Advice on Badass bridge please

[xgsjx]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1398936517' post='2439124']
Well it is - but I can only refer to my own, which is to rest my palm on the bridge when using a pick. Even for the E string.
[/quote]

Which is why I suggest moving your pick hand nearer the neck (even just a few cm).
My playing is similar to when I use a keyboard. Keep the wrist up. The forearm leaning on the body can give you ample stability.

[KingBollock]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1398944953' post='2439246']


Which is why I suggest moving your pick hand nearer the neck (even just a few cm).
My playing is similar to when I use a keyboard. Keep the wrist up. The forearm leaning on the body can give you ample stability.
[/quote]
But palm muting on the bridge is a perfectly valid technique. So why limit yourself when it is possible to either buy a bridge or alter one to be comfortable. I am a pick player and move around between the bridge and neck a lot, I wouldn't like to have the option of resting on the bridge taken away.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1398946753' post='2439267']
But palm muting on the bridge is a perfectly valid technique. So why limit yourself when it is possible to either buy a bridge or alter one to be comfortable. I am a pick player and move around between the bridge and neck a lot, I wouldn't like to have the option of resting on the bridge taken away.
[/quote]

I agree, I use palm muting too. I'm not suggesting taking anything away or limiting yourself, just adding the ability to play with your hand over the bridge without getting it shredded on a Badass.
Why alter or change the bridge when a slight change in technique can improve everything?

[discreet]

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1398947203' post='2439272']
Why alter or change the bridge when a slight change in technique can improve everything?
[/quote]

I take your point, but I have to palm mute at the bridge when playing with a pick - that's how I play with a pick.
And in fact I have altered and changed bridges in the past to facilitate this. I'd rather change the bridge than my technique.
Each to his own, your mileage may vary, yadda yadda and so on and so forth.

[surfguy13]

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1398806661' post='2437896']
How about thick, foamy double-sided tape and some velcro to attach a standard ashtray? As well as adding to the height, it will also help in fast string shifts.
[/quote]

Another excellent idea! I really do appreciate all the suggestions.....sometimes the obvious solution isn't always as obvious as it should be!!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1398808309' post='2437928']
Do you do palm muting, though? A cover obviously would prevent this.
[/quote]

I do palm mute but it's a technique that I'm trying to master. I am a guitarist first and foremost but also play bass so muting is second nature. However, a [b]very [/b]different concept on a bass needless to say! If I go for a bridge cover then muting is out of the window but, if I can find a way of having a cover that's easily removable, and not [i]too [/i]high, like a P bass cover, then it would be a good compromise.

I tend to mute mainly as discreet does, with a pick, but I also use my thumb too.
[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1398928237' post='2439026']
You could try moving your right hand closer to the neck, thus removing your hand from the bridge?
[/quote]

I have tried this but maybe I haven't persevered enough. On this particular bass I do find it difficult; by moving my hand a tad further away from the bridge I'm finding that I can't mute anything like as effectively and the tendency is to allow my hand to sneak back onto the E saddle and then it's shred city as far as my hand is concerned!! The positives are that as I've been playing mainly guitar for the last 45 years I haven't got into any bad habits, or habits at all really, with the bass so I really do have an open mind to trying anything. I will make an effort to play a touch further forward and see if that improves things.

Edited May 1, 2014 by surfguy13

[surfguy13]

I acted on HowieBass' suggestion and spoke to The Plastic People about the possibility getting them to make me a bridge cover but have just had an email back and.........over £80!!!!! Blimey! Brilliant idea but I think just too much dosh.

[KingBollock]

There's a product called Polymorph. It is a plastic that comes as beans and you heat it up in water, then model it to whatever shape you want then leave it to cool and set. Maybe you could use that if you can't find something suitable to cut up as an alternative?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/250g-polymorph-n14at

[discreet]

Apropos of nothing I've started to play fingerstyle after nearly four decades of playing exclusively with a pick, and it seems my Palm-shredding days are over - for now.

[HowieBass]

[quote name='surfguy13' timestamp='1398952325' post='2439352']
I acted on HowieBass' suggestion and spoke to The Plastic People about the possibility getting them to make me a bridge cover but have just had an email back and.........over £80!!!!! Blimey! Brilliant idea but I think just too much dosh.
[/quote]

OUCH!

Time to get creative then - before I looked for a company to make a cover for you I'd been wondering about vacuum forming - I did an arts degree course at Salford University and we had access to a vacuum forming table... the device heats a sheet of plastic up and then you can mould it over a suitable former on a vacuum table (which could be a shaped block of wood made to the size you need a bridge cover to be). You might think about getting in touch with your local FE colleges or universities and ask if they can help (maybe make it a project for one of their students even LOL). Or even seek out a local car repair shop and see if a panel beater can fashion a metal ashtray for you?

Edited May 1, 2014 by HowieBass

[KingBollock]

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1398955765' post='2439412']


OUCH!

