Martin Road Series problem

midiman1962

Hi folks, bought this guitar the month before lockdown and never plugged it in until last week only to find that only the bottom E string seemed to be amplified! Stupid mistake I know not to test at the time. Anyone had the same issue? Changed the battery so don’t think it’s that .has fishman sonitone pick-up which I assumed was decent- any suggestions accepted 

Mellish

Can you pop it round to your local tech? He can see it. It may be easily fixed.

But, yes, you really should have checked when you got it home so that you could take advantage of the store's returns policy, if you needed to  

ICBM

Sounds like the undersaddle pickup strip is broken between the E and A strings, unfortunately.

PAL

I would do a visual inspection yourself as it always helps to understand how things work yourself. 
  Plug your guitar into an amp and tap the bridge where the two E strings cross the bridge if you can hear sound from both
 side of the saddle then the pick would be OK. The other thing is you may have a dirty contact if you haven't used the guitar
 for a while and as you will know the low E string will vibrate more with a lower frequency than the high E string it just might
 be possible there is an intermittent contact and when you strum the guitar makes and breaks so use some contact cleaner
 on Jack socket also check the push connect contact to the tone controls.
 I don't think the under saddle pick up is broken because the lead for the pick up leaves the pick up on the treble side.
 You can lift out the bridge and do the same test but make a note which way around it goes for intonation reasons.
  Here is the Fishman link....    https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sonicore-Pickup-Install-Reference-Guide.pdf
 

Hi I stand corrected here is another Fishman diagram and it does show the pickup installed from the bass side not the
treble side.   https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/sonitone_guitar_install_guide.pdf
so may be as mentioned in previous post there may be break in pick up !
I would tap bridge on treble side to se if you can hear anything ! But it still could be bad contact so clean and check connections
as well.

Hope this helps. 

midiman1962

PAL said:

I would do a visual inspection yourself as it always helps to understand how things work yourself. 
  Plug your guitar into an amp and tap the bridge where the two E strings cross the bridge if you can hear sound from both
 side of the saddle then the pick would be OK. The other thing is you may have a dirty contact if you haven't used the guitar
 for a while and as you will know the low E string will vibrate more with a lower frequency than the high E string it just might
 be possible there is an intermittent contact and when you strum the guitar makes and breaks so use some contact cleaner
 on Jack socket also check the push connect contact to the tone controls.
 I don't think the under saddle pick up is broken because the lead for the pick up leaves the pick up on the treble side.
 You can lift out the bridge and do the same test but make a note which way around it goes for intonation reasons.
  Here is the Fishman link....    https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Sonicore-Pickup-Install-Reference-Guide.pdf
 

Hi I stand corrected here is another Fishman diagram and it does show the pickup installed from the bass side not the
treble side.   https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/sonitone_guitar_install_guide.pdf
so may be as mentioned in previous post there may be break in pick up !
I would tap bridge on treble side to se if you can hear anything ! But it still could be bad contact so clean and check connections
as well.

Hope this helps. 

Appreciate the time you’ve taken to post these notes @PAL - I’ve got some new strings so will check this stuff out when I change them - thanks again 

PAL

That's OK. Let me know how you get on.

bertie

ICBM said:

Sounds like the undersaddle pickup strip is broken between the E and A strings, unfortunately.

assuming ( as in the only two Ive seen before) the lead exits at the high E end of the bridge, wouldnt that mean that ONLY the bottom E isnt working ? Or does the lead enter at the high end and go up to the bottom E first ?

ICBM

bertie said:

assuming ( as in the only two Ive seen before) the lead exits at the high E end of the bridge, wouldnt that mean that ONLY the bottom E isnt working ? Or does the lead enter at the high end and go up to the bottom E first ?

It must be installed with the cable at the bass end. This precise fault couldn’t occur if it was at the treble end.

It’s one of the most common problems with undersaddle strip pickups.