I trying to find my own “signature sound”, I’ve experimented with many different basses (e.g. Conklin, Adamovic, Odyssey) and bass effects (e.g. BassIQ) with a lot of very good and amazing sounds, but not exactly what I was looking for.

THEN SERENDIPITY…

This weekend, I tried stuffing an old sock under the strings right in front of the bridge, and “Viola”. The result is a very cool, lightly muted sound that I have been unable to reproduce electronically or any other way.

Now I realize that muting the bass strings is nothing new, but the soft muting produced using a sock has a nuance of its own.

Stage presence will suffer a bit... With an old sock hanging visibly from my bass.

I thought that if you left a sock on the bass it was a DND signall...

Sorry to go off topic but, Gary what did you think of RTF?

i used to leave it on the dorm room doorknob.

not on the bass.

I know Flea stuffed a sock while PLAYING the bass... does that count?

:)

Nice to see that you're still trying new things, Gary-- s'why it's so fun working with you on these projects... talk soon...

under the strings. right infront of the bridge.

makes your bass sound like a viola, or so i'm told. :)

I learned it from the great session player Carol Kaye, from the FAQ section of her web site:

"I've always used medium-gauge flatwound strings since I play exclusively with a hard pick (with a flat wrist, not like guitar players). And I always use a doubled up piece of felt muting on top of the strings just over the bridges to dampen the over- and under-tones for a cleaner recorded sound too (good for live work also). If you play with fingers and maybe sometimes with a pick, I'd advise to use only the foam underneath the strings barely touching the strings for this sort of muting of unneeded extra-tones."

Absolutely true! and fun to try different materials. I used felt on one bass and it's not as good

I heard Al Dimeola stole the show...

But that coming a guitarist friend of mine...

I'm guessing at lunch Today.