thumb rests

[Al Heeley]

I've wondered for ages about those little thumb rests some people have on their vintage basses, the ones below the strings but I've alway been embarassed to ask and feel stupid.
You know, the one screwed into the scratchplate near the vol knob. What's it all about? How does a thumb rest below the strings work? What's its real purpose? Surely it's entirely impractical as a position to offer any support to the right hand when playing?

[maxrossell]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='681878' date='Dec 12 2009, 01:16 AM']I've wondered for ages about those little thumb rests some people have on their vintage basses, the ones below the strings but I've alway been embarassed to ask and feel stupid.
You know, the one screwed into the scratchplate near the vol knob. What's it all about? How does a thumb rest below the strings work? What's its real purpose? Surely it's entirely impractical as a position to offer any support to the right hand when playing?[/quote]

Nah, it's back in the day when people used to play the strings with their thumbs, the rests would be for the other fingers.

[Cat Burrito]

That's it pretty much & I think some players just like the old style look. I have always repositioned mine above the strings as I do use them.

[mrcrow]

same as ashtrays...clutter

[Duarte]

I like the ashtrays, over the pickup at least. It really aided me in getting a good right hand position for slap and I sorely missed it when I sold the P bass and got a Stingray.

[solo4652]

On my Stingray, I felt I needed a thumbrest, but I didn't want to "spoil" the look of the bass. Because all the knobs and pickguard screws are chrome finish, I bought a chrome-finish mirror-mounting screw and positioned it above the E string. It blends in pretty well with the pearloid scratchplate and could almost pass as a (curiously-sited) extra control knob. I'd be pretty lost without it.

[mrcrow]

sorry guys for the negative opinions on thumb or finger rests
i play finger style and move around to create differing tones...wouldnt be any good to me i dont think

[Mog]

on the treble side they are referred to as tug bars. as max said they were placed there in the 50's because players switching over from uprights found them useful aids for hand positioning. the fingers were placed on the edge facing away from the player to increase leverage.

[The Bass Doc]

I've got copies of the official Fender spare parts list from the late 60s/early 70s in which our little black plastic friend is referred to as a finger rest. However I quite like the sound of tug bar.

[GreeneKing]

And I 'defiled' my AV 62 RI with an ebony one. Never use it but it's staying.

[mrcrow]

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='685534' date='Dec 15 2009, 06:27 PM']I've got copies of the official Fender spare parts list from the late 60s/early 70s in which our little black plastic friend is referred to as a finger rest. However I quite like the sound of tug bar.[/quote]





fancy a pint

[Mog]

[quote name='mrcrow' post='685626' date='Dec 15 2009, 08:54 PM']



fancy a pint [/quote]
Cracker! The tug bar thing was something i picked up on the talkbass forum. Yanks eh!