Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Working up a 4000 scheme. I saw this pic on the Resource, the plexi finger rest looks awesome on this original 4000 guard. Stupid question, how do you figure out where to put one?

Here are a couple of mine.

Technically those are "tug bars" that were later corrupted by some to be used on the opposite side of the strings as, indeed, thumb/finger rests. The tug bar placement is about using your thumb to pluck the strings, actually.

I see no use for a thumb rest but a tug bar might be fun to have around, since it's a completely different style.

cassius987 wrote: The tug bar placement is about using your thumb to pluck the strings, actually.

It could also be practical if one used a pick, maybe as a place to anchor one's pinky. Finger style would want a thumb rest on the bassy side of the strings.

They make me think of jazz players and "sophisticated" Pop music of the Fifties.

Here's mine...


It arrived yesterday morning and I installed it immediately. I had a gig last night and tried to use it while picking. It was not very practical with a pick, as it was placed too below. It was OK while plucking with the thumb, though...

You're not really supposed to use them, they are for looks!

And they do look great!

cassius987 wrote:Technically those are "tug bars" that were later corrupted by some to be used on the opposite side of the strings as, indeed, thumb/finger rests. The tug bar placement is about using your thumb to pluck the strings, actually.

I see no use for a thumb rest but a tug bar might be fun to have around, since it's a completely different style.

The corrupted version actually having some utility! I need a place to anchor my thumb and I've installed thumb rests on a few of my basses (not the Ricks, although I may add a small cresent of lucite on the FLs).

I always found it odd that the electric bass was envisioned as being played with the thumb, as part of the intent of it was for jazz players to have an alternative to upright to cut through better. Since jazz players were primarily using the sides of their fingers with their thumb anchored on the side of the fingerboard, why the thumb anchor didn't develop until the mid 70s is quite a mystery.

jps wrote:You're not really supposed to use them, they are for looks!

Hehehe... Yes, I know they're for looks. I just wanted to see how ancient bass players felt like.

FretlessOnly wrote:The corrupted version actually having some utility! I need a place to anchor my thumb and I've installed thumb rests on a few of my basses (not the Ricks, although I may add a small cresent of lucite on the FLs).

See, my thumb just instantly lands somewhere--anywhere--when I play. I don't think about it. To me the whole thumb rest idea is just imposing and kind of obnoxious because it implies this is where your thumb goes. But my thumb goes everywhere. Whereas a tug bar... I don't know how I would mimic that other than grabbing the neck pickup, and I've tried it and for certain songs it is a useful technique. I'm not talking Geddy-rific blasts of uber-bassitude, more like the subtle grooving you hear on some of the more laid back R&B numbers and on a lot of trip hop (Portishead is a good example). That latter kind of music is really more what I play when I'm actually in front of a crowd so I guess that's why, given the choice, I'd go with a tug bar, for the occasional timbre of a thumb-plucked line.

cassius987 wrote:

FretlessOnly wrote:The corrupted version actually having some utility! I need a place to anchor my thumb and I've installed thumb rests on a few of my basses (not the Ricks, although I may add a small cresent of lucite on the FLs).

See, my thumb just instantly lands somewhere--anywhere--when I play. I don't think about it. To me the whole thumb rest idea is just imposing and kind of obnoxious because it implies this is where your thumb goes. But my thumb goes everywhere. Whereas a tug bar... I don't know how I would mimic that other than grabbing the neck pickup, and I've tried it and for certain songs it is a useful technique. I'm not talking Geddy-rific blasts of uber-bassitude, more like the subtle grooving you hear on some of the more laid back R&B numbers and on a lot of trip hop (Portishead is a good example). That latter kind of music is really more what I play when I'm actually in front of a crowd so I guess that's why, given the choice, I'd go with a tug bar, for the occasional timbre of a thumb-plucked line.