Weak response from high E string. Why? (2024)

Over the years, I've experienced this a very few times. A guitar will have a noticeably (and problematic) weak response from the high E. That is, that string will be significantly quieter that the other five. This has nothing to do with pickup adjustments or anything obvious. It's only occurred maybe 3 times out of probably 30 guitars but I have yet to hear an explanation that's any more than speculation.

I'm not going to mention brands because these have clearly been anomalies. An identical model will not exhibit the problem. But I will say that, oddly enough, all have been American made. One was a very high quality set neck, and two were bolt necks. Also, this is somewhat academic because I no longer have the guitars.

I use a very experienced luthier for all my work. He's pretty much seen it all and usually knows what's going on. But these cases get a shoulder shrug. He suggested trying different strings or gauges, and indeed, when I went up from my usual 10 to an 11 it helped quite a bit. But obviously that shouldn't be the case.

My own theory is pretty vague but I think it has something to do with the truss rod. I say this because both bolt necks were double action rods and I've never seen it on a vintage style single rod. But other than that, I have no clue.

Okay geniuses, anyone have this experience. And any other theories?

bluegrif said:

...He suggested trying different strings or gauges, and indeed, when I went up from my usual 10 to an 11 it helped quite a bit. But obviously that shouldn't be the case....

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In my opinion, the string gauge increase plays a big role for the high E string.

I play 11's on all my guitars, never a problem with a weak high E string.

gigs said:

In my opinion, the string gauge increase plays a big role for the high E string.

I play 11's on all my guitars, never a problem with a weak high E string.

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Well, I've played 10s on most of my guitars (archtops excepted) since the 60s and have only experienced this on those very few occasions. So while moving up a gauge helps, it obviously should not be necessary. There's still something wrong there. Something that isn't normal. I don't like strings smaller than 10s, but you shouldn't have that problem with any gauge, even 8s. I'm interested in what might be going on there.

erksin said:

Saddle or nut slot are the first things I'd check, then pickup height. Could also just be that those particular guitars wanted to see a fatter string. I have guitars like that - they just resonate better and the string to string balance is greatly improved.

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I had the exact opposite issue with a thinline tele. It just did not work with 10s or 11s at all. Put 9s on it and it just rings like a bell.

I recently chased down a similar issue but for different reasons than what the OP is experiencing. On my favorite Tele (2008 American Standard) I have Barden Danny Gatton pups installed. They are marvelous pups; however, the high E and low E were noticeably weak when compared to the mids.

I finally chased it down to what I believe is specific to the design. When I put them in a vintage tele, they are great. Well that guitar has a 7.25” radius compared to the 12” on my AS. On the 7.25, the middle strings are physically farther away from the pups, but when you look at the flat radius, the middle strings are closer to the pup. I hypothesize that the Gatton’s were originally designed for a 7.25 radius and the mid response of the pups is stronger to compensate for the radius. Of course the DG sig model has a 9” radius I believe and I have also had them on a 9” tele and they worked fine but not as good on the vintage.

Anywho, what the heck do I know, I solved the problem by augmenting the 10 gauge set that I normally play, with an 11 high E and a 48 low E and that brought it right in!!

GA20T said:

I've experienced this often with Fender guitars (Jazzmasters & Teles, don't do Strats), and the common solution has been to go up in gauge on those strings and shim the neck back to increase tension on the saddle, assuming the nut is in order. Even still, there have been certain guitars (all Fenders) that just don't seem to respond and I've always assumed it to be some odd truss rod/wood anomaly causing dampening/cancellation etc.. I have had good results with swapping necks and saddle materials in almost all cases, but I don't discount the body as potentially playing a large role.

I'm looking forward to more thoughts on what the cause and solution might be.

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This is roughly what I thought. Just to be clear, I'm very experienced with setup and have done a fair amount of guitar work myself (including designing, building and finishing my own guitar). Plus, in those cases I discussed the problem with my luthier so all setup issues (properly cut and dressed nut, properly set up bridge, correct neck relief, etc.) were all ruled out. I think it has to be something in either the truss rod installation or the neck wood itself, since it seems to be a problem with the neck. A neck swap solved it. As I mentioned, it seems to occur more often with double action rods. In fact I've never personally experienced it with a vintage style rod. And sure, going up a gauge helps, but that's a band aid solution.

