I have a 2020 Masterbilt Texan, in the natural finish, and when I bought it, it seemed to have a rich and resonant tone. The strings were old and somewhat corroded, so I changed them, and ever after it never seemed to resonate the same way again, especially in the bass frequencies. It doesn't sound bad, but there's not much oomph in the bass register. In retrospect, I think I may have mistaken the warm sound of worn-in strings for the guitar's inherent tone, but even allowing the new strings to age didn't seem to bring the growl back.
I tried a bunch of different strings, including D'Addario Phosphor Bronze, D'Addario 80/20, John Pearse Phosphor Bronze, John Pearse 80/20s, Martin Retro Monels, GHS Vintage Bronze, Pyramid Western Folk, and John Pearse Silked Phosphor Bronze. The Silked Phosphor Bronze sounded by far the best, and the closest to what the guitar sounded like when I got it, but I found that those strings only sounded good for a short time. The rest of those strings were did not make a noticeable difference in the tone.
I tried removing the Fishman pickup system, and replacing the saddle with a taller bone model. That actually sounded worse somehow - even thinner than with the pickup in. Then I tried a Tusq saddle, which didn't improve things much. Last I made a Micarta saddle, which sounded slightly better, but still nothing like what I heard when I first bought the guitar. I ended up putting the Fishman back in, which improved the tone a little bit.
I've also tried swapping out the bridge pins with ebony, to very little effect.
I keep it in a properly humidified environment, around 50% relative humidity, and I use a case humidifier when I'm not playing it.
Am I just expecting more than this guitar can deliver? Do these just not have a lot of bass response? Or might there be something holding my guitar back?
