Fix Uneven String Output on an Acoustic-Electric

So you just bought yourself an acoustic-electric guitar, and you plug it in at home and play the first few notes of Sweet Home Alabama, and suddenly you notice the strings seem to be different volumes.  Welcome to my world in 2017 when I bought a Martin Performing Artist Series guitar, except this nightmare happened at a gig.  Fortunately, I had my old guitar with me, but I digress.  String output should be even to your ear, and not vary too much visually on the mixing board meter.  If it does, there is a problem.

It used to not ever be like that, but it is now because the manufacturers are using a new type of piezo pickup that looks like copper braiding, rather than the red strip, like the Fishman Thinline pickup. Pickups like the Fishman Thinline, which are a thin metal or ceramic strip, do not have this problem.  I would guess that the difference is, the copper braiding material flexes more than the thin strip, and reflects the uneven pressure.

The Fix

Apply thin strips of HVAC tape directly underneath the notch in the saddle where the string sits.

HVAC tape is something you can get at Home Depot or Lowes.  It’s aluminum foil tape and is very sticky and sturdy.  I opted for this because I thought the fact that it is actually metal would help with transmitting vibrations to the pickup.  Also, it’s easier to make small, precise cuts with this than duct tape.  Some strings may require two strips if they are significantly quieter than others, which was the case with both of my guitars.  The strips need to be the width of the saddle, and no longer than 1/4″.

One thing I will emphasize is that if the strips are too wide, then the output of the adjacent strings might be affected and be lower than they were before.  This is what happened to me the first time I tried this fix and used strips wider than 1/4″.  A year went by and when I started performing again, I was thinking about buying a Fishman thinline pickup to fix the uneven volume.  Then it occurred to me one night that maybe if I used thinner pieces of tape, the adjacent strings wouldn’t be affected.  It turns out that was the answer.

I first encountered this with my Martin Performing Artist series guitar, and then again when I bought a Guild acoustic-electric.  When I noticed the Martin had a problem, I went back to the store and checked other models within that series, and they all had the same issue with uneven string output.  I picked the one that was the least bad in this sense, and figured I would try to fix the problem myself, as I really wanted a Martin guitar with solid wood top, back and sides.  The Performing Artist series was the only way to get that kind of construction for under $2000.