY care about your tone…

You need to invent some tort foam! Sorta take care of all of it in one shot.

 

[StereoPlayer]

I’ve used both. Whatever I have at the moment.

 

[gormsby]

Great timing...I just got done building up two basses I was building in parallel (did last fret tweaks on one earlier this evening.) For both, I went with springs. Vibration/noise? None...not an issue. Foam always felt kludgy to me. Now I'm looking at a 6-string shortscale I built earlier, thinking "yep, I'm swapping to springs in that one too." The foam is sub-optimal.

 

[mikeswals]

So why do people use rubber tubing over springs?

Because it cheap

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Because it cheap

And tubing is easy to customize for the geometry of a wide range of body styles and neck angles.

And it dampens parasitic vibrations.

And it makes assembly easier, because it grips the screws.

 

[keyofnight]

I prefer tubing. It's easy to work with and keeps the pickup very stiff. I've had enough trouble cleaning old foam gunk and then cutting / squishing new foam — I see no reason to bother with it.

 

[fhm555]

Unless I use real dense foam I tend to push my pickups down as I'm playing. I've solved that by cutting up mouse pads and stacking them until I get the height I want, then adding another slice and compressing the whole stack when I return the pickups to their desired height. It's been working for
a lot of years with no problems.

 

[WG Plum]

Foam? It's cheap and it works?

 

[onda'bass]

I bought cone shaped springs and put them in my j basses. No issues of foam breakdown ect

 

[lark_z]

I really like these, but maybe I'm a "belt and suspenders" kinda guy.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LVGNL35/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1