Question String Muting ?

[TWISTEDSTRINGS]

I have a SR4 so there are no mutes. I`v been using a piece of foam that I cut slots in as a mute here at home and in the studio but I realized Wednesday night at the gig that I can`t be fumbling around on stage with that piece of foam. I dropped it, kicked it somewhere and could find it in time and it ruined the flow of the set. What do some of you guys out there do for a mute on you basses that don`t have one ? and I`m not very good at muting with my palm...

 

[Soulkeeper]

My 2 cents: Work on the palm muting. It's a great technique to know in any case, and then you can mute each tone differently if you want.

Or - just trying to be creative here - weave some soft rope or twine between the strings by the bridge. That ought to mute them, depending on rope thickness, stiffness and weight. Haven't tried that myself, as I said I'm just trying to be creative.

 

[Freddels]

Palm muting is an option but it does change the attack on the string b/c your fingers are at a different angle. Even the pros use a piece of foam for muting. The mutes on the SR Classics and the older SR's work fine but they are not a quick change thing b/c of the amount of turning of the knobs you have to do.

 

[Golem]

........ weave some soft rope or twine between the strings by the bridge.
That ought to mute them, depending on rope thickness, stiffness and
weight. Haven't tried that myself, as I said I'm just trying to be creative.

This is more or less what I use as well. Unlike foam, or the slow and
tedious MM built-in mutes, this is a quick-change thing. I leave it on
the ax all the time. When pushed right up against the bridge it has only
very minor effect, but since it's wrapped onto the strings I can pull it
forward from the bridge very quickly [mid tune, that easy] to produce
anything from reduced sustain to just plain thumpy thud.

If you're really fussy about intonation, never remove the "device" and
do a reintonation with it pushed up against the bridge ... since you
never remove it, you're now intonated. BTW, even a play who is NOT
fussy about intonation WILL notice that the MM built-in mutes wreak
havoc with intonation. I don't know why anyone would use them ...
except a really heavy dose of muting, where your notes are so heavily
muted that you can't hear how out of tune they are.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

OOOoops ... I forgot to consider that I keep strings on for years, so I
build on quite a nice muting assembly made of pony-tail scruntchies.
If you're into always using fresh strings, you wanna be more "down &
dirty" about your "device" since you gotta move/reinstall it every time
you do new strings ... with my device, "reinstall" means "rebuild" [not
really a headache, but if you change strings twice a month it might be
kinda annoying]. Also, if you're a fresh strings freak, maybe leaving the
mute parked by the bridge rather than removing it is not, in your tone
world, a "very minor effect". IOW, maybe you want every last milligram
of brightness and so leaving the mute in place is not an option for you.

 

[Holdsg]

just a thought. if you're a new string nut, you probably like zing, and that is diametrically opposed to thump.

 

[Freddels]

This is more or less what I use as well. Unlike foam, or the slow and
tedious MM built-in mutes, this is a quick-change thing. I leave it on
the ax all the time. When pushed right up against the bridge it has only
very minor effect, but since it's wrapped onto the strings I can pull it
forward from the bridge very quickly [mid tune, that easy] to produce
anything from reduced sustain to just plain thumpy thud.

If you're really fussy about intonation, never remove the "device" and
do a reintonation with it pushed up against the bridge ... since you
never remove it, you're now intonated. BTW, even a play who is NOT
fussy about intonation WILL notice that the MM built-in mutes wreak
havoc with intonation. I don't know why anyone would use them ...
except a really heavy dose of muting, where your notes are so heavily
muted that you can't hear how out of tune they are.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

OOOoops ... I forgot to consider that I keep strings on for years, so I
build on quite a nice muting assembly made of pony-tail scruntchies.
If you're into always using fresh strings, you wanna be more "down &
dirty" about your "device" since you gotta move/reinstall it every time
you do new strings ... with my device, "reinstall" means "rebuild" [not
really a headache, but if you change strings twice a month it might be
kinda annoying]. Also, if you're a fresh strings freak, maybe leaving the
mute parked by the bridge rather than removing it is not, in your tone
world, a "very minor effect". IOW, maybe you want every last milligram
of brightness and so leaving the mute in place is not an option for you.

Do you have a pic of the string weave thing?