cameltoe Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 I'm a Precision man through and through, but the Jazz I just bought from vmaxblues on here is starting to make me question that! The bass is fantastic, and I'm loving it, however, the E string seems to be much louder and deeper than all other strings. I've restrung it with Fender nickels, thinking it may cure it, but no. The pickups look to be set ok, although I may try and lower the bass side a touch to see if that helps, but ALL the other strings seem fairly uniform in volume and tone, except the E string, which basically sounds like a Precision tone! I've not heard this complaint before, and the only other strange thing I've noticed is there is an earth buzz when I DO touch the E string pole pieces, which is kind of the opposite of the usual earthing problems. I have been running both pickups full volume, and as I understand it there is a 'sweet spot' if I back off the volume on both p'ups a touch, but I'm yet to fully understand that as I've only played it a couple times. It's a Silver Series Squier. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZenBasses Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 (edited) Could be the pickup height isn't set correctly. Or it could just be characteristic of the pickups or eq.. I take it.. This is a passive bass? Edited July 13, 2013 by ZenBasses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyquipment Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 pickups yes, alternatively, change gauge of the E string to something lighter.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 First thing you have the luxury of is two pickups, turn one off then the other and see what effect each one has, maybe lower the bass end of the one causing the trouble if its obvious and go from there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZenBasses Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Could the nut have some bearing on this also? I know when Jon Shuker set up my bass he had to 'adjust' the nut to get an even tone... Though I have no idea what these 'adjustments' were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntLockyer Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 My Squier CV was the same. It is currently being setup by a pro and I mentioned it to him. Will see what he says when I collect it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted July 14, 2013 Author Share Posted July 14, 2013 Changed the strings- no change Lowered the bass side of both pickups- no change! Is this a common characteristic? If it is, I'll just live with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat Burrito Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 This is more common with Jazz basses than people realise. I had one of the early Mexican Jazzes back in 1994 and my E and G were louder than my A and D. I even had a letter published in Guitarist magazine at the time asking that Doctor how to fix it. I tried restringing, adjusting the pickup (couldn't afford to replace it at the time) and in the end I cut my losses & sold it on. Periodically I've seen the problem come up since. I suspect it is in the pickups and now it wouldn't be a problem for me to explore. I've owned a couple of Jazz basses since and thankfully neither have had the problem. Good luck sorting it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Rich Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 (edited) I've played some Jazzes that do this and lowering the pickups generally seems to balance out the strings. You could also try raising the action on the E string somewhat, and maybe lowering the A string a little if possible. Might be a compromise too far though. Edit: I mean lower the whole pickup, not just the E string end. Edited July 14, 2013 by Fat Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 (edited) [quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1373716708' post='2140906'] I'm a Precision man through and through, but the Jazz I just bought from vmaxblues on here is starting to make me question that! The bass is fantastic, and I'm loving it, however, the E string seems to be much louder and deeper than all other strings. I've restrung it with Fender nickels, thinking it may cure it, but no. The pickups look to be set ok, although I may try and lower the bass side a touch to see if that helps, but ALL the other strings seem fairly uniform in volume and tone, except the E string, which basically sounds like a Precision tone! I've not heard this complaint before, and the only other strange thing I've noticed is there is an earth buzz when I DO touch the E string pole pieces, which is kind of the opposite of the usual earthing problems. I have been running both pickups full volume, and as I understand it there is a 'sweet spot' if I back off the volume on both p'ups a touch, but I'm yet to fully understand that as I've only played it a couple times. It's a Silver Series Squier. Any ideas? [/quote] Having owned a Silver Squier I Know they're very nice basses with ceramic pickups that put out more bass than your usual Jazz pickup. The first thing I would do is only play through one pickup at a time so you can isolate which pickup is the problem (if the problem is on both pickups it means the issue is with your setup and not the pickups). As far as the earth hum is concerned, Silver Squiers earthing setup is like the early 60s Jazz Basses and all have an earthing strip. Check that there is a copper strip connecting the bridge and the brass plate underneath the bridge pickup. If this is missing or not connected to the earthing circuit properly, you will get a irritating earth hum. But remember, Jazz Basses will always hum a bit when using one only one pickup or when you're near electronic equipment, like PC monitors etc. When you play using both pickups they cancel the hum and act like one big humbucking pickup. I also recommend opening up the control cavity and making sure everything is wired correctly, just in case. The earthing strip looks like the one in this picture [url="http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9529/9c9a1hs6.jpg"]http://img265.images...29/9c9a1hs6.jpg[/url] Edited July 14, 2013 by gjones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted July 14, 2013 Share Posted July 14, 2013 (edited) I had a similar problem on my MIM 99 Jazz. The G string was A LOT louder than the others. Swapped the pickups for Nordstrands and problem fixed. Edited July 14, 2013 by Machines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameltoe Posted July 14, 2013 Author Share Posted July 14, 2013 Thanks for the advice guys. I'm hoping I don't have to change the pickups, as they sound fantastic and do have a very deep sound that I didn't expect from a jazz. I wouldn't want to change the tone, just have an even string volume! If the problem does turn out to be the pickups, as expected, would a rewind from someone like Wizard eliminate the issue but keep the tone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njr911 Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I have this issue on my CV. Dropping the bass end of the pickups has helped a little. I can play around it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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