DIY Sponge Mutes

[Bassfinger]

What sponge would you recommend for round wound strings? 😉

[yorks5stringer]

6 hours ago, MrCrane said:

Cornettos don't have sticks 🙂

True but could not remember the name of those Magnum thingies....😞

[P-Belly Evans]

Hi all. How do you do yours? Under, over. Beautifully cut or just slabs? What materials do you use? etc, etc. 

I found that a cut piece of pipe lagging works a treat. Great thump. Over the strings on my P and under on the Mustang. I was thinking about cutting little squares and using double sided tape, but didn't know if it would damage the bridge. Any thoughts and cool ideas would be appreciated. I've got no sound clips yet but will try later. Also I cannot afford any more GAS at the mo, so no gratuitous pics of Rics or Stingrays.... oh if you must. 

 

 

[Reggaebass]

Foam works for me too if I want that sound, this is  podiatry foam I got from work, but the Bassmute is the best as it can be switched off or different stages of muting 🙂

[TrevorR]

On 01/04/2020 at 12:47, musicbassman said:

C'mon guys - your sponge damping is not supposed to look smart

I beg to differ, I was browsing a bass group on Facebook and spotted these mutes made by a woman in the States. The happy customer comments caught my eye given that one was attributed to a certain @wateroftyne of this parish. Ordered a couple on a whim. They’re great, look good and the little handle makes them easy to get in and out...

[Kevsy71]

12 hours ago, P-Belly Evans said:

Hi all. How do you do yours? Under, over. Beautifully cut or just slabs? What materials do you use? etc, etc. 

I found that a cut piece of pipe lagging works a treat. Great thump. Over the strings on my P and under on the Mustang. I was thinking about cutting little squares and using double sided tape, but didn't know if it would damage the bridge. Any thoughts and cool ideas would be appreciated. I've got no sound clips yet but will try later. Also I cannot afford any more GAS at the mo, so no gratuitous pics of Rics or Stingrays.... oh if you must. 

 

 

Pipe lagging, great idea - the original Fender mute was akin to (or possibly was) weather stripping foam. 

I wonder if mute over vs. mute under makes a difference: assuming a pluck of the string drives the string downward, then having the mute underneath should in theory affect the attack quicker than a mute above (where the muting starts on the first rebound of the wave). 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Kevsy71

[Dan Dare]

As someone who stuffs his top pocket with biros and repairs his spectacles with Sellotape, I've experimented a bit with this. You need foam that isn't too dense/hard and of the right thickness, so it compresses to the right degree and damps the strings without completely deadening them. I find it best to make it a little thicker on the low E side to get even note sustain across the instrument.

[musicbassman]

9 hours ago, TrevorR said:

On 01/04/2020 at 12:47, musicbassman said:

C'mon guys - your sponge damping is not supposed to look smart

I beg to differ,

I wasn't being serious Trevor !

Re pipe lagging, I have tried this in the past, and found it much too dense unless you want a full-on palm mute effect all the time. Hence my suggestion of good old scourer sponge, which seems to be the best compromise.

If I want a palm mute effect I simply do a physical palm mute, but obviously understand this isn't possible for those who can't or don't want to play with a pick or thumb.

[P-Belly Evans]

12 hours ago, Kevsy71 said:

Pipe lagging, great idea - the original Fender mute was akin to (or possibly was) weather stripping foam. 

I wonder if mute over vs. mute under makes a difference: assuming a pluck of the string drives the string downward, then having the mute underneath should in theory affect the attack quicker than a mute above (where the muting starts on the first rebound of the wave). 

Didn't know that Kevsy. The pipe lagging is a good density though. Dunno about over vs under but the P bass is really thumpy. Might try it under to see if there is any difference. 

[TrevorR]

3 hours ago, musicbassman said:

I wasn't being serious Trevor !

Re pipe lagging, I have tried this in the past, and found it much too dense unless you want a full-on palm mute effect all the time. Hence my suggestion of good old scourer sponge, which seems to be the best compromise.

If I want a palm mute effect I simply do a physical palm mute, but obviously understand this isn't possible for those who can't or don't want to play with a pick or thumb.

Neither was I...  Though, to be fair I do prefer the neater look compared to a chopped up bit of dish sponge...

[Kevsy71]

1 hour ago, P-Belly Evans said:

Didn't know that Kevsy. The pipe lagging is a good density though. Dunno about over vs under but the P bass is really thumpy. Might try it under to see if there is any difference. 

