Main Forums => Larrivée Guitars => Topic started by: Reney.. on November 30, 2010, 12:06:59 PM

Title: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: Reney.. on November 30, 2010, 12:06:59 PM
Guys,

i've just bought larrivee LV-03E. It sounded very nice and unique that i never found in another brands. but, i have trouble in my larrivee pickups. it comes from the undersaddle pickup. the 1 to 3 strings is more louder than 4 to 6 strings. and when i knock the saddle, i found that the signal in my high strings is more sensitive than the lower strings. can anyone help me to solve this problem? so that the pickup response get balanced in every strings i strumm. thanks folks  :coffee :coffee
Title: Re: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: unclrob on November 30, 2010, 12:21:53 PM
Get it a tech,preffably at the store you bought so they don't charge you the pu or the saddle needs adjusting.
Title: Re: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: Reney.. on November 30, 2010, 10:53:18 PM
Quote from: unclrob on November 30, 2010, 12:21:53 PM
Get it a tech,preffably at the store you bought so they don't charge you the pu or the saddle needs adjusting.

i have brought to a local dealer but they just give a stupid answer. the said it was the character of the LR baggs. so there's noting to do with it. WTF ? :ohmy: :ohmy: sorry but i was so angry when they say that. i was wondering, how could the official dealer doesn't have a knowledge about the product they sell. anyway thanks for replying "unclrob". means a lot to me.  :beer :beer
Title: Re: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: jimmyb on November 30, 2010, 11:25:28 PM
Quote from: Reney.. on November 30, 2010, 12:06:59 PM
Guys,

i've just bought larrivee LV-03E. It sounded very nice and unique that i never found in another brands. but, i have trouble in my larrivee pickups. it comes from the undersaddle pickup. the 1 to 3 strings is more louder than 4 to 6 strings. and when i knock the saddle, i found that the signal in my high strings is more sensitive than the lower strings. can anyone help me to solve this problem? so that the pickup response get balanced in every strings i strumm. thanks folks  :coffee :coffee

If this is a Baggs Element pickup then here's a fix to try. Take the strings and saddle off and look at the hole (in the saddle slot) that the pickup is coming through. Most times, that hole is drilled straight down through the bridge and bridge plate so that the pickup then has to bend 90 degrees to lay in the saddle slot. I have found that this leads to a lot of the string to string balance issues with the Element pickup. If you redrill the hole at an angle so the bend in the pickup is not so severe, this may fix your problem. I had 2 guitars with Elements (with balance problems), I did this redrilling and it cured both guitars. I would love to take credit for this, but it is covered in the Mi-Si product manual. Here's the link, once you open it, click on "download product manual" on the Acoustic Trio pickup and you will see what I am trying to explain.

http://mi-si.com/products/

The Mi-SI manual also goes to great lengths about the importance of have a completely flat saddle slot and how the saddle bottom should look.
Jimmy
Title: Re: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: unclrob on December 01, 2010, 08:45:05 AM
Reney sorry to that.I've found that most store's no longer hire intellegent lifeforms.What jimmyb posted is correct.You may not have to drill but a flat saddle bottom is very importent.Find a tech and have them take care of it.
Title: Re: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: Trinity Guitars on December 01, 2010, 08:56:34 AM
Quote from: unclrob on December 01, 2010, 08:45:05 AM
Reney sorry to that.I've found that most store's no longer hire intellegent lifeforms.What jimmyb posted is correct.You may not have to drill but a flat saddle bottom is very importent.Find a tech and have them take care of it.
If it was installed by Larrivee I would be surprised if the hole was wrong. Still a good thing to check. unclrob is correct about the bottom of the saddle needing to be flat and square. My guess it that someone sanded the bottom of the saddle to lower the action and did a poor job. I see this often. Unfortunately unless there is a need to further lower the action a new saddle is likely required. Not a big deal but needs to be done by a skilled tech. Good luck.
Title: Re: Unbalance pickup in my LV-03E
Post by: Reney.. on December 01, 2010, 12:03:45 PM
guys, thanks for replying. helps me a lot. finally, i brought my guitar to a professional guitar tech in town. and he said TRUE that the saddle needs to be adjusted. doesn't have to be redrilled . maybe there was just a few mistake when larrivee installed this. myself so surprised, how could it. but not a big deal, just a minor problems. anyway, tommorow i can pick my larry's up and not being annoyed anymore about the PU trouble. once again, thanks all (jimmy, unclrob, and trinity guitars). you guys great ! :winkin:  :coffee :donut