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String Volume Disparity


Frank Blank
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The E string on my Ibanez is louder than the other strings. I emailed my luthier expecting it to be a simple pickup tweak, it seems not. The problem appears to be too much of a radius on the pole and the fingerboard having a quite flat radius. There was talk of placing a metal disk over the pole to reduce the magnetic pull. Please excuse my ignorance but it’s apparently a known thing on some Ibanez/Bartolini basses. Anyone else had such a thing?

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1 hour ago, Frank Blank said:

The E string on my Ibanez is louder than the other strings. I emailed my luthier expecting it to be a simple pickup tweak, it seems not. The problem appears to be too much of a radius on the pole and the fingerboard having a quite flat radius. There was talk of placing a metal disk over the pole to reduce the magnetic pull. Please excuse my ignorance but it’s apparently a known thing on some Ibanez/Bartolini basses. Anyone else had such a thing?

Which seems a little odd. A flat board and a  radius on the pickup would have the poles further away from the string at the E and G positions. If the board were more radiused and the pickup was dead flat, that would indeed yield the issues you speak of. In the latter case I would certainly look at either a radiused poled pickup or one with adjustable poles as an alternative. I know Carvin do them (Kiesel use them in the custom basses) and funnily Ibanez have used radiused pickups too! Hmm, maybe Nordstrand do radiused pickup poles too, I'd have to check.

Edited by Dood
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20 minutes ago, Dood said:

Which seems a little odd. A flat board and a  radius on the pickup would have the poles further away from the string at the E and G positions. If the board were more radiused and the pickup was dead flat, that would indeed yield the issues you speak of. In the latter case I would certainly look at either a radiused poled pickup or one with adjustable poles as an alternative. I know Carvin do them (Kiesel use them in the custom basses) and funnily Ibanez have used radiused pickups too! Hmm, maybe Nordstrand do radiused pickup poles too, I'd have to check.

Again I assumed this but it is apparently also to do with the mass of the E string.

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10 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Again I assumed this but it is apparently also to do with the mass of the E string.

Something doesn't sit well with me there. Especially as the bass has a flatter radius. I am expecting the pickup poles to be flat - what is the bass model? Are they MKI Bartolini pickups?

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Just now, Dood said:

Something doesn't sit well with me there. Especially as the bass has a flatter radius. I am expecting the pickup poles to be flat - what is the bass model? Are they MKI Bartolini pickups?

I don't buy the E string mass either as I am used to playing up to a .190 gauge at times.

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I took the Ibanez up to my luthier, by this time I was wondering if I’d imagined the volume disparity. However, we did some tests and the E string was 7dB louder than the rest, we placed 2p pieces under the E on both pickups and it brought the disparity down. We are experimented with various discs of varying size and thickness and I left him to experiment. Years ago he had a customer with a similar problem but the customer sold the bass before the luthier had a chance to fix it. I think he’s going to do a piece in his Workshop Blog about the problem and the remedy, if so I’ll post a link here.

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