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Dead E String Help?

tallboybass

tallboybass

Supporting Member
Feb 25, 2003
4,573
1,163
69
Tulsa, Oklahoma
#1
Hi, my American Standard Jazz Bass (4 string) has a strange problem. The E string is always quite a bit deader than the rest of the strings. I've tried 4 or 5 different sets of strings on it...the stock 7250's, Chromes, 9050CL's, GHS Pressurewounds, D'Addario Balanced Tension Rounds 107-45. They all suffer from the same thing, more or less.

The D'Addario BT's are the latest set on there and the E was horrible! So I replaced it with an Ernie Ball 105 out of an old but unused set that was laying around, and it helped quite a bit! Can anyone help explain any of this? Why would one string work so much better? Should I just shut up and use Ernie Balls? Why would a bass be so weird about E strings like this?

Thanks!
 
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#2
You seriously need to tweak your pickup height. I have a 2012 Fender American Standard Jazz and I love the .107 E-string in the D'Addario EXL-170BT set. Great tone and excellent string-to-string balance of volume and sustain. It's important to set up your bass guitar specifically for your current string-set.
 
#3
I had a few basses in the past with dead E strings. No matter what I tried, the E string was just dead. I tried pickups, strings, bridges, nuts..you name it. In the end I just decided that those basses just weren't made from a resonant enough piece of wood and sold them off.

You can also try a smaller string. A .95 or .100 will sound less bloated and more alive and snappy than a .105. Or try a low tension string like Dunlop SuperBrights. Wish they had those around back when I had those other basses :)
 
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#5
Cool, thanks for the help!

Linnin, I'm talking about just playing it acoustically without plugging in, so the pickups are probably not to blame in this case, but I'll check pu height.

mmbongo, I'll probably try the Dunlops next, the Ernie E string really works well with the other 3 D'Addarios.

I've tried so many strings in general and always come back to Ernie Ball for rounds and Chromes for flats (although the 9050CL's are outstanding!).
 
#7
"You can also try a smaller string. A .95 or .100 will sound less bloated and more alive and snappy than a .105."

I've been enjoying this sort of thing with the increased tension a larger string brings. Strange, but I'll give it a try.
 
#8
I had a similar issue with a Highway One Jazz. I ended up selling it but was able to get rid of most of the issue by remounting the neck and tweaking the truss rod. I did some searching online and found some people with a similar issue who gave me the idea.
 
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#11
DD Gunz said:
I had a similar issue with a Highway One Jazz. I ended up selling it but was able to get rid of most of the issue by remounting the neck and tweaking the trus rod. I did some searching online and found some people with a similar issue who gave me the idea.
Click to expand...

I'll say that in reference to my post above that I never touched the truss rods on the basses I had the trouble with, at that time truss rods were over my head and I never messed with them. Might have fixed the issues I had.
 
#13
I bought this bass new, but it was heavily marked down because of a large ding on the lower horn. It had probably been dropped or something. Never thought it would make that big of a difference. Guess I'm lucky that a cheap E string pretty much fixed it. I'll still try the remounting thing though, it would be weird to only be able to use Ernie Ball strings!

....and thanks again for all the help!!
 
#14
tallboybass said:
I bought this bass new, but it was heavily marked down because of a large ding on the lower horn. It had probably been dropped or something. Never thought it would make that big of a difference. Guess I'm lucky that a cheap E string pretty much fixed it. I'll still try the remounting thing though, it would be weird to only be able to use Ernie Ball strings!
Click to expand...
Check your truss rod as well. For me it was a combination of new strings, truss adjustment, and neck remounting that fixed it on my Fender Jazz. I had already tried a string change, but I guess it's possible to get a couple dead E strings in a row.
 
#16
tallboybass said:
I tweak the truss rod all the time. Playing with people who play in E and also Eb I have to! Do you string through body or bridge? Think that matters?
Click to expand...
I currently am running through the body on my P Bass, but I have never had an issue with that one. The Highway One Jazz has a Badass II bridge and I didn't like it. I swapped it out for an old fender bent plate. I don't think it mattered.

What matters more is the break angle of the strings at the bridge and nut. That is something I didn't pay attention to years ago but I am now very particular about.

Also, if you clip your strings I have found that to deaden some round wound strings due to the wind getting loose. I make sure the strings wrap around each tuning pole 3 times as well. I don't know if any of this will fix your issue. If you are already doing these things disregard.
 
#18
Don't have much to suggest. The only basses I've had "Dead E" troubles with were my 4001 and 4003 Rickenbackers (which seems to be a common problem with them). In both cases, the trouble with mine turned out to be a combination of misadjusted pickup heights and loose screws in the bridge/tailpiece assembly. But there's a lot more going on back there on a Rick than on a Jazz... all I can suggest is make sure everything is snug and secure, and that the saddles sit like they should. Make sure the E string isn't twisted or coming apart. Other than that, maybe your bass just likes Ernie Balls...:)
 
#19
I just ordered a set of balanced tension (hopefully) Slinkies....we'll see how THAT goes! This bass isn't very bright-sounding, so I'm going with rounds on it, but I'm a flats-lover in general.

I tightened all the neck, tuner and bridge screws, but what helped the most was that EB Slinky!
 
#20
Just want to get this thread up to date...the Slinky E string worked fine and played well with the D'Addario nickel rounds. And then........

I Put On A Set Of Dunlop Super Bright Nickels. MAGIC!!! The whole set sounds amazing, E string sounds beautiful, as does the rest of the set!!! And of course they're on sale at BSO...:hyper:
 
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