This has been a constant thorn in my side. As posted above my easy solution has been to
upsize the high e. In fact that is my standard now. 10 on 9-42 sets and 11 on 10-46 sets.

I also tip the treble side of the pickups toward the strings.

All that sometimes still is not enough. In those cases I am of the opinion that...
that particular guitar with that particular collection of wood/hardware is never going to have a high e that sounds like I want it to.

There is a lot of talk about unplugged tone vs plugged in tone. Separate from that discussion but related is how the high "e" is is going to sound.
If a particular guitar responds to the frequency and tension of the high e, and it sounds good acoustically, then I think you can count on it sounding good plugged in.

jazzrat said:

There is a lot of talk about unplugged tone vs plugged in tone. Separate from that discussion but related is how the high "e" is is going to sound.
If a particular guitar responds to the frequency and tension of the high e, and it sounds good acoustically, then I think you can count on it sounding good plugged in.

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Absolutely correct. Every single case involved a guitar bought from afar. But quality instruments in every other regard. And yes, the problem is there unplugged. So tweaking pickups to help is another band aid, and in my experience, of very minimal help.

I don't know if this question will ever be definitively answered. I suspect if that were the case my luthier would have had the answer for me. He's worked on thousands of guitars in the past 25 years or so and has seen things most of us will never experience. So while he's seen the problem many times, he can't say, with any certainty, exactly where the source of the issue lies. One thing does seem certain though. There appears to be no way to really correct it, short of a new neck. Which would be cost-prohibitive on a set neck guitar.

I've played 9s 10s 11s on multiple guitars, multiple types of guitars, and have never had this problem. I don't believe that it has anything to do with string gauge. Check the nut, the saddles, the position of the string over the pickup, pickup height, tuners, etc.

It could be a "dead neck", but I'd have to rule out all the more likely variables before I'd make that conclusion.

flywheel said:

When this happened to any of my guitars it always turned out to be the string not sitting right in the nut.It almost causes a dampening of the string.It somewhat muffles,lowers volume and may cause "ping"sounds if the string sits to low in the nut.

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Had a weak E on an old LP. The bridge had collapsed so if played poorly. The saddles were really grooved as well so did a swap and it was improved in a major way.

sixty2strat said:

Had a weak E on an old LP. The bridge had collapsed so if played poorly. The saddles were really grooved as well so did a swap and it was improved in a major way.

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Yeah, there are all kinds of issues that can create this problem. But I'm referring specifically to an issue that persists even when everything else has been put right. In my case, most guitars go to my luthier when I buy them. They get the deluxe fret level and crown, properly dressed or new nut, all adjustments. They come back to me setup and playing as well as possible. So the examples I've experienced have been a deeper problem. Something in the neck, whether an issue with the rod, or something in the wood itself. I've had vintage guitars that required some work to get certain dead frets that needed work to restore sustain. But I'm talking about an unexplained volume drop when playing the E string in any position.

For whatever reason, I do think double action rods seem to be more prone to this. Not saying they all behave this way. Far from it. But 2 out of the 3 that had this problem were double rods.

73Fender said:

bluegrif, sounds like you narrowed it down to the neck. FWIW there are guys out there who hate the double action truss rod necks, they swear they can hear a difference. I'm not as blessed or cursed depending on how you look at it.

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You're right. I'm pretty much convinced it's the neck. I just don't know what it is about certain necks that causes it. I've had the problem with two bolt necks with double action rods. But I have others with double action rods and no problem. It may be that that type of rod is more prone to it but certainly doesn't mean they're bad, per se. (BTW, in general I do prefer the sound of single, vintage style rods for Fender style guitars. But that's a separate issue.) Then again, the one set neck guitar I had with that problem had a traditional single rod. Go figure. It's a real head scratcher.

I would think a small builder would be aware of the possibility, and know how to avoid it. After all, it doesn't seem to be all that rare.

I agree that it might be something with the dual truss rod thing. I've owned many guitars and the only guitars I've experienced this is with Ric guitars.

I've owned 4 Rics and they all sound weak on the high e.