NCLTD (New cool little thing day) - Patton Mute Pad Bass Mute

[TrevorR]

So a while back I fancied having a mess about with a foam mute with the flats. Of course, dish sponges got sliced up as one does. But to be honest, they always looked totally naff and we’re a pain to thread into the tiny space between the bridge and pickup on my two Wals. Fine on the single pickup Aria. Still looked crap, though. Then I spotted these mentioned on a thread here or on Talkbass... https://www.facebook.com/pattonmutepadbassmute/ - maybe it was @wateroftyne who got one and posted about it a few years ago. Unfortunately by the time I spotted them they’d stopped making them. ☹️

Fast forward a couple of years and a few months ago Amy from Patton Bass Mutes drops me a mail saying, I’m starting making them again. So I ordered a set, one for each bass - she makes them individually to fit the dimensions of your bass. They arrived a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been messing about with them at home to good effect. However, last night was my first chance to try them in anger - on my ‘79 Wal  Pro IIE. It’s got a slightly more old school sound than my other one so was a great candidate. I was so impressed. It worked perfectly. The custom size and little loop meant it was dead easy to pull in under the strings and gave the perfect amount of damping - also to whip back out for a couple of tunes I wanted to play unmuted. Played a number of songs fingerstyle and with pick and it really did add a totally old school tone. Particularly liked the pick sound on a couple of rocky, funky numbers. Brilliant. And picking without having to palm mute was surprisingly freeing!

The big surprise was that it changed the pitch of the strings by about a quarter tone but when you think about the change in the free vibrating length of the string that makes sense. I was doubly surprised that it didn’t completely mess up the intonation which was still fine.

The mutes are beautifully made and several cuts above some scraggy bits of old foam both on operation and in how they change the aesthetics of a beautiful bass. If you fancy trying that old Motown, Wrecking Crew style muted sound then the cost of around $15 plus postage for a Patton mute is well, well worth it. And hey, Christmas’s coming soon!

Here’s the mute for the Pro Bass in action. Tell me this doesn’t look better than a bit of old dish sponge from Tesco...

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by TrevorR

[gary mac]

That does look much more pleasing Trevor.

So you want to make your Wal sound like an old P bass, that's exactly why I've ended up selling my Wals

Having said that, I must admit to having Wal GAS once again

[TrevorR]

My Wals are still my Wals but it's another (very cheap) toy to play with. So much less expensive than some sort of fancy "Motown-in-a-box" miracle pedal or something! LOL!!!

[Reggaebass]

I use mutes all the time, that looks really good, I really like ‘The bass mute ‘ but I can’t bring myself to pay £85 for it 

[TrevorR]

6 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I use mutes all the time, that looks really good, I really like ‘The bass mute ‘ but I can’t bring myself to pay £85 for it 

Yeah. Also don’t fancy gluing that onto my basses!

[Reggaebass]

Just now, TrevorR said:

Yeah. Also don’t fancy gluing that onto my basses!

Apparently it’s fitted with double sided tape which doesn’t mark the bass, but I wouldn’t want to put that to the test 😀

[GisserD]

love this!

are they available in the UK?

[TrevorR]

She sent them over direct. It’s just an independent maker. Ordered via Facebook and PayPal.

Edited November 26, 2018 by TrevorR

[bassfreakah]

from the facebook site:

https://www.facebook.com/pattonmutepadbassmute

HOW TO ORDER,
please send Paypal payment to;
[email protected]

When ordering, please specify the bass string amount, your fabric choice, and the width at the bridge from body of bass to string.(usually around.5in)
Bass mutes are currently $15.00 Includes shipping in US.
 Shipping is $7.00 Outside US

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