Acoustic-electric issue...

[elenore19]

So I have a Giovanni Acoustic Electric. Very nice guitar, sounds fantastic and is almost as easy to play as my electric...
That being said.
When I plug it into my amp, it sounds great EXCEPT the bass/lowest E (in terms of pitch) string isn't picked up nearly as much as the others.
One thing I've considered is that I've put a piece of paper between the string and the nut to raise the string a little to fix fret buzz. Which it does, but I'm thinking that maybe this has contributed to the problem maybe? I don't have the time as of right now to test it out.

But are there any other things that could be causing this?
is there a way to adjust something in guitar with wherever the pickup is inside of it?

Thanks!


Elliot

 

[muttley600]

What sort of transducer or pickup does it have?

If it's an under saddle then shimming the nut has to be done with extreme care as it requires even and firm contact at all points. If not you can end up with the sorts of problems you describe.

 

[elenore19]

What sort of transducer or pickup does it have?

If it's an under saddle then shimming the nut has to be done with extreme care as it requires even and firm contact at all points. If not you can end up with the sorts of problems you describe.

Under saddle?

Not sure the difference between transducer and pickup...
But the control that's built into the guitar...it has a volum knob and tone knob. It says Gianini on it. And also white letters on red rectangle it says something like "ativo".

 

[muttley600]

Sounds like you have an under saddle piezo pickup in there. In which case you should try removing the shim and see if it makes a difference.

As I said the piezo needs good solid contact at all points to work correctly. Fitting them well involves making sure the saddle slot has a perfectly flat surface and the pickup element has even pressure from the saddle. Any loose fit and the response will suffer.

 

[Gear_Junky]

wouldn't the shimmed nut slot only cause a problem with unfretted low-E note? nut falls out of equation when you fret.

but muttley is right - piezo pickup is a thin strip of pressure-sensitive material (piezo-electric) under the bridge saddle (which is that white plastic or bone thingy over the bridge that strings rest on). sometimes this strip may not be laid down properly or perhaps the saddles isn't shaped ideally to make full contact along the full length. when you lift out the saddle (strings removed) you should be able to adjust that strip. hopefully you'll fix it.

 

[muttley600]

Wooh, miss read that. I assumed it was the saddle slot. My bad. The advice is still good though, except your right the nut won't make a blind bit of difference to the piezo, it matters only that the saddle slot is good. Start your investigations there.