Time to get creative then - before I looked for a company to make a cover for you I'd been wondering about vacuum forming - I did an arts degree course at Salford University and we had access to a vacuum forming table... the device heats a sheet of plastic up and then you can mould it over a suitable former on a vacuum table (which could be a shaped block of wood made to the size you need a bridge cover to be). You might think about getting in touch with your local FE colleges or universities and ask if they can help (maybe make it a project for one of their students even LOL). Or even seek out a local car repair shop and see if a panel beater can fashion a metal ashtray for you?
[/quote]
We had one of those in school, I loved it. I would love to own one myself, my whole house would be made of plastic!

[surfguy13]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1398952723' post='2439358']
There's a product called Polymorph. It is a plastic that comes as beans and you heat it up in water, then model it to whatever shape you want then leave it to cool and set. Maybe you could use that if you can't find something suitable to cut up as an alternative?

[url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/250g-polymorph-n14at"]http://www.maplin.co...polymorph-n14at[/url]
[/quote]

What an absolutely brilliant product! I really wish I'd known about this for loads of jobs. I reckon it would be relatively easy to make a mould into which this stuff could be pressed. The best bit is that it can be re-heated if you need to tweak it. I think I'll get some anyway!
[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1398955765' post='2439412']
OUCH!

Time to get creative then - before I looked for a company to make a cover for you I'd been wondering about vacuum forming - I did an arts degree course at Salford University and we had access to a vacuum forming table... the device heats a sheet of plastic up and then you can mould it over a suitable former on a vacuum table (which could be a shaped block of wood made to the size you need a bridge cover to be). You might think about getting in touch with your local FE colleges or universities and ask if they can help (maybe make it a project for one of their students even LOL). Or even seek out a local car repair shop and see if a panel beater can fashion a metal ashtray for you?
[/quote]

Another excellent idea.......we have Cambridge just up the road and there's nothing but colleges! One of our neighbours is a teacher at a secondary school and [i]I think [/i]he teaches metalwork, or engineering or something like that so maybe he could get a class to do a project?! Why not, it's worth an ask. Thanks again......

[HowieBass]

Polymorph... I don't need any but now I'm trying to invent problems that need solving with it LOL

YouTube video on it here

http://youtu.be/iBZj2rtRjMw

and cheaper on eBay than Maplins

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500g-17-6oz-Friendly-Plastic-Polymorph-Pellets-Mould-Craft-Shape-By-Hand-/170766494186?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item27c279e9ea

[KingBollock]

[quote name='surfguy13' timestamp='1398957173' post='2439439']


What an absolutely brilliant product! I really wish I'd known about this for loads of jobs. I reckon it would be relatively easy to make a mould into which this stuff could be pressed. The best bit is that it can be re-heated if you need to tweak it. I think I'll get some anyway!


Another excellent idea.......we have Cambridge just up the road and there's nothing but colleges! One of our neighbours is a teacher at a secondary school and [i]I think [/i]he teaches metalwork, or engineering or something like that so maybe he could get a class to do a project?! Why not, it's worth an ask. Thanks again......
[/quote]
I only discovered Polymorph for myself recently. My mind instantly flooded with ideas for it, however my main project that I am concentrating on will require metal work.

Speaking of, I wish, wish, wish we had had a metal work course at secondary school. We had woodwork, and an electronics class that consisted entirely of playing with technic Lego. I went on to do electronics at a local college. I keep thinking to myself that if I ever had the opportunity to do a college course again I would do metal work. I can make stuff with it but it is all very amateurish, lacking elegance, would love to learn how to do it properly.

[KingBollock]

I can't remember what it's called, but you can also get modelling clay that sets, without a kiln, like wood and can be carved like wood once it is set.

And there's Sugru, which is similar to Polymorph but sets like rubber.

http://sugru.com/about

That's really popular on the crafting channels that my wife likes to [s]drool over[/s] watch.

Edited May 1, 2014 by KingBollock

[HowieBass]

Ummmm, before I did my art degree course I did a degree in astronomy at UCL (way back in the 70s) and at the end of the second year we each made a small metal cannon... a turned steel barrel, brass carriage, steel wheels... had to learn how to use a lathe, make some pieces accurate to a few thousanths of an inch, even made our own threaded brass bolts - in the years prior to my course they even bored out the barrels, put black powder in and fired them!

Edited May 1, 2014 by HowieBass

[KingBollock]

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1398958516' post='2439458']
Ummmm, before I did my art degree course I did a degree in astronomy at UCL (way back in the 70s) and at the end of the second year we each made a small metal cannon... a turned steel barrel, brass carriage, steel wheels... had to learn how to use a lathe, make some pieces accurate to a few thousanths of an inch, even made our own threaded brass bolts - in the years prior to my course they even bored out the barrels, put black powder in and fired them!
[/quote]
That's something I would love to make, a tiny, ball bearing firing cannon, ever since I saw one on mythbusters, in the same episode that they make one from gaffa tape.