Archtop pickup volume issue with A & D strings

MikeK

I've been enjoying using my Epiphone Joe Pass a lot on my weekly gig recently, but I wonder if anyone can help me with an issue: when I'm soloing, the A & D string are noticeably quieter than the other strings. It's not that way when it's unplugged. And I dont hear it when I'm playing la pompe. Btw, I recently had my luthier install a Gibson Classic '57 humbucker in the neck position, which is the only pickup I'm using. I'm going directly into a Fender Blues Jr. I love the sound of the pickup for both rhythm and lead, except for that minor issue. My bandmates dont seem to notice it, I think it's relatively subtle, but I sure do.

Bones

What kind of strings are you using?

Russell Letson

I'm not much of an electric guy, but in photos of that model I see adjustable pole pieces. And since it's the A and D wound strings out of balance (rather than the B and E), I wonder whether it's just a matter of raising their pole pieces a bit. (I know that's one fix for balancing wound bronze against unwound steel strings on DeArmond-style single-coil pickups.)

MikeK

Bones, I'm using Thomastik Bebop roundwounds. But it behaved the same way with my previous strings, D'Addario Nickel Wound XL's.

Russell, I'll try raising the pole pieces for the A & D strings & see if that helps. Thanks.

littlemark

Along with raising the A and D pole pieces, you can lower the others.

matthewkanis

Your luthier installed it and did not test and adjust it? If you give him a call he will probably adjust it for free. Just a thought. Blessings

bbwood_98

@Mike - @rushkar and @littlemark have the right idea I think - but just becuase I am curious, where is the tone knob on both the amp and guitar - occasionally the pot is set to create scoop in mids; and if not turned beyond lower mid (I.e. set your tone to at least six on both guitar and amp, perhaps 7) could have an influence - pick up pole pieces are much more likely to be a better solution however!!

Good luck!

MikeK

I appreciate all of the suggestions here. (I've been focused on manouche guitars for so long now, making adjustments to an electric guitar feels foreign to me these days). I'm going to try adjusting the pole pieces this week to try to rectify this situation. I'll let you all know how it goes. Matthew, I checked with my luthier about it & he encouraged me to try to adjust them myself to see if I can correct it. He's a top-notch guy, in fact he had me check the pickup out at his place before I left after he installed it. I didnt notice the issue then, but I was playing it through his amp. Bbwood, I have the tone set on 10 on the Epiphone. My Blues Jr is set at: mid--1, bass--3, treble--2. If the adjustment of the pole pieces doesn't fix it, I'll experiment with adjusting the tone settings like you suggested. Thanks, all of you.

MikeK

Follow up post--I raised the pole pieces under the A and D strings, as suggested here, and the volume for those strings is definitely better. It's funny, even though they're louder now, they dont seem to my ears to have quite as much presence as the other strings. I like everything else about the guitar, I suppose it's one of those things you just have to learn to live with. I'll try it at my gig this weekend & see how much it bothers me, or if it bothers me at all, during 2 sets of music.