C string on Acoustic Jazz Uke not as 'loud' as the G, E & A

arpie

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Hi guys

I was lucky enough to recently win an Aiersi Tenor Jazz Ukulele - but when I play TAB on it thru my Roland Microcube RX Amp .... the C string is nowhere near as 'loud' as the other 3 strings, so when playing that string, sometimes it can be hard to hear it.

Any suggestions that I may be able to do myself to remedy it?

Many Thanks

Roberta
 

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What kind of strings are on?Is the third a wound string? If not,Isuggest changing out to a wound string. Very. nice looking archtop, Congratulations. Looks like it has a pickup also.

I have a Chennel baritone archtop and love the sound. I use Southcoast HL-WB strings.
 
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Thanks Patrick

Yes, it has a pickup!! It is very quiet if played without the amp! It is Low G, all metal strings & definitely a wound C string.

With the Roland amp & all the different effects, it sounds terrific! Amazing how much LOUDER some of the sound effects are!! LOL

I am just playing it on 'classic' with a bit of reverb for TAB.

cheers

Roberta
 
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What sort of pickup?
If it’s undersaddle then suggestion would be the saddle is not in even contact with the piezo rinbon.
H
 
Hi Hms ..... not sure if the correct term .... but the black thing at the bottom of the fret board is the pick up thingie. ;) (As in the pic above)

Hi Anthony .... I found that thread yesterday and had a read - I wasn’t sure if mentioning my problem would be ‘off topic’ ... and am now wondering if it may be more that the E string is particularly LOUD? It is the loudest, followed by the A string, then the G string and the C string is the softest.

A buddy has an equaliser pedal so will see if I can borrow it and see if I can get them all the same volume as I prefer to use it for TAB playing rather than strumming.

Cheers

Roberta
 
For those who didn't look up the instrument yet:
http://www.aiersiguitar.com/electric-jazz-ukulele-for-sale/

It's an electric with steel strings and a single coil magnetic pickup, so the responses above don't apply to this type of instrument.

I'd say they're using a pickup that is designed for electric guitars. If it has individual pole pieces underneath the pickup cover, there would be six of them that are spaced to pickup the six electric guitar strings. The spacing would be off for four uke strings. There isn't anything you can do about that except replace the pickup. If it's a bar magnet (one long piece under the pickup cover rather than 6 small pieces) it'd have a better chance of being balanced. Hopefully it is a bar, and you just need to work on the height adjustment.

Pickup height on these types of instruments is important. If you look on either side of the pickup you will see a screw. The screws closest to the pickup casing usually control pickup height. You turn them one way and the pickup goes down, the other way it goes up. Try making one side of the pickup higher (closer to the strings) than the other if necessary to find your balance.
Also, experiment with pickup height just in general. The closer you get it to the strings, the more volume, but it also effects tone. When I played electric guitar, I liked my pickups to be a bit farther away from the strings. It was a better sound for me. Experiment to find what works for you.
I hope this helps some.
 
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Fantastic info there, Jer - MANY THANKS for all that! I will definitely play around with those screws & see what difference it makes!!

I'd only ever seen this type of pickup on Guitars .... so totally new to me!!

Cheers & thanks again

Roberta
 
I think Jer may have hit it on the head Roberta. A group of us bought Alida archtops from China and looking at yours, I bet it's from the same factory. Many of the tailpieces etc. were configured fora guitar so the spacing was off for a four string. The pickup on yours looks bigger than it should for a uke. If that's the case, it wouldn't be too hard to change it out and you'd see a vast difference in sound.

Have you tried it with a preamp? They can adjust the sound frequencies for the low, midrange and high sounds. Those little archtop steel strings are a lot of fun. Being an archtop, you won't get much volume unplugged.

Here's a photo of my Alida next to my '62 Gibson ES 330 archtop
 

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Many thanks guys - I think we may be on the right road here ....

WOW! Patrick! Your archtop is almost a smaller twin brother to your Gibsone!! With 4 knobs & all - and WAY fancier than mine!! ;) The pickup on mine looks about the same size as yours ... with similar 'overhang' ..... I'll do the easy thing first & have a play around with the screws & see if there is an improvement ..... then (as Bill1 says) play around with the C string a little left/right to see if that helps at all ...... as there does seem to be a little more space between the C & the G string - so will migrate it a little towards the G string first ....

No I haven't tried thru a preamp yet ..... I have a Behringer AM300 Acoustic Modeler (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/680594-REG/Behringer_AM300_Acoustic_Modeler_AM300.html) Would that make any difference?? I am planning on getting a looper - should I try to get something that is integrated with other bits - to see if it could also help?

Many thanks, Bill ..... I will move the C String around a little to see if that makes a difference as well!

cheerio & thanks again ..... I think we're getting there!

Roberta
Do you use it for strumming
 
Before you do anything, I suggest you send Booli a PM or perhaps he'll check in here. He's the electronics guru imo and very accommodating sharing his knowledge.

You may want to take it to a music shop or luthier. I trust they could tell if it's 4 or 6 pot pickup. I used it for both strummin' an pickin' and sold it last week.

Here's the archtop I play now. A Chennel baritone made in England. I can use either steel or nylon strings. I just have to switch out the nut to change. I've recently added a K&K win Twin Spot pickup to it along with a K&K Volume control wheel in the side soundport.
 

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Here's the archtop I play now. A Chennel baritone made in England. I can use either steel or nylon strings. I just have to switch out the nut to change. I've recently added a K&K win Twin Spot pickup to it along with a K&K Volume control wheel in the side soundport.
I'd never heard of that maker. Great looking instrument!
 
Wow! What a gorgeous looking uke, Patrick!! Do you have some sound files?

My brother in law will be here in a week or so - he is an accomplished guitar musician of many decades - I may wait til he gets here to check it out before I play around with it too much! :eek:

I can't wait for him to have a go at it as he is a terrific Uke player too - mainly does TAB/Solo?Classical
 
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Less tension?
 
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