Marcus Miller uneven tone/volume

tevitag · #1 11-17-2011, 04:32 PM

Hey guys I've had my Marcus Miller four-string for about 18 months now and there's a niggling problem with uneven output across the strings, especially the A which has the lowest volume/tone compared with the E. This is more noticeable with the tone pre-amp OFF so I guess ON helps boost the A but it's still lower than the other three.

I know there's been a bit of stuff about this here before but I just can't figure it out. The bass is all original and I've only changed the strings from Fenders to Dean Markley Blue Steel mediums (which incidentally, improved the problem a little - the Fenders were still pretty new). The nut and bridge seem all ok and the stringing is to the bottom of the tuner poles. Pickup heights seem to be ok (but maybe need a closer look).

Any ideas? Thanks.

walterw · #2 11-17-2011, 10:19 PM

with those straight-across jazz pickups, you do have a problem with the outer strings being louder than the inner ones, due to the fretboard radius making the middle strings further away.

the usual fix is to drop the pickups some, especially on the bass side, so that one string isn't so much closer to the pickup than the other. you lose some output, but you can make that up at the amp.

tevitag · #3 11-18-2011, 09:49 PM

Thanks Walter, that did make a difference! I read through all the setup guides I could find and everything else seems good apart from the pickup height which is now adjusted! Much better.

mongo2 · #4 11-19-2011, 05:05 AM

Another thing you can do is adjust the string heights so they don't follow the radius of the fingerboard but the string height is more equidistant from the pickup. It makes the E and G strings slighty higher but unless you're super particular about the action, it doesn't take long to get used ot it.

johnk_10 · #5 11-19-2011, 02:00 PM

whenever i have that problem, i make my own .040" magnet shims out of ferrous drill stock to lengthen the A & D magnet poles to follow the radius of the fingerboard. back in '79, Leo Fender and i discussed it on the first stingray basses and he happened to hand me some that he made to try on my '76 stingrays and they worked very well. i use CA glue to glue them on, and the magnet helps hold it in place while the glue sets.

here's a pic of them on my jaguar bass:

walterw · #6 11-19-2011, 07:49 PM

now that's cool!

they don't ever get plucked off the pickup?

walterw · #7 11-19-2011, 07:54 PM

this points out a pet peeve of mine; why would anybody still make a jazz pickup without raised center magnets?

you're forced into one of the two bad options mentioned above, dropping the pickups lower than you might want, or setting your strings to be at inconsistent heights off the board.

other than the rhetorically feeble "that's how they did it back then", i see no advantage to not balancing out the string-to-string volume. (the protruding poles should of course be smoothly rounded so they don't catch the fingers, but that's a trivial manufacturing issue.)

johnk_10 · #8 11-19-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walterw

now that's cool!

they don't ever get plucked off the pickup?

nope. they're glued on really well and they're far enough below the strings where i never touch them.

walterw · #9 11-19-2011, 08:46 PM

so when do you start selling them?

johnk_10 · #10 11-19-2011, 09:11 PM

i actually made some for a TB member, but they're more trouble for me to make and takes more time that it's worth for me to sell them.

tevitag · #11 11-21-2011, 04:02 PM

"Whenever i have that problem, i make my own .040" magnet shims out of ferrous drill stock to lengthen the A & D magnet poles to follow the radius of the fingerboard...."

That's great - I might even try that on a different bass first, then if it works, I'll do it to the MM! Thanks johnk_10!