0
Bone is a natural material and the density and grain may not be
consistent. This may cause inconsistencies in the way the sound
is distributed making some strings louder or softer than others.
We highly recommend a manmade material for the saddle.
10.6 If the balance problem does not disappear on its
own, do the following:
• Check there is no debris in the saddle slot.
• Check the bottoms of both the saddle slot and saddle. They
should be flat and straight. It is common that the guitar top
“lives” and moves and because of this the saddle slot could
become curved, not straight. This may happen especially during
transport or by change of season when the humidity changes.
By making the saddle flexible, as in picture, these problems can
be greatly avoided.
• Check saddle is not loose in its slot. The saddle should be so
tight that you cannot pull it away with your fingers.
• Check string angles behind the saddle. They should be about
the same behind every string. If the angle is too low, the string
will not put enough pressure on the transducer and that may
cause balance problems - usually higher output from the cor-
responding string. To deepen the angle, you can, for example,
file a wedge-shaped groove on the bridge pinhole so that the
string will have deeper angle behind the saddle (see the next
picture).
• On some instruments the outer most strings are too close
to the edge of the saddle, causing balance problems to these
strings. It may happen that the E string at the end of the UST
does not come as loud as other strings. In this case, make an-
other, shallow hole (not all the way through) at that end of the
saddle cavity and move the pickup so the tip of the UST goes in
the hole. If nothing else helps, you should machine the saddle
slot longer and use a new longer saddle.
• Balance problems may also occur with some string sets, for
example with classical guitars the G-string may cause prob-
lems.
10.7 If all things mentioned above are correct, and there
still is a balance problem, you should try the following
tricks:
• The easiest way is to install a spacer, made of soft wood,
underneath the saddle or underneath the UST. The proper
thickness is 0.5 - 0.8 mm (.02” - .03”). This will cure imbalance
problems effectively.
• A very efficient way is to make the saddle more flexible by
modifying it, for example see picture below. Even more efficient
it is to cut the saddle into six separate pieces, or to cut it almost
through between the strings but leave just a small portion on
the bottom side of the saddle, i.e. cut it from the bottom towards
the top.
• Most of the balance problems are due the fact that the guitar
top lives. By making the saddle flexible, these problems can be
greatly avoided.
• If anything else does not help, you can try to add one or two
layers of ordinary letter paper under the saddle, underneath the
quieter strings. This will cause a better mechanical contact be-
tween the saddle and the UST and thus increase the volume.
If the volume decreases when adding the paper, the balance
problem is due to unequal pressure distribution, not bad me-
chanical contact. In this case, add the paper underneath the
louder strings. Try this as the last choice because it is very time
consuming and not so efficient.
10.8 Other problems
If you notice any other problems, please contact the dealer, dis-
tributor or manufacturer, for help.
11. CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
If you have any comments, positive or negative, about any B-
Band product, please do not hesitate to contact B-Band.
12. A3T SPECIFICATIONS
S/N ratio: Greater than –90 dB
Distortion: 0.05 %
Frequency response: 50 Hz – 40 kHz
Low-cut slope: -6 dB/octave
Input channel voltage gain: +30 dB
Input impedance: 100 M
Ω
||< 20 pF
Output impedance: < 3.5 k
Ω
Bass control range: -12 dB @ 70 Hz
