thumb rest

[bassmancb]

As you begin to play more you will realize that your hand moves up and down the body of the bass. That's how we get our different tones. I'm sure you'll be fine. Remember, no stress, we're all doing it for fun.

 

[Baird]

I have started to develop (IMO) a bad habit of resting my thumb on the edge of the bottom of the fretboard as my SUB4 is only a single H and resting on the pickup is waaaayyyy too close to the bridge for me.

I guess all of those years playing Fender P's kinda screwed me up.

Now, the Bongo 5 HH...... no problem with thumb rest options there.

 

[Aussie Mark]

I'm wetting myself in anticipation of Boris posting his thumbrest pics.

 

[jamesattard]

i use the what some ppl call 'floating thumb technique'. i discovered it by myself when i tried to play the bass when i injured my wrist. i would say try it out.

 

[boristhespider7]

Here Is The Sweet Thumb Rest!!!

Here are the photos of the thumb rest on my Sterling. This is a black BRASS thumb rest (not the cheap plastic ones) which also come in chrome and gold. You can buy them at Guitar & Bass Parts Resource.

I had mine professionally installed and I think it looks beautiful and classy. The black on black (with black screws) makes it almost invisible (chrome would have been cool too). Functionally, I couldn't be happier since I played Jazz Basses for so long before the Sterling became my main bass. I love the sound of the single H, but the protruding screw mounts and the bridge location of the pickup just doesn't work for my playing. The thumb rest solved it all! It also does not interfere with slap playing at all. This thumb rest would obviously work perfectly on Stingrays as well. Have it professionally installed however! Enjoy...

Yahoo! Photos - MusicMan Thumb Rest

 

[Dean217]

Boris... that thumbrest looks pretty cool. I'm sure it has made the bass much more personal and playable. And, if you're planning on drilling screws into the body of the bass, like you describe, then a professional installation is indeed recommended.

The thumbrest I installed on my Stingray (see posts on this thread, a page or two before this) involved supergluing a plastic strip to a replacement pickguard, which could be a good option for those who don't want to take their bass to a professional to have screws drilled into the body. It's another option, and obviously 100% reversible... just thought I'd post that, since when I got my Stingray, the lack of a good thumbrest was the #1 drawback, and this solution 100% solved it.

 

[muthafunk]

Folks, I have exactly the same problem as described with Anny Ray....I only wish I had such a wife

Damn! it's been alsmost 4 months since I bought it and I'm still in debt

I tried Floating Thumb technique, actually I was always playing like that on my 5 stringer even without knowing about it. But still I got used to rest my thumb on the neck pickup and it's much more comfortable for me than floating thumb, or the bridge pickup.

I already figured out the best possition for my Thumbrest by using some strong tape. I'm planning to glue it to the pickguard cause I don't want any holes in the body, but I'm not sure if the top layer of the pickguard will hold. It looks like there's some thin polyester layer on the top of the pickguard and I'm afraid that it may come off.

Also wanted to ask if you can recommend any shops that sell clear Stingray pickguards

I only found Clear Acrylic, it doesn't look right - Musicman Stingray Bass Pickguards in Clear Acrylic - WD Music

 

[grinch]

Folks, I have exactly the same problem as described with Anny Ray....I only wish I had such a wife

Damn! it's been alsmost 4 months since I bought it and I'm still in debt

I tried Floating Thumb technique, actually I was always playing like that on my 5 stringer even without knowing about it. But still I got used to rest my thumb on the neck pickup and it's much more comfortable for me than floating thumb, or the bridge pickup.

I already figured out the best possition for my Thumbrest by using some strong tape. I'm planning to glue it to the pickguard cause I don't want any holes in the body, but I'm not sure if the top layer of the pickguard will hold. It looks like there's some thin polyester layer on the top of the pickguard and I'm afraid that it may come off.

