Show us your Plexi Thumbrest Pics!

[squirebass]

Hello forumites!

I finally broke down and ordered one of those pickguardian plexiglass thumb rests that adorn many of the vintage Rick 4001 basses that I love. It arrived yesterday and I now am questioning where exactly to place it so that it looks authentic on my v63 bass, so could some of you with old Ricks please post some pics?


Thanks!

Gene S.

[jps]

The exact placement varied a little bit, but the most important thing to keep in mind is to not drill a hole in the pickup lead channel; the two screws should straddle the channel.

[squirebass]

Yeah, I was figuring it would straddle that rout to the pickup, these pics are great, thanks Jeff!

[FretlessOnly]

That's a tug bar, not a thumb rest. Thumb rests occupy the space above the low E string. Tug bars were an ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb. Not sure where that came from (as the electric bass was designed as an alternative to the double bass). There's at least one product out there that is a true, no mod thumb rest that sits on top of the strings. I have two of them and I love them.

[jps]

That's a tug bar, not a thumb rest. Thumb rests occupy the space above the low E string. Tug bars were an ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb. Not sure where that came from (as the electric bass was designed as an alternative to the double bass). There's at least one product out there that is a true, no mod thumb rest that sits on top of the strings. I have two of them and I love them.

I think the goal here is to install the finger rest/tug bar/thumb rest in the traditional vintage location of the Ricks of yore.

[squirebass]

That's a tug bar, not a thumb rest. Thumb rests occupy the space above the low E string. Tug bars were an ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb. Not sure where that came from (as the electric bass was designed as an alternative to the double bass). There's at least one product out there that is a true, no mod thumb rest that sits on top of the strings. I have two of them and I love them.

I stand corrected, thanks!

Whatever it is called, I always liked the look of them, and I doubt I will use mine for much other than a decorative item on my v63, but you never know! Thanks JPS for your pics, I'm going to install mine this weekend!

[bassduke49]

Certainly not a thumb rest. I call it a "tug bar" in my book. I wouldn't call playing with the thumb "ill conceived" and wouldn't make the assumption that all of the first electric bass players descended from upright players. Many descended from guitar players who played with the plectrum or "finger picked" using the thumb on the E string. And a few bass players may have been spontaneously generated rather than descended from, or converted from upright or guitar players. Take me, for example. Please! I played with my thumb almost all of the time.

[teb]

ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb

What's so ill-conceived about it? Play with whatever means you like to get the sounds you need. I have an Elektra album out there that turns 50 years old next year and I played every note of it with a flat pick on a fretless bass. Worked just fine, and some of it would have been pretty hard to play with fingers.

[FretlessOnly]

ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb

What's so ill-conceived about it? Play with whatever means you like to get the sounds you need. I have an Elektra album out there that turns 50 years old next year and I played every note of it with a flat pick on a fretless bass. Worked just fine, and some of it would have been pretty hard to play with fingers.

Of course one should play with whatever works, but since the fretted electric bass was designed as an alternative to the double bass, why include a prominent feature that facilitates playing it in such a way that practically no one did? There's nothing wrong with playing it that way; it's just that no one really played a double bass with their thumb to any great degree, so why not promote playing the electric bass the way folks played the double bass?

[teb]

Though they occupy the same register, the two are often very different instruments, and in many cases they neither sound alike or are capable of playing the same parts.

so why not promote playing the electric bass the way folks played the double bass?

Gee, maybe because despite being in the same range, they can for all practical purposes be totally different instruments. If my basses (Gibson LP fretless, Pedulla Buzz fretless, Kala U-Bass fretless, HofnerV63 Beatle, Rickenbacker 2030, Rickenbacker 4003 and a 1969 Hagstrom 8-string) sound like a double bass, I'm probably doing something wrong (though I wouldn't mind finding that sweet spot on the amp where the Kala sounds a bit more like a double bass).

If making your bass guitar sound like a double bass is what you're after, have at it and enjoy, but do understand that that is not everybody's cup of tea and their opinions are just as valid as yours are.

[bassduke49]

Besides, the double bass (or upright bass, or bass viol, or whatever) was originally designed TO BE PLAYED WITH A BOW! Is the electric bass (or bass guitar, or just bass) designed to be played with A BOW? No. It can be played with the fingers, thumb, or a pick - your choice. I play with the thumb and on my only remaining Rick, I have a tug bar (still not a thumb rest) and I use it as an anchor for my little finger. Not an "ill conceived" device. And are you talking about my mother?

[rickenbrother]

Tug bars were an ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb.

As far as I know, that's what Leo Fender thought. I can see the tug bar being helpful to some who play with a pick.

[FretlessOnly]

Gee, maybe because despite being in the same range, they can for all practical purposes be totally different instruments. If my basses (Gibson LP fretless, Pedulla Buzz fretless, Kala U-Bass fretless, HofnerV63 Beatle, Rickenbacker 2030, Rickenbacker 4003 and a 1969 Hagstrom 8-string) sound like a double bass, I'm probably doing something wrong (though I wouldn't mind finding that sweet spot on the amp where the Kala sounds a bit more like a double bass). If making your bass guitar sound like a double bass is what you're after, have at it and enjoy, but do understand that that is not everybody's cup of tea and their opinions are just as valid as yours are.

I'm not sure where you are coming from, as you're not responding to my point. I have a double bass that I've played for 29 years to sound like a double bass. This isn't about how I want my electric basses to sound. My point is, when introduced, the electric bass was intended as an alternative to the double bass for pizzicato players in jazz, country, bluegrass and perhaps other genres that weren't classical in nature. It just seems odd to me that someone thought that playing with the thumb would appeal to those cats; most of whom never played that way. Installing a proper thumb rest above the low E string would have made far more sense given how folks played the double bass (not in classical situations; see below) at the time.

Besides, the double bass (or upright bass, or bass viol, or whatever) was originally designed TO BE PLAYED WITH A BOW! Is the electric bass (or bass guitar, or just bass) designed to be played with A BOW? No. It can be played with the fingers, thumb, or a pick - your choice...

No one ever suggested that the electric bass was intended for orchestral players. It was obviously intended for ^ see my response above. But of course it can be played any way one wants to; that's not my point (again, see above).

As far as I know, that's what Leo Fender thought. I can see the tug bar being helpful to some who play with a pick.

As to your first point, that's all I'm trying to say here (I'm not sure why it got so terribly convoluted). As to your second, I can see that, but I'd question whether anchoring one's pinky on a tug bar would facilitate down-strokes on the low E without very large hands. I have large hands, and I couldn't do that. When playing with a pick on bass (which is rare, because I'm a fingers guy, although I've been a guitar picker for over 40 years as well), I rest the fleshy part of my right palm on a pickup cover or other convenient port in a storm..

In closing, I didn't mean to invoke the Spanish Inquisition. I only meant to point out that tug bars lasted from ~1951-1973 and I can't understand why a proper thumb rest above the E string didn't appear commercially until about 1974 or so.

And this sort of reminds me why I haven't posted much here in the past 6-7 years or so. So, thanks for the memories, folks. You win.

[teb]

Tug bars were an ill-conceived notion that the electric bass should be played with the thumb.

Making that statement and then complaining when others don't agree with you doesn't flatter you. Perhaps that statement itself was the ill-conceived notion.