I have a 5 string bass, designed by myself, and built by 2 local luthiers. It's bass-ically a J bass with more of an Ibanez type body (ash) shape. The neck is a Warmoth Deluxe 5 string neck, maple/maple. The bass itself is a little over a year old, the neck being about 5, maybe 6 years old.
About six months ago I started experiencing a problem. My E string would "dissapear", open, and fretted notes along the entire neck. I could hear it, and feel it, plugged and unplugged. I tried everything : raised action,lowered action,adjusted rod,intonated bridge,swapped bridge saddles, strung through body,filled/recut nut slot,swapped neck pickup,adjusted retainer behind the nut, tried a different gauge/brand string. I haven't tried a fret leveling. Interestingly enough, I swapped the E string with the A and B, and it sounded fine in those positions while the respective strings sounded dead in the E position.
The string "comes back" for a gig or two, then "dissapears" again. The neck has a Tung Oil finish. Is it possible that when the neck "moves" due to climate changes, it affects the stiffening bar in the neck (which I'm assuming sits under the E string) causing it to choke the response of this string? I also notice a consistantly weaker, though not as bad, response from the D string (which I assume is where the other bar is located), compared to the G,A, and B. Any thoughts
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