Also wanted to ask if you can recommend any shops that sell clear Stingray pickguards

I only found Clear Acrylic, it doesn't look right - Musicman Stingray Bass Pickguards in Clear Acrylic - WD Music

The same question came up on talk bass. Here was my response

After reading Peter Murray's book on Bass Technique I got creative and went to Home Depot and got some rubberized see thru "peel and stick" door stops (about 1/2" long on each side and square) and stuck one above the B string so that I would have an anchor when playing on the B string. Worked very well, it won't come off until you take the time to peel it off and it did not look that bad either. Sorry I don't have any pics. Low tech but very effective!

I too did not want to drill! This is just an option that I used on an OLP, SUB5, Bongo5H that allowed me to get a good consistent fat tone about 1.5 - 2" from the heel of the neck.

 

[muthafunk]

cool!

thanx a lot for the advice grinch. I was thinking that special black tape that is used for plumbing will work, but after a couple of weeks it starts to peel off.
I'll try to find some "peel and stick" things here. And will post the photos with the result.

 

[Urwordsbreakmed]

Buy another bass with the HS config couldn't hurt... just switch basses when it comes time to play up there in the middle of a song for effect

 

[Kristopher]

Also wanted to ask if you can recommend any shops that sell clear Stingray pickguards

I only found Clear Acrylic, it doesn't look right - Musicman Stingray Bass Pickguards in Clear Acrylic - WD Music

I'm guessing the reason it doesn't look right is because it's not a real picture, just a drawn graphic representation of what it kinda looks like. Methinks it's difficult to take a decent picture of a clear pickguard.

Another place to try is www.pickguardheaven.com. I ordered a black pearl one from them. It took awhile to ship but it looks exactly like the EB one I also have. Oh, and I see all sorts of pickguard on ebay all the time.

 

[muthafunk]

Buy another bass with the HS config couldn't hurt... just switch basses when it comes time to play up there in the middle of a song for effect

Well...not that easy to buy a new bass when you're in a country where average salary for a month is 200$

I would have bought Stingray with HH configuration but there were no HH models made for 2006 Anniversary Stingray (just one special order was produced as I know).

I'm planning to sell my SUB5 and buy a Stingray5 HH Maple in a future to have another bass which will sound different, but Anny Ray will stick with me till I die. I would probably ask to put it with me in my coffin....no, maybe I would ask to be cremated together with my Anny, so noone would be able to dig her out

 

[PzoLover]

hey, town boywhat are you doing

Hey all. My wife just bought me a 30 anniversary stingray for a wedding gift. we got married in august. I've been out of the "band" scene for a while raising 5 kids and I'm just starting out again playing in my home office. I used to play all Metallica/original back in the 90's.........OK: it was a big drunk fest, But it happened. I'm trying to get into soul/blues, etc. I played with our wedding band. "mustang sally", with my new stingray. Unfortunately, our wedding videographer forgot to plug in the audio when i was playing. Nice video, but NO sound. Sucks because that was one of the reasons we wanted a video, with sound.
Anyway, I'm here playin around, and trust me, I'm not that good: But I would like to be able to play a little higher from the pickups: especially if I want to try some slap/pop.... I'm wondering if I could "install" a thumb rest higher on the body, above the pickup. Is this worth doing? Would I be ruining the value of the bass? do I need it? Thanks for the advice....

don't you think your wife should have some say about where you rest your thumb? I mean after all, it's her honeymoon too ain't it?
/PL

 

[Kristopher]

I have an idea about installing a thumbrest without drilling the bass, and I want some feedback on whether you guys think it would work.

What if you removed the pickguard, then put screws through the backside of the pickguard and into the thumb rest on the other side? If you used flat-headed screws, you could make the head of the screws flush with the back of the pickguard (maybe put some electrical tape or something to make sure the screw heads don't damage the finish underneath), and then reinstall the pickguard.

Would it work?

