The unsustainable sustain claim. Why doesn't it get hammered flat?

[howard]

@Al1885

If you need extreme sustain you can easily get it from a pedal or plugins.

Or even just in the DAW with some editing, gain ramp, etc

[eric.kiser]

@Al1885

Through body string doesn’t necessarily increase sustain because the tension is much higher the feel of the note is different.

I learned something. I didn’t know stringing through the body increased string tension.

[admacdo]

I’ve never understood how stringing through the body increased tension.
Tension is the stretching force on something and being as the string ball is the anchor point and the tuner is the tensioning device, the force on the string will be distributed almost equally between these points as long as it is allowed to slip. And given time and the fact that there are no restraining devices on the nut and bridge for almost all basses, the tension will distribute equally through the string.
And tensioning the string is how we bring strings to tune with the tuner. The vibration of the string is determined by the length and weight of the string and the tension on it.
Once the scale of the string is determined by the distance between the nut and the bridge contact points, the length doesn’t change and the weight increase won’t be much, if anything. So the tension to maintain the note at the right frequency will be adjusted with the tuner to get back into tune as strings stretch and temperature expansion have to be adjusted for.
I can’t see where the extra couple of inches going through the body could possibly affect the tension and allow it to be higher as it doesn’t affect speaking string length at all.
I’m happy if someone puts a tension gauge on a string and can show that this is the case though.

[Wombat-metal]

@admacdo

I’ve never understood how stringing through the body increased tension

My layman’s guess is the 90 degree acute angle the string bends at the bridge would contribute to the tension. Which is why Yamaha does a 45 degree angle on its BB series. At least that’s my understanding.

[John_E]

@Al1885

A saddle less RayRoss saddleless bridge is pretty awesome and the natural sustain is pretty insane but you get the byproducts of it as well it’s more chimney @John_E had chimed in

Ray Ross bridges do in fact increase sustain, so much so that I hated it and took it off and sold it.

Optima strings are very bright and either are very sustain-y or are just so bright it seems like they are.
Those strings with the Ray Ross bridge give Uber sustain-y results - regardless of the bass. It’s nuts.

I didn’t like either, not my thing, but held into the strings in case I want that sort of thing one day.

[Gloucestre]

@Al1885

RayRoss saddleless bridge

This intrigues me, tell us more please.

[sshoihet]

@admacdo

I’ve never understood how stringing through the body increased tension.

That’s because it doesn’t

[Al1885]

@eric.kiser

@Al1885

Through body string doesn’t necessarily increase sustain because the tension is much higher the feel of the note is different.

I learned something. I didn’t know stringing through the body increased string tension.

Actually I may have misused the term. The tension is not from the string but before the string from the anchor and improves strings break. It’s higher tension but not necessarily to the playing area.

I must have merged the two thoughts into one I was also thinking about the multi scale, lol.

[Al1885]

@Gloucestre

@Al1885

RayRoss saddleless bridge

This intrigues me, tell us more please.

Like @John_E said it’s offers pretty great sustain especially if you like crisp clean tone.
RayRoss claims that the bass bridge designs have not changed for decades and definitely this is the first saddleless design.

As you can see there’s no string breaks so you are getting full oscillation from the strings bridge to nut.

It definitely looks cool and performs as advertised. Tapping, slapping and popping sounds really good. It’s not for Motown or house music but I can see someone really take advantage of it.

Here’s what you need to know before hand.
The adjustment is quite generous but not the widest range on the market. You know the manufacturers of every bridge would tell you that you need to make adjustments with less or no tension to get the best results and maximum annoyance, but we muzzos do that every of the week and twice on Sunday. On RayRoss bridge it’s a No. Under tension you can not make any adjustment. It’s just not moving. Also some strings with big thick silk wrapping or string wrapping at the ball end may not fit.

[Gloucestre]

Interesting tho.
I did look at their site also.
I tend towards tapewounds and I would suspect they are just too thick.
I don’t like the long sustain bit also.

[MikeC]

A plucked string’s ability to produce a long sustain is not an issue assuming a player knows how to mute a string, either before or after it’s plucked.

[Gloucestre]

Yeah but why make things harder than they need to be?

[MikeC]

Plucked strings of a bass, any bass, naturally sustain for a long time, absent any foam or other muting device installed on top or beneath the strings at the bridge.

Without using such muting devices, it’s neither harder nor easier for a player to mute strings with either hand, as needed to play notes of any duration. It is just a technique that is learned and developed with practice.

[howard]

Yeah, lack of sustain isn’t getting you out of learning to mute

[John_E]

@Gloucestre

I tend towards tapewounds and I would suspect they are just too thick.
I don’t like the long sustain bit also.

I point in tapes or flats on a Ray Ross, unless you like the looks. They are quite tedious to adjust as @Al1885 points out. Gotta take your time.
Great hardware, just not for me.

[Al1885]

I think what (at least for me) people are after is the meat of the tone, and depending on the personal preference how fast or slow the attack. Some sustain notes don’t have enough meat to sound good to me. The larger magnet pole piece sounds great like the SD quarter pounder or better yet the Cutlass or the stingray.

[MikeC]

I totally agree about the meatiness of tone of large-pole pups on Music Man basses. Ballsy AF.

I guess hearing thinner sounding pups sustain isn’t the same.

[Wombat-metal]

Takes all tastes, the sound of a MM while I can appreciate it, is not me. I owned one bas with a MM bridge pup and for all I wanted to love it, never could. P is my tone.

You don’t have to tell Toby I said this…

[MikeC]

An MM Cutlass is a P on steroids.

[K_Miller]

Yes, it seems that disagreement is frowned upon by some of the forum regulars. Oh well!