But the under-saddle piezo is very sensitive and it needs to be near perfect in the slot and have a near perfect fitting saddle with near perfect pressure along its entire length. If you have a K&K, or a system like Rayk's, you won't ever hear it. (That's how some of them get thru QC) On an acoustic without a piezo, you won't even notice it. Sometimes the pressure of the string at-pitch will accidently hold the saddle in the right position, and then when you change strings or tunings, you all of a sudden develop this issue. Sometimes it's just not quite right even fresh from the factory. Sometimes the sides of the slot or the sides of the saddle will wear ever-so-slightly with playing. (That's what I had to do on my "new" Gibson SJ200! Works perfectly now!) Sometimes it's such a small gap, you can only use a small slice of scotch tape or two as a shim. That's where you'll need some sort of shim on the side of the saddle. Hold it to where the volume is even and note what you're doing. If you can rock it, even slightly, you'll probably hear the volume change as you are tapping. If the volume on one of the strings changes again, loosen the strings a bit.try to rock the saddle back and forth (towards the neck and back towards the pins) in the slot while you're tapping along the length of the saddle. If that fixed it, then you're good to go! Tune to pitch and check it out again. Then do the tap test again all along the length of the saddle, listening carefully for volume all along the length. Then install the saddle and string it up, but not to pitch.just enough to hold pressure on the saddle. Usually one of the E strings is too soft compared to the other 5.Īfter making sure the saddle is flat and the slot is clean, reinstall the piezo, plug the guitar into an amp, turn it up just enough so you can hear what you are doing, and do the tap test lightly and carefully along the entire length of the piezo strip to make sure it's working correctly. I've had a few string-to-string volume issues with piezos on a few different guitars. Make sure the slot on the guitar is clean and flat and true.Īnd make sure the saddle fits snugly in the slot. ![]() So, on to your issue! You can simply replace your UST with a number of good options, if it comes to that.īut, if you're trying to salvage what you have, there are a couple of things you can try first!Īs mentioned before, make sure the bottom of the saddle is flat and true. ( However, I did just that with an old J160E I had back in the day!) ![]() ![]() And I don't like putting electric strings on an acoustic. I think Fishman does a great job with them, and whatever ones are in the DTAR system work great too! And I have never really found a soundhole mag pickup that I liked tone-wise or string-to-string volume wise. With all due respect to other opinions, most modern piezos don't "quack" like they used to, especially if you know how to play, pre-amp and EQ them. One of the reasons Guild used micarta is that it has a very consistent and predictable density.Įspecially useful to avoid just that kind of issue with a piezo UST.īone can have density variations that a piezo pickup's very sensitive to and that could be yet another reason for the imbalance.įirst thing I'd try is Cosmic Arkie's suggestion about a very thin shim at that end of the UST, and when the saddle's out, check that it's even seated properly and hasn't been pulled sideways from under that high e. Which brings to mind, is it the original saddle as far as you know? Maybe the high e end of it's just a thousandth too "short", thus not compressing as much as the rest of the saddle? However construction goofs are possible and I'm inclined to agree with those who mention insufficient compression of the UST due not quite accurately flat saddle slot or even a not quite perfectly flat saddle bottom. So flaws in workmanship or the UST itself are low on my list of possibilities. ![]() I think some of the negative comments about construction/UST quality were from folks who may not realize that (assuming it's original) it's a Fishman unit in a late Westerly built guitar.
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