 

[ScottyBoy]

I got nothing to say about the thumbrest ..... I am just in awe you got a 30th stingray as a present from your wife

My wife once bought me a cleaning cloth - and it wasn't even an eb one at that

 

[muthafunk]

I have an idea about installing a thumbrest without drilling the bass, and I want some feedback on whether you guys think it would work.

What if you removed the pickguard, then put screws through the backside of the pickguard and into the thumb rest on the other side? If you used flat-headed screws, you could make the head of the screws flush with the back of the pickguard (maybe put some electrical tape or something to make sure the screw heads don't damage the finish underneath), and then reinstall the pickguard.

Would it work?

Cool idea Kris!

I think this is the best of all. As soon as I get a replacement pickguard for my Anny and a thumbrest piece itself, I will try it out. But it will take a couple of weeks to be delivered

 

[Kristopher]

Cool idea Kris!

I think this is the best of all. As soon as I get a replacement pickguard for my Anny and a thumbrest piece itself, I will try it out. But it will take a couple of weeks to be delivered

Wow, cool! Let us know how it turns out. You'll have to use different screws than the ones that come with the thumb rest, I suppose. I'm excited - if it works out I might be doing this to my single H Sterling.

 

[Abiatha]

Use it all the time!

I installed (yes, I mean INSTALLED: drilled, tapped and screwed into the wood!) a 4" clear Lucite rod onto my bass, aligned with the top of the pickup, and running to the edge of the fretboard. I have a continuous platform of about 6" to work with, and I use every bit of it! While it is true that I mostly stay right on the pickup, or just a tiny bit in front of it, I also anchor at many other points, right up to the neck. (Especially when playng reggae or dub.) You would be amazed at the difference in tone you can achieve by changing the position at which the string is driven, just ask an upright player! The little 1" thumbrests are OK, but if you only need one position, find a spot on the pickup that you like, and stick to it. The multiple holes cut into the pickguard posted earlier is an elegant and attractive solution, but I like to slide and ride! Will it get in the way? Maybe, especially if you have never used one before. Try one taped on the face of the pickguard for a few weeks. If you hate it, then you have your answer. If you love it...show some committment and go get the drill! The instrument is a tool, and modifying it is OK. If you think you want to sell it, and fear depreciation,DON'T EVER TAKE IT OUT OF THE CASE AND NEVER TOUCH IT!! (Yes I am being hyperbolic, but what do ya think the damn thing's for?) Collecting is for rich people, and I'm just a poor itinerant musician.

 

[muthafunk]

I know that most of you think that thumbrests do not belong to EBMM Basses...but anyway.....I finally got the package with 2 plastic F***er thumbrests last week.

To my surprise and as another nail into the F***er reputation that little piece of plastic was actually not even solid. You may simply squeeze and break it with your fingers. Looks like they try to save even on things like this.

I suspect that attaching F***er parts to EBMM bass is considered here a deadly sin. But your rules do not apply here in Belarus, ha-ha! We don't even pay for Windows here and it's still possible to buy pirate copy of all 10 albums of some nice old band in hi-quality bitrate on one disk for 2 bucks in official music store. Sounds like heaven, isn't it?

So, I decided to commit the deadly sin, but first I needed to do something with that crappy piece of plastic. I bought a pack of some coldmix epoxy glue (2 rubber bars that you mix together) and filled all the cavities with it. In 20 hours it became a stone and I taped it to the pickguard temporary just to find the perfect position.

And you know what? I taped stuff (pencil erasers) to the pickguard before, and it always came off after a couple of weeks, but this one looks fine for now. I'm thinking that I wouldn't even need to drill the pickguard to put screws in it. And it looks fine, quite hard to notice. And the day I will be enlightened and realize that it's surely better to play without resting the thumb on neck pick-up, I may just peel the tape off and nothing will remind me about those old days when I was a fool.

Will post pictures tomorrow

 

[tkarter]

It really doesn't matter what we think about what you do to your bass. Are you enjoying your bass? If so good enough.

That was a good post made me laugh.

tk