New ramp on my Roscoe!!!

[Addison]

I got a new ramp for my SKB3006, and WOW!!!

I am really really pleased with how it turned out... here is the pic!!!



David King from King Bass (click for link) is the guy who was able to turn my design into what you see... he does FABULOUS work.

I was originally going to do ebony, but David told me that he had a piece of Myrtle in his shop that he was willing to cut into for my ramp.

Well, to both of our surprise, he found a piece with very similar grain to my bass, and was able to bookmatch it to match the top... it's INSANE how close he was able to come. It looks almost as if it was fabricated from the same piece of wood!!!

He was also able to do a 16" radius on the ramp to match the fingerboard and added several coats of EPOXY to it as well.

Anyway... if you want a ramp for your Roscoe, David is HIGHLY recommended. Very nice guy... easy to work with... and when all was said and done, the cost was very reasonable.

I'd also like to thank Rod from Regenerate Guitar Works (click for link) for contacting all of his builder buddies to find someone willing to take some time out of their busy schedule to bring my ramp to life... guys like Rod are what makes the bass community such a fantastic thing to be a part of!!!

Man, I love new stuff!!!

[pjmuck]

That wood grain is amazingly close. Great score!

Can someone please explain to me the benefits of a ramp? I know many top players have them incorporated but what does it do exactly?

[Addison]

That wood grain is amazingly close. Great score!

Thanks!

Can someone please explain to me the benefits of a ramp? I know many top players have them incorporated but what does it do exactly?

Different people have made use of a ramp for slightly different reasons, but the 3 biggest ones (and the ones why I have decided to try one out) are:

1.) It's all about "economy of motion"...

If you're a fingerstyle player, the ramp narrows the "gap" between the string and the body of the bass allowing less distance for your finger to go after the string is plucked.

To understand what I mean... try playing fingerstyle over top of a pickup, and then compare it to playing over the body... when there's a larger gap between the string and where your finger falls, then there's obviously more distance for your finger to travel to return back to "striking position."

Now imagine if that pickup was radiused so the distance between the string and the pickup was identical from string to string. That's how a ramp is designed. The ramp almost acts as a bumper, so, once you strike the string, your finger immediately hits the ramp and can then return back again faster.

2.) It acts as a "guide" for your thumb and fingers to "rest" in between notes... the best example of this is to watch Gary Willis (AKA The Bass Ramp Guy) play. CLICK HERE and be sure to watch til the end because it's easier to see what I'm talking about when he's playing actual speed.

I play quite a bit more aggressively than Mr. Willis... with a pretty different style to boot... so my ramp has MORE distance beween the strings and the ramp than his. But it works in a similar way.

3.) It's also a pretty decent thumb rest. Some purists say that a ramp is not intended to be used as a thumb-rest... I dunno why, since it works as one. But, what makes a ramp different than a thumb rest is that it's radiused, so it's much thinner towards each end than it is in the middle.

For some people, that isn't practical or comfortable to be used as a thumb-rest, but for me... it works ok, even though I primarily use it for the "economy of motion" idea and not nearly as much as a thumb-rest.

Hope that answered your question... it's sort of hard to explain.

[Basshappi]

That is an amazing grain match, beautifully done!

[thumbslam]

Some "purists" can be used for a ramp or simply a thing to let ones aggressions out on that's what I say! That bass is killer and it's yours to do with as you please!
One of my favorite interviews of a musician is an older one with Pete Townsend and he was asked by some wanker interviewer “why do you smash and break your guitars”
Peter one of the sharpest smartest wittiest people I can think of in the music industry said “who the F@#k are you to say they are broken? They are my F@#king guitars and I’ll do whatever I bloody well please with them” or something very close to that effect.
I think the interviewer was a “purist” for sure!

One more thing....I love the shag rug it feaking rules! A real knee burner for sure

[Rodent]

that is an incredibly close match

great to know you had a great experience working with David ... he's good people, and very generous with his customers

all the best,

R

[pjmuck]

Thanks for the thorough explanation. I totally get it now, and in fact I could see myself benefiting from a setup with a ramp. (FYI< I'm going to have to get into Willis more. He's amazing!).

One of my basses, a Burns Bison, is one of my favorite basses to play and I realized it's because it's effortless due to "economy of motion". While it doesn't have a ramp, the setup on these particular basses is unusual due to the positioning of the pickups/bridge (kind of like a Strat setup with pickups mounted in the pickguard) such that action is so low (without any buzzing) that your fingertips come down to rest on the bass's body under the strings after plucking them. I love the feel of having the pickguard under my fingertips while plucking.

http://picasaweb.google.com/pjmuck/2001 ... 5849738146

I'd like to try a ramp on some other basses to see experiment, but I obviously don't want to be routing into my basses just yet. I wonder if there's an easy way to get a feel for it via some temporary non-destructive method? A block of wood with double stick tape, LOL?

Different people have made use of a ramp for slightly different reasons, but the 3 biggest ones (and the ones why I have decided to try one out) are:

1.) It's all about "economy of motion"...

If you're a fingerstyle player, the ramp narrows the "gap" between the string and the body of the bass allowing less distance for your finger to go after the string is plucked.

To understand what I mean... try playing fingerstyle over top of a pickup, and then compare it to playing over the body... when there's a larger gap between the string and where your finger falls, then there's obviously more distance for your finger to travel to return back to "striking position."

Now imagine if that pickup was radiused so the distance between the string and the pickup was identical from string to string. That's how a ramp is designed. The ramp almost acts as a bumper, so, once you strike the string, your finger immediately hits the ramp and can then return back again faster.

