Quiet Top E String Please Help!

[Mr Harry]

hi there,

i have usa strat, and the top e string is considerably quieter than the other strings when amplifiied, but has a consistant acoustic volume.

the pickup height is the same over all strings (i have raised them and lowered them, and the difference remains the same) . this problem exists on all pickup settings. any ideas as to what could be causing this problem - thanks

[NinjaTaiken]

Look at the magnet, could it have possibly sunk in a little? Most chances that it's just lost a bit of it's strength, you gotta rechargh it. See stewmac for more info.

EDIT::

Oh, I didn't see you wrote it's on all of the pickups settings. Well, have you tried changing the string?

Edited December 29, 2005 by NinjaTaiken

[Mr Harry]

Look at the magnet, could it have possibly sunk in a little? Most chances that it's just lost a bit of it's strength, you gotta rechargh it. See stewmac for more info.

EDIT::

Oh, I didn't see you wrote it's on all of the pickups settings. Well, have you tried changing the string?

←

I changed the string and it improved by about 10%, but it was an old string (unused, but old) so im gonna change it again and see what happens.

if that doesn't work what else could it be?

thanks

[Thoughtless 7]

How old are the pickups in question?

[NinjaTaiken]

There's only one common factor to the signal all the pickups produce, and thats the string. If it was just on one pickups then it's a 90% chance the low E magnet is dead. Anyway, perhaps the action on that string is higher? Just to be on the safe side,change the string to a brand new one intonate it, check the bridge saddle, check the nut, check everything that's possibly related to the string. Nothing works? Send it to a guitar tech.

[crafty]

Are you replacing the string with an actual ELECTRIC guitar string? Sometimes ones made for acoustic guitars won't be as strong magnetically as pure electric strings.

Other than that, you've got me. I know that sometimes the high-E tends to drop out on a Strat because of string-pull, but it's usually not a problem with the low-E. Check your intonation and action too, that's about all I can think of. How many wraps around the tuning post are you using? What brand of strings?

[Mickguard]

Who said he's talking about the low E? He called it the top E --which I always consider to be the high E. But obviously a lot of people call the high E the bottom E. All depends on how you look at the world.

So how about it Harry?

If it's the high E, I think that's pretty common (at least on my guitars). I try to set the High E a little lower (closer to the pickup) than the others, that helps.

You could also try a heavier string guage, that'll be louder. I often string the high E with a 13 (b string), because I break a lot of high Es and I have a lot of 13s lying around

[Pr3Va1L]

ehm yeah if it's the high E, it's more often than not quieter than the rest (especially on strat style guitars it would seem?) because of the pole pieces not facing the string directly sometimes...

[crafty]

Yeah, when I installed my EMGs my high-E instantly came to life...