Advice on dealing with one noticeably louder string?

thom-clarence · #1 07-04-2010, 10:08 PM

One of my friends owns a mid-sixties jazz bass. it is in absolute mint-condition with all original hardware and plays like a dream. He recently told me he thought the G string was louder than all the others. I played it for a little while and the G was decidedly louder than the E A and D strings. This is not so much of a problem on low frets, but around the 9th fret it becomes very audible.

I've never heard of this happening. Does anyone know what this is or how to fix it? The strings are all the same height and the pickups are all level as well.

fretno · #2 07-04-2010, 10:18 PM

adjust the pickup height , lower it a wee bit on the G string to balance it all out . Also the strings should be following the radius of the neck and not all the same height so perhaps a basic setup is needed .

SurferJoe46 · #3 07-04-2010, 10:27 PM

He actually plays that string? It's just there to keep the neck counterbalanced against the pull of the E string.

Never play that string since that is getting into guitar territory and with that comes madness.

thom-clarence · #4 07-04-2010, 10:28 PM

So just to clarify, he should lower the pickup under the G string even though its even as it is?

darkstorm · #5 07-04-2010, 11:38 PM

Yes, lower the pickup on that side. Id start with a single full turn of screwdriver. Its not uncommon for one side or the other to have a louder perceived volume. Even with ideal string action setup. The common remedy that ussually works fine is lowering the pup a little on the louder side. Exception would be when that results in overly weak sound for that side. In which case raising the pup a little on opposite side is called for. In a few cases for tone freaks like me, one might end up slightly raising the pup on one side and slightly lowering it on the other. If pole peices are adjustable, slightly lowering them for the louder string can be tried. Though if you lower the pole peice there much you'll probably also notice a small decrease in treble content. This may be a good move in some cases though since little less treble on D or G string might help it balance better tone wise in the mix with the other strings.