Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was experimenting the other day with the mute pad, tried various amounts of damping and was surprisingly impressed with the sounds I was getting!

Although Ric's continue to be made with the mute feature on the bridges I don't hear of many people saying they actually use it, and have even heard of some removing the foam pad altogether. Would like to hear comments from anyone who uses the mute pad and perhaps gigs using it?

I do use it regularly

Wow...post #1000

I finally (after nearly 25 years!!) got round to putting a new mute pad in my 1975 4001 a few months ago, prompted by watching some Carol Kaye lessons, and I was quite impressed with it. It works well and does get you close to that thick thumpy vintage sound, even with roundwound strings. It's not something I'll use much, but I'm glad it's there for those odd occasions when I want to play around with that sort of sound.

rickinroma wrote:I do use it regularly

Wow...post #1000

Congrats!

When did you move to Belgium, I just noticed that?

I will occasionally use the mute on my 4001, mostly when jamming with some fellow jazzers.

I have some strips of foam that I put under the strings on my 4004L, too, or just palm mute when in a hurry.

antonius wrote:It works well and does get you close to that thick thumpy vintage sound, even with roundwound strings.

I noticed that as well with my roundwounds.

I have used it on a few occasions, though I wish the mechanism was easier to engage on-the-fly; I've been spoiled by the old Jazzmaster/Jaguar mute. It doesn't seem like it would take much engineering to design something which looks the same, but has maybe push-button activation instead of thumb screws.

Regardless: I have used the mute; last time was to play "Every Breath You Take."

Whilst I usually prefer to use my NS Designs Omni 5 string when playing jazz or blues, there are plenty of occasions where I just feel the need to play my fretless Ricks, in which case I wind up the mute just enough so that it lessens the natural sustain - I find this this gives me a more "acoustic bass" feel and shape to my playing style.

If I'm playing in my rock band however, I play my Ricks exclusively but, if a particular tune calls for a really fast or "busy" bass line, I'll wind up the mute to a greater degree, so as to deaden the strings and thereby shorten the decay. I find this approach leaves more space in the song than would otherwise be the case with a busy bass line. Singer and guitarist love that - drummer hates it! Claims he can't hear me!

Ash

Ashgray wrote:Singer and guitarist love that - drummer hates it! Claims he can't hear me! Ash

The Guitammer Company makes a thing called "The ButtKicker" that is a low-frequency audio transducer which bolts to the bottom of a drum throne; you run your bass amp through it, and the drummer is guaranteed to always "hear" you, regardless of the monitoring situation, architecture of the venue, etc. It's awesome.

antonius wrote:I finally (after nearly 25 years!!) got round to putting a new mute pad in my 1975 4001 a few months ago, prompted by watching some Carol Kaye lessons, and I was quite impressed with it. It works well and does get you close to that thick thumpy vintage sound, even with roundwound strings. It's not something I'll use much, but I'm glad it's there for those odd occasions when I want to play around with that sort of sound.

I notice on the one Carol Kaye interview that she has a strip of drafting tape stuck on to the body of her bass near the bridge and across the top of the strings to mute them. Simple but effective I suppose!