Possible solution for fixing uneven string output on acoustic electric guitars

[derrickguitar]

I have two acoustic electric guitars that have this problem, and I think I figured out an easy solution, though it may not work for every guitar. First off, this seems to be a problem with guitars that have an under saddle pickup that looks like copper braiding. The guitars I had in the past that had a thin metal strip did not have the uneven string volume (I think they were both Fishman Thinline pickups). My Guild acoustic electric had low volume from the 1st, 3rd, and 6th strings. What I did to fix it was put a small piece of HVAC foil tape on the underside of the saddle, directly under where the string sits. The first string ended up requiring two pieces of the tape as it was the lowest in volume, but now all 6 strings are pretty much exactly the same volume, just it was with my previous guitars that had the Thinline pickups. I played some fingerstyle stuff with my Guild plugged into a mixing board, and listened through headphones, and could not hear any discernable difference in string volume.

The key thing to do here is to make the strips of HVAC tape only 1/4" wide so they don't affect other strings. The first time I tried this on my Martin it created more imbalances because I made the pieces of tape a little too wide, like maybe 1/2". I also used a knife to cut the tape right at the edge of the saddle so there wasn't any running up the side the saddle.

 

[Stuball48]

Welcome to the forum Derrick. Lots of nice folks and appreciate the suggestion. An amazing amount of guitar knowledge here.
Come back often.

 

[kostask]

It sounds like you are using your tape trick to compensate for uneven pressure. This happens when the saddle bottom edge, or the floor of the slot in which the saddle sits are not absolutely flat, and is a problem not just for the coaxial (copper braid type, as you described above) but also for the film type (the flat, film type) transducers. Your tape trick will work, but the ideal solution is to ensure that the bottom edge of the saddle, and the floor of the slot that the bridge sits in are both absolutely flat. That will ensure even pressure and should eliminate the uneven string output levels.This alll assumes that there is nothing wrong with the pickup/transducer itself.

 

[plaidseason]

This is part of why I don't love this type of undersaddle pickup (Fishman Sonotone and baggs Element). I've heard more than once that people who have removed them noted a significant improvement in acoustic resonance, which typically doesn't happen with flat undersaddle pickups.

 

[adorshki]

I have two acoustic electric guitars that have this problem, and I think I figured out an easy solution, though it may not work for every guitar. First off, this seems to be a problem with guitars that have an under saddle pickup that looks like copper braiding. The guitars I had in the past that had a thin metal strip did not have the uneven string volume (I think they were both Fishman Thinline pickups). My Guild acoustic electric had low volume from the 1st, 3rd, and 6th strings. What I did to fix it was put a small piece of HVAC foil tape on the underside of the saddle, directly under where the string sits. The first string ended up requiring two pieces of the tape as it was the lowest in volume, but now all 6 strings are pretty much exactly the same volume, just it was with my previous guitars that had the Thinline pickups. I played some fingerstyle stuff with my Guild plugged into a mixing board, and listened through headphones, and could not hear any discernable difference in string volume.

The key thing to do here is to make the strips of HVAC tape only 1/4" wide so they don't affect other strings. The first time I tried this on my Martin it created more imbalances because I made the pieces of tape a little too wide, like maybe 1/2". I also used a knife to cut the tape right at the edge of the saddle so there wasn't any running up the side the saddle.

HI Derrick, welcome aboard!
What year and model is your Guild a/e?

They were using Fishman from at least the early '90's through '04 and then went DTAR. In all these years I can only recall a couple of reports of uneven string volume from (US) factory installs, including a problem with a saddle-cutting jig at the factory that wasn't cutting the slots perfectly flat/square in the mid-'80's

 

[kostask]

Tp be honest, the "coaxial" type pickups/transducers (described as the copper braid type above) are not being made anymore, by anybody to my knowledge (I can be wrong of course). The manufacturers have pretty much moved to the flat/film type, and the impact on acoustic performance was the issue. Some of the instructions for the old coaxial type pickups recommended a curved saddle lower edge and bridge slot bottom, but the difficulty in doing that meant that most luthiers would not do that. Even if the luthier did do that, getting exact curvature yet be perfectly flat as well is close to impossible.