1st, 4th strings louder then rest...

Hello,

I recently bought an Ibanez electric-acoustic bass, and the 1st and 4th strings are louder than the rest. Should I take it back to the music store, and can this be fixed?

Thank you,
jz

By the way, they are only louder when the guitar is plugged in, not when it is played acoustically.

Are the 2nd and 3rd strings loud enough? Maybe there is something muting those two strings, such as a sloppy nut slot, burr on the bridge saddle, or silk wrap sticking into the area between the bridge and the nut. Maybe the pickup is not seating under the saddle properly.

It must be the pick up, is this possible to fix?

It can be. I'd take it into the music store and give them an opportunity to make it right.

Thanks, I'll go over there and ask if he could fix it, which he should be able to do as he does instrument repairs.

It sounds like it could be the under saddle pickup. The saddle needs to be just right - not too tight, not too loose in the slot. Sometimes an imperfection in the saddle can also cause this, as can the pickup itself not being nice and even on a clean flat surface.

How can you get inside the guitar to fix this, is there a way?

Or will I have to ask for a refund, or exchange it for a different bass?

Take it back and let them do the necesary work. IF you start messing with it, they might not be so amenable to 'making it right' for no charge. More than likely, the saddle is not 'mated' to the pickup properly and therefore is not able to vibrate that piezo transducer. There has to be uniform pressure across that pickup in order for the vibartions to cause equal signal strenghth form string to string.

Exchanged it for a squier active jazz bass IV. This new bass seems like a very good guitar. I am am actually glad this happened, otherwise I might have kept the Ibanez.

It sounds like it could be the under saddle pickup. The saddle needs to be just right - not too tight, not too loose in the slot. Sometimes an imperfection in the saddle can also cause this, as can the pickup itself not being nice and even on a clean flat surface.


Yep, the saddle or slot may have an arc to it, causing more contact pressure between the saddle and peizo on the 1 and 4 strings, but very little pressure on 2 and 3 strings. I'd have the shop fix it.