Loud string

Hi all, I have a Gretch 9121 electro acoustic tenor. My problem is that the C string plays louder than the others when played through an amp. I use a Roland AC33 acoustic amp which is pretty good quality.
Can anyone suggest a way of reducing the volume of this string. The uke has a Fishman active underbridge pickup.

You'll probably have to change the string to a less-noisy type/brand. What do you have on it now? Let us know and you'll get plenty of advice about what would be quieter.

Since the loud string is only through the amp, the obvious problem is not the uke, but the electronics. Get it checked out through someone who deals with this kind of issue, an electronics guy, not necessarily a luthier.

Groover1 said:

Hi all, I have a Gretch 9121 electro acoustic tenor. My problem is that the C string plays louder than the others when played through an amp. I use a Roland AC33 acoustic amp which is pretty good quality.
Can anyone suggest a way of reducing the volume of this string. The uke has a Fishman active underbridge pickup.

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I have fitted several Shadow SH 1110-UK undersaddle piezo pickups and a few unbranded generic versions to a variety of ukes from concerts to baritones. Without exception they all initially had a dominant C string when amplified. I address this either by adding one or two layers of very thin metallic tape (I think it came for use with joining multifoil insulation or something) to the bottom edge of the saddle, and then cut away the tape in the area about 6mm wide below the C string, or I file a very gentle relief into the bottom of the saddle in that location. The tape has the distinct advantage of being totally reversible. There is no discernible effect on the acoustic properties of the instruments, but the dominance of the C string is reduced to acceptable levels when amplified.

This may or may not be relevant to a Fishman - the piezos I am using have four distinct lands, one under each string.

Piezo pickups are pressure sensitive. That's just how they work. The more pressure the louder they are so its an issue of adjusting the saddle contact with the piezo element to adjust the volume.

You can also insert something like a 7-band equalizer pedal between the uke and the amp, then then find which frequency band(s) on the eq controls are most effective on that string, and just lower their levels...

Such pedals start at $30 by Behringer (EQ700) or Danelectro (Fish & Chips) and go up from that price quite dramatically.

I have installed about a hundred piezo pickups, mostly on guitars. As stated above they are pressure sensitive. Either the saddle slot or the bottom of the saddle is not perfectly flat, the saddle slot or saddle is not uniformly wide, or the height of the strings or the angle of string break over the saddle is not consistent. A very thin piece of paper which runs under the other three strings works and is a completely reversible way to diagnose if the problem is the flatness of the saddle or slot. Of course it is easy to check the flatness of the bottom of the saddle if you have a truly flat straightedge. How tightly the saddle fits in the slot is a little trickier but pushing it in then flipping it end for end and pushing it in again will usually let you know if it is consistent. Just echoing what was said above. Good luck.