Acoustic archtop too bass-y

[Dan__Man]

Hello all,

I just picked up a used Eastman AR810CE (17in, carved archtop w/ floating pup) today, and while I'm really enjoying it, it does have a slightly overwhelming bass response unplugged and amplified. It's strung up with flatwounds, and I'm amazed at how much of an acoustic cannon it is. It's really fun to play, especially 4 to the bar swing rhythm stuff. I'm wondering if there's anything that can be done to tame the low E string, and to a lesser extent the A string. Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Daniel

[pcjazz]

Lighter strings on the bottom, heavier on top, and adjust your touch.

[Christian Miller]

And that’s why I like 10” speakers

[citizenk74]

Also, thank your lucky stars for an instrument with such a robust bottom end! Better too much than too little.

[Christian Miller]

What strings do you have on it?

[pcjazz]

And that’s why I like 10” speakers

Agreed but OP also complained about unplugged sound.

(Which is why I said nothing about hi-pass filters.)

[Dan__Man]

What strings do you have on it?

I'm not sure what strings exactly. Some pretty large gauge flat wounds it seems. I'm thinking about trying out some smaller gauge phosphor bronze strings. Mostly interested in it as an acoustic instrument.. might upgrade with a Jason Krivo pickup down the road.

[pcjazz]

I'm not sure what strings exactly. Some pretty large gauge flat wounds it seems. I'm thinking about trying out some smaller gauge phosphor bronze strings. Mostly interested in it as an acoustic instrument.. might upgrade with a Jason Krivo pickup down the road.

You’ll likely be happier with roundwounds, either Monel or Nickel Bronze. There are many acoustic string threads elsewhere on the forum. Personally I would avoid phosphor bronze, which are too jangly at first then go thuddy and dead before long. The two types I mentioned will work with your existing pickup while enhancing the acoustic sound.

[MarcB]

I play flatwound strings as well and used to have the same problem on all of the archtop guitars I have owned (including an Eastman seven-string I owned about ten years ago).

That problem went away when I read up on Grant Green's tone, which is the tone I wish to emulate for myself. As it turns out, Green turned the bass and treble on his amp down to zero (yes, really) and cranked the mid up to 10. That did the trick for me and, if you like your tone after turning the bass down to zero, it might be an easier fix than many other suggested fixes.

[Christian Miller]

I'm not sure what strings exactly. Some pretty large gauge flat wounds it seems. I'm thinking about trying out some smaller gauge phosphor bronze strings. Mostly interested in it as an acoustic instrument.. might upgrade with a Jason Krivo pickup down the road.

Flats can be pretty bassy. Thomastik Infeld gauge the way I like it on the whole - which is light bottom, heavy top. OTOH IIRC I have my pole pieces pretty radically adjusted to achieve string to string balance (ala Herb Ellis)

Krivo pickups are great with acoustic strings. A regular floating pickup may not work well with acoustic strings. I think you can get half and half? (DR Zebra?)