I LOVED the tone of both this EB-3 and this EB-4 but both of them had pathetic E strings. I expected it from the EB-4 (loved the long scale though), but even on EB-3 with the big Sidewinder, the tone was fat as hell, until the E string which was considerably weaker and thinner. My question: is that normal?
I guess I can only speak from my experience with my own eb´s, but I don´t have any luthier experience and can´t explain it correctly:
I would say the answer is yes, BUT....
I pretty much solved my own 3 eb-bad e string- cases.
I have a ´65 eb6 (converted eb-0) ´67 eb3 and a ´63 fuzztone. They all had weak E output. To
begin with.
The ´65 was really bad, completely dead E, though original and stock all parts. It was beat up a bit, but I bought it to make an eb6 out of it anyway and that solved the problem pretty much. I wound a humbucker for the neck that mathched the string spacing, had the pole pieces mounted on an iron bar to reduce bending fade-outs, used a roller bridge, took great care making the nut with a clean takeoff point, and used .89 thomastiks- jazz round. (0.93 was fine, but 0.89 was better) Tried a set of chromes (.100 E) but then it was out of balance sound wise.
The ´67 was a bow, had a bad nut and a tilt problem with the bridge. A good setup and care taken in balancing the mudbucker poles (it did matter some) did the works here. Again, thomastiks (Jazz flats .93) but with Dáddario chromes .100 it was dull. It has fantastic vibrant playing quality, really rich and fast/easy playing. Using the mute slightly, it sounds like a double bass! The ´67 has a narrower nut and different neck angle- so it´s quite different than the older ones. Again, nut filing and string choice did the works.
The ´63 fuzz tone solves the E problem just with a flick of the switch
Nah, this one had one of them three point bridges installed. I filed and polished the saddles and checked the nut on this one too, but even a full setup left the E dead. I haven´t found the right stings for it, but I´m seeking the perfect roundwound set. I bought the mod bar for it,
and it helped a lot - but this axe is not quite there.
To sum up, approaching weak spots on the eb´s can be quite a task. I´d say that a careful setup and wise string choosing is a ticket to ride.
Buy a nut file set and some bone, really helps a lot with a good nut. But they certainly have personality, there aren´t two that´s exactly the same!