Dull E String?

[charic]

[quote name='Bass_Guardian' post='1078859' date='Jan 5 2011, 05:38 PM']YOU MAY TAKE MY G STRING BUT YOU'LL NEVER STOP ME SLAPPING!!![/quote]

[daz]

[quote name='spinynorman' post='1078483' date='Jan 5 2011, 12:52 PM']I've had that a couple of times. Once it was a set of LaBella flats where the E string sounded dull and also looked different from the others, metal a bit darker, even the silk was darker. So I thought that string was probably from a different batch than the others. The other time it was just that the silk was on the bridge saddle. I've found this is common with Rotosound and a bit of hacking with a craft knife fixed it.[/quote]


I have the same thing on my old Peavey milestone MKI, i put new Rotosound flats on it and the E is definately a bit dull. I did notice the silk on the bridge saddle and trimmed it, but it only helped a bit. It doesnt seem to be tight in the nut, where i anyway put some graphite in. Noticeable both plugged and un-plugged, pick or thumb. Very annoying as im otherwise fond of the old Peav'

Edited January 5, 2011 by daz

[bolov]

I have a new Lakland and I have noticed the same thing. I think its the GHS strings they use. I'll be switching to elixirs once I've worn these out.

[geoff90guitar]

I have a similar problem with the E string sounding a bit dull on both my JV and 72 Precisions and I've concluded its the size of the slot in the nut.
On my old Encore Precision what I use for home practice, the E string 'rings' like the other three strings, no matter what E string is put on. That includes swapping over the strings that sounded dull on the other two.
The E' slot in the nut is slightly bigger on the Encore, so that the string seats in slightly better.
However, I'm a bit hesitant to start filing!

Perhaps the nuts were NOT made to accept the 105's because they were patterned on original models when strings weren't as thick..don't know about that one.

[Grangur]

I've had this happen a few times. It happened last night too. In my case it's the E and D. I have found that taking them off and refitting them fixes it, or on other occasions I've found it resolved itself after a few days. It's probably just the thicker metal having to bed itself in to the nut or bridge.

[LITTLEWING]

To get the best out of a new set of strings, once you've set up and tuned to pitch, give each string a good push downwards to the body immediately after each saddle to give the string a decent 'bedding in' break angle to give maximum contact through the saddle to bridge and body. Not only will the string ring properly, it will be at the correct action and height from the pups rather than a huge arc over the saddle and will feel and sound 'right' from the off.
And no, I've never broken a string yet doing this.

[Zurdo]

 Ou7shined asked if the problem disappears when you press the string down behind the nut;  In my Hofner 500/1 Beatle bass I have the same dead e string issue and when I press the e string down behind the nut the problem goes away.  What does this mean and how to fix it?  Thanks.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Zurdo