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Godin Acoustibass Piezo?

sdgrfan

sdgrfan

Guest
Aug 18, 2012
164
201
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
#1
I just picked up this little sweetheart Godin Acoustibass (the earliest model). It has a great setup and plays like butter. Really nice sound with these black nylon strings.

But my high G is a little low in volume, maybe half the volume of the other strings. It gets loud enough if I really pluck it, but it seems to me that the strings should all be about equal in volume, right?

Anyway, has anyone experienced this and found a remedy? I know piezo ribbon pickups are finicky and I guess I wouldn't mind replacing this one if I can find one that is compatible. But I'd like to make sure that it isn't something I can adjust first or that it isn't something in the preamp.

Thanks to anyone who can help.
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#2
Nice bass! You should remove the saddle and pickup, and check that there's no tiny splinters or other debris in the bridge slot. It should be neatly machined. Also check that the bottom surface of the saddle is dead flat. i do this by laying it on a straightedge and holding it up to a light source. It should only take a couple of strokes on a good file to get it super flat. If there is still a string balance problem, you can replace the pickup. I recently used an Artec PP417 in an acoustic bass and it is excellent. Plus it was only 10 bucks!

If you scroll through to 13:50 in this video, I briefly talk about this process.
 
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#3
RobbieK said:
Nice bass! You should remove the saddle and pickup, and check that there's no tiny splinters or other debris in the bridge slot. It should be neatly machined. Also check that the bottom surface of the saddle is dead flat. i do this by laying it on a straightedge and holding it up to a light source. It should only take a couple of strokes on a good file to get it super flat. If there is still a string balance problem, you can replace the pickup. I recently used an Artec PP417 in an acoustic bass and it is excellent. Plus it was only 10 bucks!

If you scroll through to 13:50 in this video, I briefly talk about this process.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Robbie! I'd, of course, love to fix this slight imbalance. But I'd hate to inadvertently mess up the other strings. I'll give your suggestions a try and let you know how it turns out. :)
 
#4
Non-related question. There is no number on this bass that I can find. But according to my research, this is an early Acoustibass because it has two 9-volt batteries (18V system). It does NOT have any bridge pins in the bridge. Should it? Half the pictures I've found of the Acoustibass show them with bridge pins and the other half show them without. Can anyone confirm whether or not it should or should not have pins?
 

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