Gibson Chet Atkins SST help

[bassmaster57]

Hello, I just acquired a 1991 Gibson Chet Atkins SST. The low E string and the G string are not nearly as loud as the other strings. What could be the difficulty, do you think? Will the pickup need to be replaced or is there an adjustment. Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[dwolf]

Maybe a little late, but here goes. The pickup is probably an LR Baggs LB6--a good pickup, but fairly sensitive to positioning and any irregularities in the bottom of the bridge slot. Sometimes there may be a little wood chip or debris in the bottom of the slot, preventing a good solid fit. Start with removing all the strings and carefully lift the saddle/pickup out of the slot, taking care not to pull too hard--you don't want to break the lead wire. Make sure there's no debris in the bottom of the slot--go over the bottom of the slot carefully with a wooden toothpick, small painbrush, etc, and gently brush or blow out any debris. Then make sure the saddle is seated fully in the bottom of the channel. The saddle should fit snug, but should not bind. Replace the strings. If still a problem, loosen the strings (don't remove) and wiggle the saddle a bit from the in the channel to make sure it's fully seated. Sometime's there's a little play in the slot from the high to low E string, and there is an optimal position for the saddle. Play around with it and see if you can find the "sweet spot" where all strings ring out equally. If this works (should work) take care and replace your strings one at a time from this point to make sure the bridge doesn't migrate or shift and the problem recur. Iv'e had this problem happen a couple times--usually after the guitar has been transported, been banged around, or played in an outdoor gig where temperature variations may cause some expansion and a little wiggle in the position. It's generally something you can fix, with a little patience. I doubt you'd need to replace the pickup. If you can't get it to work right, replacing the pickup with one of the newer LR Baggs piezos that go under a standard saddle may be an option, and probably would be less problematic if the bottom of the slot isn't perfectly flat. The slot channnel could be resurfaced by a good luthier, but you'd still need to replace the LB 6 because your action would then be too low. In my experience, shimming the LB6 resulted in string to string volume issues, so you'd be back in the same boat. Hope this helps. By the way, these are great guitars for live performance. I run mine through a Fishman Aura Blender, and you can't beat the tone, and feedback isn't an issue no matter how loud you play, how loud the band is, etc. Great, great guitars! I don't understand why Gibson stopped making them.