Acoustic guitar pick up problem..

[The Super Dead]

I own a very nice "Lakewood" acoustic guitar but it seems that the pick up is screwed ...it picks up the top strings much louder than the bottom strings... you can hear the difference and see it on the meters....

does anyone know what might be doing this of if its fixable?

anyone know of a good place than can fix this stuff..... its a great sounding guitar and I hope to still be able to use it live...

[Kiwiburger]

Magnetic pickup? The top (thin) strings are more magnetic because they are solid steel. There is usually an imbalance between the wound strings, which have non-magnetic phosphor bronze. You can solve a large part of this problem by buying all steel strings, designed for magnetic pickups.

Or - you might simply have the pickup adjusted too close to the top strings.

[The Super Dead]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Magnetic pickup? The top (thin) strings are more magnetic because they are solid steel. There is usually an imbalance between the wound strings, which have non-magnetic phosphor bronze. You can solve a large part of this problem by buying all steel strings, designed for magnetic pickups.

Or - you might simply have the pickup adjusted too close to the top strings.

It has a "BBand" EQ and when i had a feel inside it had like a thin ribbon going rom the EQ to the underneath of the wooden bridge and that seems to be the pick up....all connected fine...

I have bronze strings on at the moment that are brand new... im not sure what ones I had on before....

thanks...

[Kiwiburger]

Magnetic pickups are usually in the neck position - if it's a bridge tranducer it's probably not magnetic. Maybe piezo or condensor - so the magnetic properties of the strings won't affect that.

The preamp probably is eq'ing the pickup to enhance the high end and roll off the low end to avoid boominess. How does it sound through a flat PA?

String height will be a factor - especially if you've put on heavier strings that make the thickest strings sit up higher.

I actually think that acoustic guitar pickups through a PA sound like a poke in the ear with a sharp stick - at best. I really, really prefer the artists who use a mic. And if there are two players on the same stage, whoever uses a mic will sound much better. I prefer magnetic pickups - through an amp, but that's changing the sound closer to an electric guitar.

[The Super Dead]

its a BBand A5 pick up.... I have only tried it through the DI in my PC... and can see the meter show the two levels and it just does not sound right.... I could not really notice it much before then when using it now and again at a jam knight... just noticed it once while recording...

I agree they never sounds great going into a PA...although I have seen someone use a acoustic pedal ..kind of like an amp sim, and that sounded pretty cool....

its just the hassle of micing it up and stuff when you go to an acoustic gig, when you normally just jump up...

it is a strange pick up and I have noticed Lakewood have a newer kind now... lovely guitars, just shame bout this pick up..