Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have been struggling to get the whole palm muting thing dialed in on my ric, it's a technique I used quite a bit with my "other" basses. But due to the ric bridge I've had a hard time getting it to happen. I love every aspect of the stock bridge but this. I ended up just taking the foam mute adjustment screw all the way out and am finding it is making it much easier to palm mute now. Will this affect the bass in any adverse way?

No.

If I read your post correctly, it sounds like you still have the treble side mute screw in, so that ought to hold the mute in place fine. Removing both would probably make the mute guts rattle obnoxiously, but it sounds like you've got it covered just fine. Rattling would be the only thing I can think of to watch/listen for.

Thank you.

I'm glad this simple fix works for you. You may even consider replacing both of the screws with less conspicuous ones that take a screwdriver (and thus don't stick up). Since it's already slow enough trying to adjust that mute as it were it wouldn't be much more trouble to adjust it this way.

Has anyone else here done this? I did a search on palm muting here and I'm definitely not the only one that has experienced some level of frustration with this. It seems like a pretty simple thing, definitely less drastic than an aftermarket bridge.

jdogric12aolcom wrote:If I read your post correctly, it sounds like you still have the treble side mute screw in, so that ought to hold the mute in place fine. Removing both would probably make the mute guts rattle obnoxiously, but it sounds like you've got it covered just fine. Rattling would be the only thing I can think of to watch/listen for.

The bridge/tailpiece is grounded through the mute assembly so with both screws removed you should put the ground wire somewhere that makes good contact with the tailpiece.

jps wrote:

jdogric12aolcom wrote:If I read your post correctly, it sounds like you still have the treble side mute screw in, so that ought to hold the mute in place fine. Removing both would probably make the mute guts rattle obnoxiously, but it sounds like you've got it covered just fine. Rattling would be the only thing I can think of to watch/listen for.

The bridge/tailpiece is grounded through the mute assembly so with both screws removed you should put the ground wire somewhere that makes good contact with the tailpiece.

Beat me to it, Jeff. Even with one screw out you might have grounding issues. Quick check - plug in, turn up, hands off the bass, if there is hum hold the strings. If the hum goes away (or lessens, these are single coil pickups! ) then you need to ground the tailpiece.

Interesting.

I just switched back to the stock bridge today. I connected the groundwire directly to the tailpiece, rather than the underside of the mute. It doesn't hum like it used to.I do need to find a way to palm mute better with the stock bridge

marc61 wrote:I do need to find a way to palm mute better with the stock bridge

You can have the "teeth" cut of and that area will then have better access for palm muting, like a 5 string tailpiece.

jps wrote:[
You can have the "teeth" cut

Bridge dentist?

marc61 wrote:

jps wrote:[
You can have the "teeth" cut

Bridge dentist?

Dane Wilder is a bridge dentist! Actually, that would be tailpiece dentist.

Palm muting is just one of those things that we pretty much live without ... IMO (with 39 years of experience!).

Is there a way to lower the "teeth" below string level, to keep the look? Cut them and weld without the "feet"? Can zinc be welded? Will it need re-plating?

I just pick up another bass when I wanna palm mute.