Joined: March 2004 Posts: 1
Location: West Virginia, United States | Hi everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post. I recently purchased my ovation celebrity cs 257 (Korean make) from a friend. He NEVER played it, and purchased it brand new about a year ago. It's been kept in a super padded, nylon tuxedo style case, zipped up, with silica and well taken care of. The guitar is\was flawless until a week ago. Now, whenever I play it through my mixer\monitors, or an amp, every string rings with correct amplitude except the B and E strings (they can only be faintly heard over the speakers, possibly by being picked up by the rest of the pickup??). I recently put a new set of strings on the guitar (some cheap Martin acoustic medium gage)and the problem seemed to happen soon after. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what the problem might be?
I'm thinking it's either the pickup, or possibly the percentage\material of the alloy in the last two strings, making it difficult for the pickup to pick-up any vibration in the field. I hope it's the strings, not the pickup!!
Thanks!!!
mark |
Joined: February 2002 Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Ovation pickups are usually pretty immune to string balance issues. Problems like this are usually down to either the piezo elements in the pickup going bad, a badly routed saddle-slot or uneven shimming. The most likely suspect is the pickup, in which case you should contact a local Ovation dealer or customer service to get a replacement. Try removing any shims under the saddle & see if that improves the string balance. It's almost certainly not down to the strings. Unlike magnetic pickups piezos are sensitive to vibration/pressure not ferric content, so the make-up of the strings is not a factor. |