Martin Road Series problem

midiman1962 · May 2022

Hi folks, bought this guitar the month before lockdown and never plugged it in until last week only to find that only the bottom E string seemed to be amplified! Stupid mistake I know not to test at the time. Anyone had the same issue? Changed the battery so don’t think it’s that .has fishman sonitone pick-up which I assumed was decent- any suggestions accepted

Mellish · May 2022

Can you pop it round to your local tech? He can see it. It may be easily fixed.

But, yes, you really should have checked when you got it home so that you could take advantage of the store's returns policy, if you needed to

ICBM · May 2022

Sounds like the undersaddle pickup strip is broken between the E and A strings, unfortunately.

PAL · May 2022

I would do a visual inspection yourself as it always helps to understand how things work yourself.
Plug your guitar into an amp and tap the bridge where the two E strings cross the bridge if you can hear sound from both
side of the saddle then the pick would be OK. The other thing is you may have a dirty contact if you haven't used the guitar
for a while and as you will know the low E string will vibrate more with a lower frequency than the high E string it just might
be possible there is an intermittent contact and when you strum the guitar makes and breaks so use some contact cleaner
on Jack socket also check the push connect contact to the tone controls.
I don't think the under saddle pick up is broken because the lead for the pick up leaves the pick up on the treble side.
You can lift out the bridge and do the same test but make a note which way around it goes for intonation reasons.
Here is the Fishman link.... https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sonicore-Pickup-Install-Reference-Guide.pdf

Hi I stand corrected here is another Fishman diagram and it does show the pickup installed from the bass side not the
treble side. https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/sonitone_guitar_install_guide.pdf
so may be as mentioned in previous post there may be break in pick up !
I would tap bridge on treble side to se if you can hear anything ! But it still could be bad contact so clean and check connections
as well.

Hope this helps.

midiman1962 · May 2022

PAL said:

I would do a visual inspection yourself as it always helps to understand how things work yourself.
Plug your guitar into an amp and tap the bridge where the two E strings cross the bridge if you can hear sound from both
side of the saddle then the pick would be OK. The other thing is you may have a dirty contact if you haven't used the guitar
for a while and as you will know the low E string will vibrate more with a lower frequency than the high E string it just might
be possible there is an intermittent contact and when you strum the guitar makes and breaks so use some contact cleaner
on Jack socket also check the push connect contact to the tone controls.
I don't think the under saddle pick up is broken because the lead for the pick up leaves the pick up on the treble side.
You can lift out the bridge and do the same test but make a note which way around it goes for intonation reasons.
Here is the Fishman link.... https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sonicore-Pickup-Install-Reference-Guide.pdf

Hi I stand corrected here is another Fishman diagram and it does show the pickup installed from the bass side not the
treble side. https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/sonitone_guitar_install_guide.pdf
so may be as mentioned in previous post there may be break in pick up !
I would tap bridge on treble side to se if you can hear anything ! But it still could be bad contact so clean and check connections
as well.

Hope this helps.

Appreciate the time you’ve taken to post these notes @PAL - I’ve got some new strings so will check this stuff out when I change them - thanks again

PAL · May 2022

That's OK. Let me know how you get on.

bertie · May 2022

ICBM said:

Sounds like the undersaddle pickup strip is broken between the E and A strings, unfortunately.

assuming ( as in the only two Ive seen before) the lead exits at the high E end of the bridge, wouldnt that mean that ONLY the bottom E isnt working ? Or does the lead enter at the high end and go up to the bottom E first ?

ICBM · June 2022

bertie said:

assuming ( as in the only two Ive seen before) the lead exits at the high E end of the bridge, wouldnt that mean that ONLY the bottom E isnt working ? Or does the lead enter at the high end and go up to the bottom E first ?

It must be installed with the cable at the bass end. This precise fault couldn’t occur if it was at the treble end.

It’s one of the most common problems with undersaddle strip pickups.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Martin Road Series problem

Comments