What are ramps for?

[arthurhenry]

17 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Perhaps a ramp is more of a 'training aid' for the 'ham-fingered'?

>ducks<

Cheeky! It's interesting - many players play over the pickup and are perhaps unaware that this may make a physical difference to their plucking. Do some players find no difference between playing over a surface and playing in an area where there is nothing between strings and body (of bass)???? I certainly find a difference, though I do like to dig in - with a lighter touch I might be more comfortable in a non-surfaced area I suppose.

[Dood]

17 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Perhaps a ramp is more of a 'training aid' for the 'ham-fingered'?

>ducks<

He he he!!! Maybe lol

No, in seriousness it's just another tool we can use. String mutes help to soften the tone of the bass string, yet many times we can get by with left and and right hand (palm) muting. I've even used great big hair scrunchies on my 7 string when I used to do lots of "8 fingered" tapping back in the day. It's all good. Not an aid to bad technique no more than using different types of sticks when playing drums. 

[Dood]

Actually whilst on the subject,

I am going to selfishly talk all about myself.

Back in 2004(?-ish) I had planned my first custom build with Jon Shuker. We already knew that I wanted to add a ramp and why. The thing is, I could already see that the vast majority of after market ramps were simply not up to the job. This is pretty obvious actually as there's only so much you can do with a bass that you don't want to gouge holes in. 

As much as possible I wanted my ramp to be invisible - at least colour matched to the top of the instrument. Then, we hatched our plan. What if I didn't need it? Well, it needs to be able to be dropped in to the bass out of the way. What if I needed to change the height or the angle it sits at? Well that was planned in to the design too. Four specially sourced springs, one in each corner allows the ramp to drop in to the bass, but they are stiff enough that I could be pretty brutal with the ramp and it won't move whilst I am playing.

It is of course radiused to match the curve of my bass fretboard and it sits in my playing sweet spot between my two EMG soapbars. Both of my Shuker's have the same ramp design and if I ever have another, well so will it too.

The design is now Jon's standard ramp design but of course @MacDaddy's example is just a beautiful example of how far you can go with it and I would love to get my paws back on his basses to experience again. 

 

Oh! If you google "ramps", No Treble did a feature and used a picture of my 7 string at the top of the piece!  YAY!

Edited November 3, 2019 by Dood

[ped]

A ramp does NOT compensate for poor technique. It’s simply a device to change the feel of a bass. Saying you don’t understand why such a good player uses one is like saying you don’t understand why a good player might use a certain string gauge. 
 

And you can absolutely dig in with a ramp. You just alter your attack in the smallest way and you can do just as much as you can with a higher action. 

[Stub Mandrel]

My comments are in jest, although (a) I like the flexibility of playing over a pickup or playing over 'thin air' - I also play over the fratboard quite a lot (not narmally slapping) (b) I also get the feeling that the benefits are sometimes exaggerated.

Aesthetically, some ramps are very pretty, some are very foul. IMHO there are examples of both in this thread,