Sorbothane

[BrendaEM]

I ordered a sheet of Sorbothane. I plan on testing it for dampening material. I will post when it comes in.

[traktor]

Hello, Brenda,

Perhaps everybody else knows, but I don't.

What is sorbathane and why would somebody want one?

[Rayzcane]

Hi Traktor,

In a nutshell, Sorbothane is an alternative for Rubbermaid shelf liner at about $20 per square foot. Here is the description from their website:

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Sorbothane is a proprietary, visco-elastic polymer. Visco-elastic means that a material exhibits properties of both liquids (viscous solutions) and solids (elastic materials).

Sorbothane is a thermoset, polyether-based, polyurethane material.

Sorbothane combines shock absorption, good memory, vibration isolation and vibration damping characteristics. In addition, Sorbothane is a very effective acoustic damper and absorber.

While many materials exhibit one of these characteristics, Sorbothane combines all of them in a stable material with a long fatigue life.

Sorbothane has a low creep rate compared to other polymers (rubber, neoprene, silicone, etc.)

Sorbothane has a superior damping coefficient, over a very wide temperature range, compared to any other polymer.

Unlike fluid-based shock absorbers or foam products, Sorbothane absorbs shock efficiently for millions of cycles.

Ray

[ixlramp]

sounds good.. haha.. dampens good..
(no)sounds good

they use it for ear plugs?

[BigDaddyPoo]

I think it's the clear rubbery stuff (usually blue) they make the shoe innersoles that you can buy at the supermarket with. Dr. Scholl's, etc.

[BrendaEM]

I am hoping that it's not the clear rubbery stuff, because that doesn't dampen all that well. I am hoping that it is lossier than that.

We shall see.

[RocknDrTom]

Has anyone ever tried good old-fashioned felt for dampening material? It's been used on piano for years. Just curious how it would work on a tapper.

[BrendaEM]

I noticed that there are two issues with dampeners...
Can the material dampen the string vibrations?
Does the strings vibrate against the material??

The second one is difficult. I find that strings often rub against the shelf liner, making a squeaking sound.

[rjgoos]

Dampening a short-scale instrument is difficult, too, simply because there is less space between the nut (or zero fret) and fret 1. I hope the stuff works, Brenda.

I have not tried felt, but it is an interesting suggestion.

Jay

[BrendaEM]

I received the Sorbothane today from Edmund Scientifics.

It's black and heavy. One side is shiny, and has a slight tack to it. It's easily cut with scissors, but not easily with a knife. It is much deader than the blue clear non-Sorbothane gel they often use in insoles, keeping in mind that some insoles do have real Sorbothane in them.

It's strange stuff. It will hold a cut edge, so when I first pick up a piece, I think it's going to be firm, but when you squeeze it between your fingers it, it's resilient. If you hold a 3mm thick piece between your fingers that's 10mm square, you can skew it. It will stretch to twice it's length.

This particular type probably is too firm to be optimal. If you can find it, I would buy a softer durameter type. If the Sorbothane is softer, you can use a longer length. The stuff I have is probably between andante pasta and liquorice.

I used a few thin strips, so the string will press into it without floating on it. I used a thin 3mm square strip at the first fret, and a 6mm strip at the nut. I also put a 4mm strip on the other side of the nut.

Even though the material could be softer, I think it works much better than the shelf liner! The plucked open note deadening is probably comparable as the shelf-liner but there is no squeaking from the strings slipping on the material.

[rjgoos]

Brenda wrote:

>The plucked open note deadening is probably comparable as the shelf-liner but there is no squeaking from the strings slipping on the material.<


Could THAT be the reason why I get finger-noise-squeaking with home-made instruments (shelf-liner-dampened) versus my commercial instrument (velcro-dampened)???? I was blaming my technique and strings...

I will need to experiment later today.

BTW--I saw some extra-thick felt strips at Home Depot in the floor tile dept. I'll give that a try.


Jay

[BigDaddyPoo]

MusicMan Stingray basses used to have string dampeners on the bridge end. They were made out of heavy foam rubber and the tension could be adjusted. The ones on my bridge lasted more than ten years and probably are still around ( I sold it a couple of years ago). Ofcourse I hardly ever used them, but they worked really well.

[RocknDrTom]

interesting comparison to liquorice... I wonder if string liquorice would work. Then after the gig, if I was hungry, I'd have something to eat too. :-)

[GaryOpenhill]

Originally posted by BigDaddyPoo
MusicMan Stingray basses used to have string dampeners on the bridge end. They were made out of heavy foam rubber and the tension could be adjusted. The ones on my bridge lasted more than ten years and probably are still around ( I sold it a couple of years ago). Ofcourse I hardly ever used them, but they worked really well.

This may be a silly question, but why would one want string dampeners on the bridge side?

[BigDaddyPoo]

A lot of the early electric bass manufacturers tried to make their basses sound as much like an upright as possible. It was mostly to get the jazz dudes onboard to the electric revolution. Ampeg came up with an alternative to magnetic pickups. Hoffner and Gibson used rediculously overwound pickups sometimes combined with hollow bodies. Leo Fender, who designed all of the Music Man guitars decided he would get rid of that pesky sustain the electric basses seemed to be plagued with.