Are you experiencing a dead string?

[brekfustuvluzer]

i read lots of thread by people who have a dead E string or something and they cant figure out why. i was one of those people until about 10 minutes ago. in my case, the string was twisted!

i have a p with pyramids and all strings sounded awesome except my E which was muted and dull. i read somewhere that if the string was twisted it could kill some vibration like a muting effect. so i unwound my string and when i let it lay loose, the winding part was curling up towards the ceiling, which means the string was twisted 90 degrees.i carefully unbent the end and put it on correctly and the string sounds waaaaaay better. still a little different from the other strings, but this may be because it sat on there crooked for weeks or it may still be lightly twisted. hope this helps someone.

[chadds]

When stringing up let them be loose enough so that the end can rotate to it's natural position.

[FunkMetalBass]

I force twist them. If I can pull the string 3-5 inches away from the body, I'll grab hold of the string by the nut and just pull down the length of the string. As you get closer to the bridge, you'll actually see the string ball rotate a bit. Voi-la!

[Metal Mitch]

Even if it's not twisted, I think flatwound E strings need to be stretched out more than the other strings before they start to vibrate freely. Some rounds also have the same problem.

[Rob22315]

On my BTB675, the A string sounds dead across the entire length of the fretboard. It sounded dead when I got the bass used off ebay and still sounded dead after I put new D'addario XLs on. Seems to be dead across both pups. What else could cause this?

- Too low/high or inadequate relief?
- Dead spot in preamp?
- Bridge (each string has a separate bridge piece)?
- Body/neck resonance?
- Two bad pups?

I played with the string height a bit but didn't notice a change in the tone of the A string. Playing with the preamp bass and mid settings didn't make a difference either. Twisted strings might be a problem or it could be I got two bad strings or got them both twisted when they were installed or . . .

HELP!! I love this bass but I want the A string to give me the same volume/pump as the others!!

[Metal Mitch]

If it's still happeming after a string change I'd look at the nut slot and bridge saddle. Try the setup/repair forum...

[Rob22315]

Will do. Thanks for the feedback. I may take it to a shop for a professional setup too. They might be able to find something I can't.