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Acoustic pickup question


agroupuk
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Hi all.

I just changed strings on my Tanglewood TW55A/BassB acoustic bass (BBand pickup)
I was using Rotosound flats on it with uber high tension but good thump. Figured I would go the other way and try some light tension strings.
Just fitted Tomastik Infeld nylon cored acoustic bass strings. (they feel great btw!)

I sorted out my truss rod because of the tension difference and unplugged it sounds nice.

Plugged in and the E seems quieter than the other strings...

Is it possible I have damaged the peizo pickup whilst restringing? I dont know anything about peizo's or even where the damn thing is (saddle I am guessing lol)

Is it common? is it moveable?

Any help appreciated in sorting this out!

Cheers

Edd

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Hi Edd

I see you posted this a few days ago. Has the situation improved at all, now the strings have settled down?

If you're still having problems, the reduction in tension will almost certainly have reduced the downward pressure on the strings. Have you tried pushing the E string down to try and improve contact between saddle and ribbon?

Did you take all the strings off at the same time? If so it's quite possible that you have shifted the ribbon under the saddle without realising. Might be worth taking the strings off again, lifting out the saddle and making sure the ribbon is flat and that there are no obstructions in the channel or under the saddle itself. Then re-string, do the E first, then G, A and D in that order. (Tip: In future, onc eyou have good string to string balance, always change strings one at a time). Push the strings at the saddle break point to try and bed them down.

If that improves the balance then great, if not you may need to add some shim to the bottom of the saddle under the E string to improve the contact. Copper tape is what most folk recommend for this. It can take a while to sort this out, but you just have to keep at it.

Cheers

Gareth

[quote name='agroupuk' post='445496' date='Mar 25 2009, 11:03 PM']Hi all.

I just changed strings on my Tanglewood TW55A/BassB acoustic bass (BBand pickup)
I was using Rotosound flats on it with uber high tension but good thump. Figured I would go the other way and try some light tension strings.
Just fitted Tomastik Infeld nylon cored acoustic bass strings. (they feel great btw!)

I sorted out my truss rod because of the tension difference and unplugged it sounds nice.

Plugged in and the E seems quieter than the other strings...

Is it possible I have damaged the peizo pickup whilst restringing? I dont know anything about peizo's or even where the damn thing is (saddle I am guessing lol)

Is it common? is it moveable?

Any help appreciated in sorting this out!

Cheers

Edd[/quote]

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just an aside... I wimped out on fitting Rotosound flats on my Tanglewood... I knew how tight they were on my VMJ...

I have LaBella black Nylon tapewounds on mine and it's very mellow and upright sounding. Good unplugged volume as well.

oh and with a piezo under saddle pickup acoustic bass (or guitar for that matter), it's highly recommended not to remove all the strings at once when changing them as it's possible to mess up the contact with the pickup because the pickup or bridge saddle could move slightly.

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