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There has been talk of Jets use of foam under the ashtray to help dampen strings. Just seen a great clip of Head, Hands and Feet's Chas Hodges with his fiesta red precision (body!) showing clearly his use of foam. Go to just after 1 minute for a clear view.
Worth watching for Albert Lee at his raw best.

I use a foam pad myself on my bass- I prefer to get a more double bass type sound.

Flatwounds work best, but they are expensive and I only have the roundwounds which were on the bass when I bought it secondhand!

Without the foam, there are too many overtones and string sustain noise for my taste..

There was a time when the Precision Bass routinely came fitted with a foam damper inside the bridge cover. Not so for the Jazz Bass - that at one time came equipped with an arrangement of four separate felt dampers on individual metal "fingers". We have one around here somewhere which has been waiting to be fitted to mt son's Jazz Bass for the last ten years or so...

JN

I use ASDA Smart Price kitchen sponges on both my basses. Totally effective and they're the right width & the right price!

I think that the best person to ask is Licorice, perhaps via Iain Purdon, who has played Lic's early bass, see Iain's picture in my previous thread.

Regards, Luigi

I use heavy duty draught excluder on my ash-tray, it's self adhesive so it is easy to peel off backing strip having cut two strips to size stuck next to each other under the tray, and you're done, gives a lovely tone, makes playing "Nivram" sound great....

jimbojet wrote:I use heavy duty draught excluder on my ash-tray, it's self adhesive so it is easy to peel off backing strip having cut two strips to size stuck next to each other under the tray, and you're done, gives a lovely tone, makes playing "Nivram" sound great....

Me too... Fab noise for 36-24-36

Having played guitar all my life, I'm now new to playing bass and I have a Squier Classic Vibe Precision in Fiesta Red of course.

I know that the early precisions came with the dampened ashtray and p/u cover but what are the advantages/advantages of having these fitted?

I know that most people, myself included, took the ashtray off the Strats but why did Fender stop fiiting them to the Precision Bass?

Pete

Because people wanted to use roundwound bass strings, get a trebly tone, lots of sustain, turn up loud with a huge amp and compete with the lead guitarist...I reckon John Entwhistle started it!

dogbender wrote:I know that the early precisions came with the dampened ashtray and p/u cover but what are the advantages/advantages of having these fitted?

The only reason there can be is that Fender felt that the sound of the Precision (and later, the Jazz) was a bit too lively, bearing in mind that they were both supposed to be replacing the double-bass, and that the sustain response of the strings needed to be attenuated somewhat in order to more closely simulate the string-bass sound.

dogbender wrote:I know that most people, myself included, took the ashtray off the Strats but why did Fender stop fiiting them to the Precision Bass?

Do you mean the cover, or the cover plus the damper foam?

I'm not aware of very many people ever having played the Stratocaster or Telecaster with the metal bridge cover in place. The one fitted to the Strat looks wonderful when it's in place (like a brochure illustration or a memory of a 1962 Strat hanging in the shop window fifty years ago), but playing with it on is impractical. Later versions of the Strat and Tele bridge omitted the facility altogether, probably because it was thought a waste of money and effort. I've never seen anyone play a Jaguar or Jazzmaster with the bridge channel cover in place either (which is a little more surprising in the case of the Jaguar because original USA Jags had a separate damper fitted).

Bassists, on the other hand, were usually wont to leave the bridge and pickup covers in place (á la Jet, Lic and even John Rostill in the first couple of months he was with The Shadows), but the covers gradually fell out of favour when players started to use a brighter tone (especially when Rotosound brought out their wirewound "Swing Bass" strings in the mid-60s), but perhaps the most telling thing is that the pickup cover actually makes no difference to the sound of the instrument. It looks as though it performs a function, but except as as hand-rest, it doesn't - it doesn't even shield the pickup underneath. And the bridge cover makes string changing - and damping - awkward. Vintage Reissue models still have the original covers supplied (as is also the case with the guitar models).