My bass-playing son uses a plectrum (I don't). He 'borrows' my basses occasionally and black scratchplates, especially, can appear a bit worse for wear when the bass comes back. Just wondered if there's a miracle cure out there? Thanks folks.
Snork
Take the ball-end of your thumb and with the bass tuned to pitch, press hard on the E string just the fretboard side of the saddle. Tune the E to pitch again. Sometimes an E string needs to have that slight 'kink' in it to sound properly. Hope this helps you.
Note that you can switch strings to whichever order suits your personal playing style. (Need to swap tuners around in most cases). Depends on which string -root/octave - you want to strike first. I never have noticeable tuning issues with one saddle per pair of strings, it all adds to the overall 'jangle'.
Yes, the first 'cheappie' basses are the one's you can never replace. I think they simply vanish into bass Valhalla at some point, gaining legendary status.