I think the more resistant thick foam rubber mute (like the original Fender) is best suited to La Bella Deep Talkin' 760M or similar heavy gauge flats; I find it damps lighter gauges more than I want.

[P-Belly Evans]

2 hours ago, Kevsy71 said:

I think the more resistant thick foam rubber mute (like the original Fender) is best suited to La Bella Deep Talkin' 760M or similar heavy gauge flats; I find it damps lighter gauges more than I want.

My flats on the P are 45-105 and the lagging works really well. I tried to put a set of long scale flats I had on my new Mustang.....never seen a flat unravel before😳. So I was curious to see how a mute would sound with the heavier stock rounds on the Mustang. I really like it to be honest. It gives a tone and feel of Cordell Boogie Mosson on Dr Funkenstein (I think it was him and not Bootsy) . I am going to get some flats for it soon though as I think the stock Fender strings are poop. 

[P-Belly Evans]

On 01/04/2020 at 10:57, fretmeister said:

I made my own Nordy Mute style thing.

Self Adhesive foam strip and an ice lolly stick. Cut slots to match your bass with a very sharp knife.

Can be put on / taken off really quickly without any faffing.

 

Cost - pennies. The Nordy version is about £40!

 

Fretmeister, this is pure class. So much so that I totally nicked it and made 2 yesterday. Can't pay you at the mo so a big thanks, mega kudos etc etc will have to do. 

[Reggaebass]

44 minutes ago, P-Belly Evans said:

Fretmeister, this is pure class. So much so that I totally nicked it and made 2 yesterday. Can't pay you at the mo so a big thanks, mega kudos etc etc will have to do. 

Colour coded as well, nice job P belly 🙂

[Kevsy71]

Wow! A Fab job for not much Lolly. Will be trying this myself

[Maude]

12 minutes ago, Kevsy71 said:

Wow! A Fab job for not much Lolly. Will be trying this myself

😁

[P-Belly Evans]

1 hour ago, Reggaebass said:

Colour coded as well, nice job P belly 🙂

I wondered when the kids felt tips would come in handy... and the benefits of all the cash I spend on ice lols😊

[ubit]

On 19/04/2020 at 22:01, TrevorR said:

I beg to differ, I was browsing a bass group on Facebook and spotted these mutes made by a woman in the States. The happy customer comments caught my eye given that one was attributed to a certain @wateroftyne of this parish. Ordered a couple on a whim. They’re great, look good and the little handle makes them easy to get in and out...

Thats obviously good for for Ska!

[Reggaebass]

There’s a video here on 4 different types of mutes ,some may find interesting,  the differences are subtle but definitely there 🙂

 

[musicbassman]

14 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

There’s a video here on 4 different types of mutes ,some may find interesting,  the differences are subtle but definitely there 🙂

 

The Nordy's a clear winner here for me - great woody tone. 👍

To my ears, the other two are no better than the piece of foam.

[Reggaebass]

There’s a set of string mutes come up on eBay if anyone is interested, they don’t come about very often, might be worth making an  offer https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264826652859

[rushbo]

On 01/04/2020 at 10:57, fretmeister said:

I made my own Nordy Mute style thing.

Self Adhesive foam strip and an ice lolly stick. Cut slots to match your bass with a very sharp knife.

Can be put on / taken off really quickly without any faffing.

 

Cost - pennies. The Nordy version is about £40!

 

I'm rescutating this zombie thread as I've done exactly the same! Sadly, Fretmeister's original pictures are long gone, but using the ice cream stick idea as my starting point, I came up with these:

 

Nope, they're not skinny shoebrushes...

 

The wooden part is from a bit of leftover edging - something like this. The original plan was to make three with different sorts of foam on each, but the superglue I used to attach the "washing up" sponge I tried to use, practically melted it... maybe I'll use two sided tape for that type of foam in the future. The two that survive work really well - one is made with fairly dense foam (the sort that you might find in a fitted case for a drill or similar) and the other one is more spongey. The spongey one gives a slightly better tone - to my ears anyway. The denser foam needed to have slightly wider slots as the notes were choking a little.

 

The hardest part for me was cutting the foam neatly. Maybe I should have watched more episodes of "Blue Peter" as a kid. I rounded the edges of the wooden part a bit and gave it a rub with some wax. I gave it a little handle so I'd know which end is which, although it doesn't seem to make much difference.  Neither will get me a job on "The Repair Shop," but they cost me nothing to make and took about half an hour from having the idea to sticking the finished thing on my bass. Now I can get a nice "Carol Kaye" sound quickly and easily. And it looks quite cool.

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by rushbo