E string issues

[P_air Bass82]

hello all, I present to you, bass wizards of the internet, this following conundrum.....

 

I have a Warwick Streamer Standard (german made, not one of the rockbasses) and it's been my only bass since i got it, which was about 6 years ago.

 

It's an absolutley fantastic instrument in many many ways, and its certainly "my" bass, I can hardly imagine replacing it and every other bass feels like a baseball bat in my hand.

 

BUT it has a horrible problem that i'm hoping now to fix, the E string sounds dull and flat compared to the other three, as if it were made out of rubber.

 

i've done these things to try and fix it:

- just about any type of string I can find in my town, i've completley ruled this out as being the problem. it currently has GHS flatwounds

- replacing the pickup. it currently has a seymour duncan old-school 50's p-bass single coil pickup which sounds fantastic as long as I dont play anything on the E.

- compressing the {censored} out of the signal, it balances it out, but the E just has no high end or mids, it's muddy as mud.

 

things im considering as possibilities as the source of the problem:

- the bridge, it looks cheapish and it's all rusted and nasty these days so even if it didn't make my E sparkle it would make the bass more presentable.. the only bridges i'm familiar with are the leo quann badasses. any other good ones i can look at? also i'm thinking that maybe getting a string through the body type bridge and drilling the holes?

OR

- it's a bad piece of wood and no matter what I do this is an impossible quest and i'll either have to live with it or start looking for another bass. i'm afraid this is the source of it all, but why would the other three sound so good and punchy and live and the poor E just sounds like doo doo? very frustrating all in all.

 

if anyone has any possible idears or has dealt with something like this before, and possibly understands the PAIN and ANGUISH involved (ok, it's not that bad) then help me through this please!

 

and this for being long winded:

[been_effected]

This might sound like a stupid question....but have you ever had it set up professionally? I'm talking action, intonation, pickup height etc.

 

I had a similar thing going on with my Washburn where the B string would almost sound like it was on a completely different bass, and after finding a good luthier who knew what he was doing it sounds completely different.

[jasper383]

On some basses, certain notes just won't "speak" as well. Is it just the open E, or all the way up the string? A good setup might help; changing string gauges might as well.

 

To me, the A string seems more solid and vibrant on most basses. Isn't this why there are several manufacturers experimenting with scale lengths now?

[bluedogaudio]

I guess there could be something wrong with the pickup. I'd do those guys said first, make sure it's setup properly and try some different strings. If all else fails, you may want to think about replacing the pickup.

[WynnD]

It's not the wood. If it were, all the strings would sound bad. I'm thinking either the bridge or more likely you need to replace or at least recut the nut. I with the others, have a professional look at it. Money well spent.

[Bryan316]

Start by cleaning everything. Strip the bass apart as far as you feel comfortable doing. The bridge... disassemble it. Soak it in Coca Cola to get rid of the corrosion, then wire brush the neck outta it to clean it up. Each resting point of the saddles, file them down with a small jeweler's file set, should be a $15 purchase at any hardware store. Get those saddles smooth and clean.

 

Next, look at the nut. Does it have round marks in it from the strings' windings cutting into it? If so, you need to swap it out. Go with a graphite nut.

 

Do some serious body and fretboard cleaning. Go to town on your fretboard with this stuff:

 

 

To lift off the grease grime and finger oils from the grain of the fretboard. If you've got buildup next to the frets, a razor blade and VERY LIGHT PRESSURE to scrape it off should help.

 

 

After it's cleaned, soak it with this:

 

 

 

Put a coat on, walk away for 20-30 minutes. Rub it in with a paper towel, and apply another coat. Keep applying it until you see it stop soaking in. Once you put a coat on and it stays on the surface, you're good.

 

After that, then it's time to take it to a guitar tech and let him set it properly for you. He'll know how high to set the pickups for full sensitivity before the magnets effect string movement. After that, you can re-evaluate its performance.

[dDigitalPimp]

 

The bridge... disassemble it. Soak it in Coca Cola to get rid of the corrosion.

 

 

word?

[Bryan316]

Word.

[P_air Bass82]

thanks for the tips,

 

i think when i have some money i'm just going to take it to a luthier, and maybe have a new bridge for him/her to install.

 

I hadn't really considered it because theres only one good luthier in this city of almost a million people. last time i took something there i didn't get it back for 2 months because they're so busy.

 

All the other places have never given me the impression that they know what they're doing, or that i should trust my instrument to them.

 

i think i'll go by the good luthier and talk to them.

 

word