by RogerCook » Thu Jun 29, 2023 9:17 pm
A few thoughts,
Do the saddle screws stick up significantly? This can make muting uncomfortable so you don't quite get the palm in the right place.
How much of your hand gets in the way of the volume control? How you position the hand will dictate how efficiently you can mute. I sometimes find my muting of the top E string isn't quite as good as it might be, and there are examples of this in some of Hank's playing. I use an Easy Mute arm which helps a little. It allows me enough extra space to curl my little finger out of the way.
I try to get the back edge of my palm laid across the saddles. You'll need to experiment to find how far back or forward from the point where the string crosses the saddle your hand needs to be and how hard down it needs to be. There's a possibility of pushing the trem sharp or flat if your hand is too heavy and not on the neutral axis.