2.) It acts as a "guide" for your thumb and fingers to "rest" in between notes... the best example of this is to watch Gary Willis (AKA The Bass Ramp Guy) play. CLICK HERE and be sure to watch til the end because it's easier to see what I'm talking about when he's playing actual speed.

I play quite a bit more aggressively than Mr. Willis... with a pretty different style to boot... so my ramp has MORE distance beween the strings and the ramp than his. But it works in a similar way.

3.) It's also a pretty decent thumb rest. Some purists say that a ramp is not intended to be used as a thumb-rest... I dunno why, since it works as one. But, what makes a ramp different than a thumb rest is that it's radiused, so it's much thinner towards each end than it is in the middle.

For some people, that isn't practical or comfortable to be used as a thumb-rest, but for me... it works ok, even though I primarily use it for the "economy of motion" idea and not nearly as much as a thumb-rest.

Hope that answered your question... it's sort of hard to explain.

[Addison]

I'd like to try a ramp on some other basses to see experiment, but I obviously don't want to be routing into my basses just yet. I wonder if there's an easy way to get a feel for it via some temporary non-destructive method? A block of wood with double stick tape, LOL?

That's exactly what mine is!!!

It's just a block of wood sanded to shape, epoxied, buffed, and double-stick taped onto the body of my bass.

This is the design I gave to David so you can see what it looks like...



This is probably as simple as it gets when it comes to ramp design... it can get quite a bit more complex than that depending on the contour of the bass body, whether or not you have a pickguard, and how the ramp needs to fit between the pickups, etc.

But... no drilling, routing, or anything else is necessary to hold it onto the bass... it's literally just two pieces of double-stick tape.

I was going to do it myself at first, but David had the wood and the tools to properly cut the radius, so it was worth it to pay him to do it right.

Here's a couple of videos Gary Willis put together to demonstrate how to make a quick and easy ramp for a Fender Jazz bass...

Part One
Part Two

Great videos with some cool ideas, but... I'd rather fabricate an entire piece out of ebony rather than use Contac Paper and cheap wood.

[gravesbass]

Hey Addison, when yu get sick of the Roscoe, you got my number... Call me.
Very nice addition to the Beast!! Ramps Rule!! I got a local guy in SF that also builds nice ramps.
What was the damage for yours?

[Addison]

Hey Addison, when yu get sick of the Roscoe, you got my number... Call me.

Haha! Yeah, it might be a while... I've been playing this thing EVERY night since I got it... it's part of my nightly routine.

I play with my daughter for a few hours so she'll get tired, put her to bed, and strap on the bass and watch TV.

Very nice addition to the Beast!! Ramps Rule!! I got a local guy in SF that also builds nice ramps.
What was the damage for yours?

Thanks dude!

I hate to talk prices, because I'm sure they vary depending on wood costs and availability, etc...

But... mine was $95 with shipping... special considerations factored into that price are due to the special wood, bookmatching, epoxy, and buffing, etc.

He quoted me $75 for unfinished ebony.

I have no idea if this price would be the same if someone else called him today and wanted the same thing, but... those are some ballpark figures to give you an idea.

[thumbslam]

Anyone looking to try one inexpensively this might be a good way to try it. I’m thinking of trying but I wouldn’t screw it in I would do the double sided tape but I thought this was interesting…

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bass-Guitar-Slap-Ra ... 414cac01af

[AzWhoFan]

Anyone looking to try one inexpensively this might be a good way to try it. I’m thinking of trying but I wouldn’t screw it in I would do the double sided tape but I thought this was interesting…

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bass-Guitar-Slap-Ra ... 414cac01af

Isn't that kind of pricey for a lil' ole piece of Wenge?
Must admit it's a cool idea tho. Methinks he's been reading our thread.

[thumbslam]

Well I agree to a point but he says they are CNC machined so some effort is involved. Also having a bit of experience selling on eBay there are costs associated for him for including some of the following: insertion fees, selling, and listing and PayPal fees if that’s how people pay too. He will wind up with about 20 bucks and for a piece of Wenge that has been through a CNC machine I think it’s understandable. I have bought small pieces of wenge from Wood Craft a high end wood workers store to make a thumb rest that never happened and it was like 7 dollars for a tiny piece.
I would rather spend 25 bucks for it than watch that guy tape a piece of crap together with contact paper for shelves and stick it on his bass. I watched him do that with my jaw on my keyboard. I guess I could put a dirty tube sock over the head of my bass for damping the strings too. Or use a belt for a strap. I got no problem rigging something when you have too and you have no $$$ but wasn’t that Garry Willis himself?? I guess it’s cool it’s another way to check it out without dropping 70 100 bucks but I think I would rather use a solid piece of wood personally that’s all. I’m hard on stuff and I know I would be ripping the contact paper and whatever. I just like something really solid especially when there are vibrations going through it and it would have some effect on my tone since that was part of the point of it in the first place. Guess that’s why there is chocolate and vanilla ice cream we need options.

[fivebass52]

I watched Gary Willis' video and was impressed with the way he made it with simple tools. I've been wanting to make one for awhile now, and this post has me inclined to do so. I usually play over my pickup, and have it adjusted hi enough, especially on the g-string side, so that it feels ramp-like. I need to find a piece of wood that would match my grain, or compliment it. I think a piece of quilted redwood would go nicely with my quilted bubinga, or Koa. I'll have to hit up some of my Hawaiian woodworking buddies and see what I can find....