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Where have all the ashtrays gone? 🤪


oldslapper

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Having read a few threads here which mention pick up and bridge covers, it would appear that there’s a lot of peeps that hate them.

Lots of “first thing I do is take em off”, “stoopid things get in the way”, “pointless nonsense”, etc. 

 I have to shamefully admit to being a fan, I loves em I does, especially on a P.  I play guitar sometimes, which may explain my somewhat watered down attitude towards all things bass.

My question is then, where have all these discarded covers gone? Is there a European “chrome cover” mountain somewhere? Have they all been melted down and turned into suits of armour? I’ve been after a set for my PJ for ages, but can’t find a used set anywhere.

So suggestions below please: Where have all the covers gone? 🤯

Slappy.

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It limits the different places you can play, you cannot get that crunch and percussive thwack of playing directly over the pickup you are forced to play in the safety zone. Playing right up to the bridge is not possible, in all it’s more restrictive than it is beneficial so I never have them.

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About two years ago I was going through some old boxes and found an Ashtray cover for an old 1974 Hagstrom, Jazz Bass (Fretless). The Bass is long gone, sold in the mid 90's sometime. After discussing this with friend of mine from the States, he said he knew of someone looking for the same Hagstrom cover for his 70's Jazz Bass. I agreed that the guy could contact me if he wanted. He did and offered me £75 plus the postage to Canada, paid into my Paypal account - Which I accepted.

Maybe just a case of right time, right place, I suppose. After all, it was just a piece of junk tin as far as I was concerned.

Edited by lowdown
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I'm guessing most were simply binned. I think they look cool, as I'm into vintage, but as others have said, a real pain to play around.

A neat trick (if anyone is interested) if you want to "age" chrome parts, which I've used on new parts as well, is to rub the chrome lightly with a scourer pad (with a tiny bit of WD40) to remove the very thin layer of chrome, to reveal the duller metal beneath. Then put the now de-chromed parts in a smallish box part full of nails and screws (rusty screws are best) and shake vigorously, the more you do it, the more little nicks and marks are made on the parts which genuinely looks like they have been bashed about for a number of years. The longer you shake the box, the more "aged" the parts look.

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My fretless Sire V7 came with an ashtray.

It's in a drawer somewhere. I might have at least given it a go if the bass had come with the corresponding pre drilled holes required to fit it but it didn't and I'm not going to drill the holes myself or faff around with double sided tape for an aesthetic feature that I'm almost certainly going to decide is just a hindrance to my normal playing style.

Edited by Cato
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Pre-Internet and I ordered some for my Fenders back in the 90s. I sent off a postal order to the USA and everything. I was a fierce defender of them and proudly flew the flag against anyone who dared suggest they got in the way. I kept them on for over 20 years.

I came up with a whole list of excuses as to how you could adapt your style to fit around them... then in a rare light bulb moment about three years ago, I suddenly realised that they did, um, get in the way. :facepalm:

They are sat in a bag of spares right now. :$

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Obvious answer is to have enough basses that some have them and some don't.

I like them because the increase the differences in how my basses feel and the point of having a small collection is that each one makes you play differently.

Plus they do look the dogs on a bass with a sunburst and tort scratchplate.

 

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They're not called ash trays for nothing. Back in the good old early 70s, people playing Fender type basses rarely if ever had the ash trays fitted (rather like cars and hub caps in the same era - they just got in the way). 

The bridge ones, when upturned, found ideal usage as ash trays - preferably the Jazz version as they're larger - suddenly, the bass player became everyone's studio friend with the ash tray (in those days most musicians also smoked) - most especially those with a Jazz one. 

Different times, and of course all those improved basses from the early 70s onwards didn't have them - even Fender deleted them (eventually 🙄 ) as a pointless anachronism!!

How times change - suddenly everyone wants to use vintage equipment with the ash trays fitted (I love the look of Fender J and P basses with them fitted) - I tried a US vintage Jazz (LPB) and Precision (Sonic blue) and the abiding memory of the covers seriously getting the way of playing remains to this day!! 

I have mine, seriously cigarette burned on the inside, somewhere. 

 

Edited by drTStingray
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9 hours ago, oldslapper said:

Lots of “first thing I do is take em off”, “stoopid things get in the way”, “pointless nonsense”, etc. 

Totally agree with this along with "unnecessary addition of extra weight.."

Maybe you'll find a load behind all the sets of secondhand golf clubs which we all own...

Edited by TheGreek
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I think the original Fender Pick up covers were supposed to block interference from electric lights or summat.

The bridge ones acted as mutes or dampeners.

I craved after a pair to put on my sunburst/tort P Bass, but rapidly took them off as they did indeed get in the way.

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