G string on my strat is overpowering

The title pretty much sums it up. I have an AmDeluxe with an ash body and it seems that no matter what chord I play the G string is too loud and sounds lifeless. I've tried all the pickups, which are SCN w/ S-1, and its not unique to any specific pickup. I'm 99% sure its not my finger pressure while chording the notes because its almost all chords and I'm 99% sure its not my strumming technique. My intonation is correct per the 12th fret with a tuner method and I'm playing with 10s.

It bothers me because the note sounds monotonous and is overpowering. In general I play pretty clean with just a touch of reverb. Does anybody have any ideas on how to fix this?

Try to find a .017 Wound G...probably would have to be online..D'Addario & GHS sell singles

do the pickups have staggered polepieces?

do the pickups have staggered polepieces?

The pole pieces on SCNs are flat except for the D string which is raised about a penny.

hmmm... well yeah it might just be a string gauge issue

I bought a compressor for that issue.

since then I've changed p/ups and don't have the problem, and now I don't use the compressor.

g.a.s. :(

Try to find a .017 Wound G...probably would have to be online..D'Addario & GHS sell singles

I love a wound G

Where can you find the wound G strings, I ahve searched but have not found any yet.

single string they only have .018" ( which I use and it's GREAT)

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/DAddario-Nickel-Wound-Single-String?sku=120801

or a set w/ wound G:


http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/DAddario-EXL110W-Nickel-Regular-Light-Wound-3rd-Electric-Guitar-Strings?sku=100190

Lower the pickup and turn up the volume.

Dan

single string they only have .018" ( which I use and it's GREAT)

http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/DAddario-Nickel-Wound-Single-String?sku=120801

or a set w/ wound G:


http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/DAddario-EXL110W-Nickel-Regular-Light-Wound-3rd-Electric-Guitar-Strings?sku=100190

I get mine from www.juststrings.com

Here's a link to D'addario XL wound singles --> http://www.juststrings.com/electricxlnickelwounddaddarioguitarsinglestrings.h tml

Lower the pickup and turn up the volume.

That's what I was thinking, +1

dump it.

going to wound G- can't bend THE intervals.

u may try lighter gAUGE g

Duke Robillard uses the ubiquitous D'Addario XL .010-.046 set on Fender solidbodies, but on Strats, he replaces the .017 G string with a .016 (plain) - I've tried this (my Robert Cray Strat has super high G string polepieces on two of its vintage style pups) and it makes for more balanced volume AND easier blues and country bends.

I get the 10 set boxes of EXL110s (EXL110-10P) and a 10 pack of .016 (PL016) singles from firstqualitymusic.com - just type the product numbers in parentheses into their search box.

If you use .009s, you could sub a .015 G string for the usual .016 - or you could use the .009-.040 set that Fender makes (it has a .015 G)- which is the most balanced (stock) set of .009s I have found for Strats.
http://www.juststrings.com/fnd-150xl.html

I agree that lowering the pups would probably help and you might enjoy the tone more - experiment!

Max

D'Addario EXL 110w's have a wound G string. I found them about two years ago and that's all I use on my electric's. Tele's, Strat & Gold Top. I never have liked the sound of the unwound G.

It is usually possible to press an Alnico G pole down. You should not do it mounted in the guitar. I took them out of the pickguard and covers and used an engineer's clamp with a small nut behind to press them down flush with the cover.

I'm 99% sure i know what the problem is everdayexplorer. Find out what your 'fretboard radius' is. If you know already, and you know how to make a cardboard cut-out string hight guide from the radius, just set your bridges' strings curve radius to match the fretboards radius. And find out the factory setting for string hight and reset that too.

If you're not too sure what i mean, PM me amd i'll walk you through it. This WILL fix your problem with the G.

I've always felt that my Fenders (Teles and Strats both, but Strats more so) were too loud on the G string with stock gauges, and so I have been doing the same thing that Duke Robillard does for 30 years - lighten the gauge of the G string. I don't want a wound string because I bend a lot, and I have found that lightening the string by one notch (e.g., .017 -> .016, .016 -> .015, etc.) does the job.

An additional benefit IMHO is that the lighter G string feels more balanced with respect to bending; stock G strings just seem oversized to me.

I use an AmStd Strat with staggered pole PUPs (VanZandt) and while the G string is a bit louder due to the stagger, it sounds classic overall.

The classic 60s stagger is designed for a wound G, it really is too high for a plain G. It can be adjusted, or as said use a lighter G. Albert Lee did that too. I tried that, then I pushed the G poles in, sorted.

Would raising the height of the G string maybe help this? Cos if you just lower the pickups then all the pole pieces will be lowered by the same amount so there will still be an imbalance between the volume of the G and other strings.

As someone else has commented, the idea for staggering the pole pieces came about when all fretboards had the original 7.25in radius whereas many instruments nowadays have a flatter radius and therefore people tend to lower the action accordingly.