so what happens if you remove the felt from the x fret?

You get really annoying and generally unmusical overtones coming off the unplayed portion of the strings.

Spoken like a true pedal player.

Some guy tried it in 1979...they only found a scorched patch on his carpet and he was never heard from again

Go ahead and take that pesky felt off.......we all know Emmett just puts it on there for show.

Hahaha . I guess you have to mute the strings to a certain extent, otherwise they go crazy from crosstalk. If i remove the felt I would have to Bar the stick, with palm or fingers, or a movable felt pad. Hmmm.

RoknRol

There's a video I saw recently where Bob Culbertson used two capos on his stick - one for the base side and one for the melody side (at different frets). That basically took the felt out of the picture, and allowed him to strum the strings.

Why does fretting the strings, make a difference? If I am fretting the strings at any given Fret, why should that be any different, than when I remove the felt.? Is it a matter of lighter touch and more control? Or do you just need to dampen the strings, depending on what you are trying to do? It almost seems you don't need a capo, but a mute. Hmm.

RoknRol

If you want to run a fairly simple experiment to experience the difference, you could lower the flaps level until the strings rest on the first fret, which will bypass the felt/damper.

Just make sure you keep track of how many turns you lowered the flaps by so you can return things to where they were later.

Hey Reystick.
I think it has more to do with what happens when you take your fingers off the strings......there would be a lot of noise with those strings left to vibrate.

Cheers,
Kev