Replacing mute foam?

imnoone · Post by **imnoone** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 6:28 am

Sorry for the flurry of new posts, but among the things I want to do is replace my foam mute, it's got big time shrinkage. Are these hard to find and replace?

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:20 am

Rickenbacker has them, very cheap. They're different than the old ones, wider, I've cut them in half.

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:21 am

RIC sells the pads for $3. I just took the tailpiece apart from my '77 4001 last night to replace it with a Hipshot, & it looks like the original pad was held in place with tar!
What a mess!
Time to get out the brake cleaner, I suppose.

imnoone · Post by **imnoone** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:24 am

Ah cool, I shoulda thunk it through first. I'll be needing some other small parts from them, so I guess I'll do it all at once. I yanked my mute and it was just resting on top of the bar, like even the glue tar had decomposed. gross.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:53 am

I am in the Jeff Rath camp of: Get that silly thing(mute) off my bass!

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:01 am

I don't use the mutes either but in my typical fashion, I had the mute bar chromed and then used a narrower strip of foam from a toaster pad so you can see the chrome. The narrower pad also makes it easier to adjust the bridge heighth from the front.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:16 am

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:52 am

I got all new screws (pickguard, bridge, pup surround, pup height adjust, jack plate, etc.) from RIC, along with the ROS kit, new mute pads, & polishing cloths for all my Ricks.
I figured that even if I never use the mute, at least it should be functional, and the shiny new screws really look much better than the cruddy, chewed up 30 year old ones.

I like the weight of the Hipshot. Now I want one for my neck-diving 4000!