Blog: Make your Electric Solid Body Bass Sound Like an Upright

[Evan Skopp]

Start by clicking here.

[jeremy]

Re: Blog: Make your Electric Solid Body Bass Sound Like an Upright

ive found that foam under the strings by the bridge can help too, mutes the strings similar to what jon was talking about with the meaty part of the palm

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: Blog: Make your Electric Solid Body Bass Sound Like an Upright

ive found that foam under the strings by the bridge can help too, mutes the strings similar to what jon was talking about with the meaty part of the palm

That definitely works, and I've done it a number of times when I've had to do gigs where I needed that sound all night (and not just for a song here and there, or in the middle of a tune).

[ginormous]

Re: Blog: Make your Electric Solid Body Bass Sound Like an Upright

My favorite method --

a semi-hollow bass, like a Gibson EB-2 or a Guild Starfire.
If I ever get my hands on a Starfire II, I'll pull the frets and fill them in.

Flat wound strings, either nylon tape or flat steel.

A little foam under the bridge, yeah yeah.

Here's the difference: play over the high end of the neck, not over the pickup or near the bridge.
This roughly corresponds to where a standup player would be fingering the acoustic bass.
It gives the note time to "bloom" and fill in the fundamental tone, without popping the high harmonics too much.

[toneseeker74]

Re: Blog: Make your Electric Solid Body Bass Sound Like an Upright

My favorite method --

a semi-hollow bass, like a Gibson EB-2 or a Guild Starfire.
If I ever get my hands on a Starfire II, I'll pull the frets and fill them in.

Flat wound strings, either nylon tape or flat steel.

A little foam under the bridge, yeah yeah.

Here's the difference: play over the high end of the neck, not over the pickup or near the bridge.
This roughly corresponds to where a standup player would be fingering the acoustic bass.
It gives the note time to "bloom" and fill in the fundamental tone, without popping the high harmonics too much.

I thought I was weird for playing near the neck/body joint, but that's where I get the sound I like the best. Now I know why

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: Blog: Make your Electric Solid Body Bass Sound Like an Upright

I made this little video as a companion piece, since a lot of folk were wondering about tapewounds and flatwounds.