So I completed the conversion from Eastman mandocello to 6 string archtop guitar. I used a
Stewmac bridge and a new bone nut. Mounted one of
these pickups and wired it up to the tip on the TRS jack, rewired the piezo's I had installed earlier to the ring. I put on a set of
La Bella medium jazz flats strings. Plugged in to my Carvin AG300 or the house PA it sounds good across all the strings thru either the mag pu, piezo's or a blend of both.
Acoustically, the D, G, B and high E sound good. Even, good sustain, mellow, good punch and volume. The low E and A strings, however, sound dull and tubby with very little sustain. When strung as a 'cello or octave mando with phosphor-bronze d'addario strings the acoustic sound was even across the board, lots of sustain.
There are several possible causes. I have carved and fit a few nuts before, as well as archtop bridges on fiddles, mandolins, octave mandos and more with no issues so I don't think its the bridge or nut fit. The easiest first thing to swap out are strings. What are some of the favorite jazz archtop strings out there for tone and volume? Thanks!