Volume problem on Stingray

[badboy1984]

I was wondering have anyone actually got any solution on solving the weak G string volume for Musicman Stingray?

I read alot of people have the problem but haven't seen any real solution to tackle the problem. I know people mention pickup height and string gauge but i try messing with pickup height and it seems it won't solve the problem.

I haven't change any strings yet and it still strung with gauge 40 rotosound. Not sure if i replace the G string to 45 or 50 will solve the problem or not.

My last resort is to change the pickup or preamp. Change pickup will solve the problem i guess or change the preamp to John East because John East preamp have better EQ on them to EQ the volume issue out.

[Duarte]

Someone on here had changed the pickup and it worked a treat - but all the people who have changed the pre-amp wished they didn't. It has that MM vibe you won't get anywhere else...

There are many 'solutions' in thread here, try them all out. I've never had this problem, but I've always had perfectly set up stingrays.

[Ou7shined]

There seems to be some black magic involved with this phenomenon. I have actually taken a MM pup that had been removed from it's original host because of a reported weak G pole and put it in another bass and it never displayed the problem. Some say it is not to do with any physical characteristic but merely down to eq settings.

[badboy1984]

i guess i need to take another shot on the EQ. I been playing with the bass for the last couple of days to try get the right sound. I'm new to Stingray after selling my warwick and most of the time i use my Fender Jazz with J-Retro.

Maybe a set of Ernie Ball Slinky with Gauge 105-50 might help? Upping the G from 40 -50 might help on the volume ..... or change the existing rotosound 40 to a 45 or 50 to see what happen maybe?

Edited June 1, 2010 by badboy1984

[OutToPlayJazz]

It seems to be to do with the height/power of the magnets in the polepieces. Mine had the variable height ones & I had no problem, but the more modern pickups with the flush polepieces seem to suffer from this problem. The only concrete fix was found by putting in a replacement Nordstrand pickup. There's a thread on the BG forum detailing this.

[badboy1984]

Look like the Nordy 4.2 MM pickup is a good replacement as well. So the Nordy pickup match well with the stock preamp? i heard something about the preamp may not match against all MM pickup.

[alanbass1]

I don't have this issue on my '79 'Ray. I have to say, I have played a number of 'Rays o ver the years and have not noticed a weak G string volume issue. The other solution would be compression (which I always use so maybe this is why I don't notice it)

[BoomBass]

I never had such problems on any of my SR5s. However, IME/IMO a 0.40 G-string is too weak to sound really good - in general (not just on a SR). Also, apart from adjusting the pickup height, you could also try raising the height of the G-string by adjusting the bridge. If the string gets too close to the board, you often loose tone and volume.