the pickup in my electric-acoustic, or acoustic-electric, whatever which way it's said, is not picking up the small e string as well as the other strings, it's about half as loud. Once upon a time I took it back to the place I bought it and they supposidly adjusted it for me, but I've found it's still the same way. Maybe i managed to to put it of place again somehow? I don't know much about pickups, but how can I fix this? Should I just take it in again, or can i adjust it myself?
Is this an under-bridge piezo pickup? If so, this is a common problem, especially after changing strings. The saddle may not be making good contact with the piezo element beneath it. Try tapping along the saddle, esp around the high e and see if you can get it to seat better. If not, you may need to level the underside of the saddle. Remove the strings. Remove the saddle and rub it on a piece of sand paper lying on a flat (very important) surface to level it. Replace the saddle; restring; retry.
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sounds like what I have...I think. The wire isn't covered by a plastic thingy by the high e string, problem?
Not sure I'm understanding your description. Picture?
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sorry, I don't have a camera, but in under the bridge on the wire that goes by the strings there is a clear plastic covering, except that the covering doesn't cover the part of the wire that is by the little e string.
If you are pulling out the bridge saddle (usually white plastic, bone or similar) and looking at the flat wire that is under the saddle, and upon which the saddle should rest, then yes, that is a problem. The flat wire is part of the actual piezo transducer structure for the pickup and must make uniform contact with the bottom of the saddle at points directly below the strings. I'm a little surprise to read there is a clear plastic covering over the transducer strip. Certainly if it covers the regions below all strings except the high e, then it is difficult to understand how the high e could make contact. It sound like an improper assembly to me. One of these fixes might help:
1. Shift the plastic covering (gently!) to cover the area beneath the high e string as well as all others.
2. If it is loose and unattached, lift out the plastic cover. It may be that it should not be there in the first place.
3. Construct a tiny plastic shim of similar material to the plastic cover, and put this over the exposed transducer wire area beneath only the high e to bring the saddle contact area up to the same level across all strings. This shim has to be just the right thickness. Too low - it won't help. Too high, it will kill volume on the B and maybe G and D strings (reversible).
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the covering is on there pretty good, I slid it over, it was fairly tight and didn't seem like it would slide down again, but yet able to slide it over alright. But the problem is exactly the same as before.
Hmmm - we're kinda shooting in the dark here with at least a pic. Not sure what to suggest next other than to take it to a guitar tech.
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yah, I was putting new strings on when I tried that. So when I'm ready for new strings again I'll probably take it in for a full tune-up.
Update: That was quite a while ago, but when I took it in to the place I bought it from they couldn't fix it so they ordered a new pickup, but they ended up just giving me an identical guitar for free. However the new guitar has a strange sounding low E string when plugged in, but I have yet to do anything about it since it doesn't bother me as much.
