Low E string "over-distorts" on Jazzmaster

[auxiliaryjoel]

Just got a classic series 60s fender Jazzmaster. One of those discontinued Mexican builds with the rosewood fingerboard and pure vintage 65 pickups.
Sounds great in general but the low e string (i.e. the 6th /lowest frequency string) is "farting out" or "fizzing out" almost in a semi-gated way with distortion pedals.
The other strings don't do it, just the low E.
I had the same problem a while back with a CIJ jaguar that had pure vintage 65 pickups installed too.
However I have a fender Professional Jazzmaster American build with pure vintage 65 pickups and it doesn't happen on it.
So I'm not sure what the culprit is?

[GilmourD]

String gauge? Pickup height?

[auxiliaryjoel]

Oh wow so string gauge can attribute to this?
I did change from 11s to 10s last night and it's still same.
I'll try pickups height.
Im assuming lowering them is the idea?
Would it be both pickups or one more likely to cause this?
(I play with both one generally)

[auxiliaryjoel]

So I put thinner strings 10s. I raised the bridge slightly (as around 12th feet on g was "plunking out" before and I lowered both pickups. And lowered the bass side of each pickup a bit more too.
I ensured the strings were laying dead centre over their areas on the bridge (straight over the screws).
But it's still "farting out" or "over distorting" on the low E string.
I just got out my American pro Jazzmaster that came new with pure vintage 65 pickups and also has same fretboard (rosewood) and same body (alder) and it does not do it and it also sounds noticeably brighter.
This new acquisition (thats "over distorting) was second hand and I can see they've messed with the pickup selector (replaced the standard minimal nut with a more"layered nut washer" thing going on).
I wonder what else they did.
Out of curiosity if the prev user had changed the pot values on Vol and/or Tone would that account for a "farty/over-distorted" low e string?

[GilmourD]

Oh wow so string gauge can attribute to this?
I did change from 11s to 10s last night and it's still same.
I'll try pickups height.
Im assuming lowering them is the idea?
Would it be both pickups or one more likely to cause this?
(I play with both one generally)

Absolutely. String gauge is the arbiter of amplitude of the signal because it's literally what's vibrating, causing disruption of the magnetic field of the pickup, which the coil turns into current, and that current causes the amp to generate sound.

The closer to the string the pickup is the larger the disruption in the magnetic field and the louder the signal, but a larger string will also cause a larger disruption due to greater metallic mass AND nature of the a larger mass overall vibrating more.

Even if the problem is only happening on one pickup you still want to adjust the other pickup for balancing purposes. Run the amp clean (since overdrive/distortion often compresses things) and make sure the volume between the two pickups sounds good to your ear and you get the tone you want in the combined position (since balance between the two pickups does affect that).

[GilmourD]

Out of curiosity if the prev user had changed the pot values on Vol and/or Tone would that account for a "farty/over-distorted" low e string?

On a single string? Not all that likely. It sounds like a setup issue. With things like that I usually see what's happening unplugged first since pickups, like a lot of things, are garbage-in, garbage-out devices. They can only replicate what the string is doing.

[DeathJag]

I find the low E is louder than all of the other strings on all of my offsets. I got a passive high pass filter that is adjustable and that solved it. It cost about $25.

[auxiliaryjoel]

I wouldn't say it's louder for me. Almost less present really as it "obliterates" the signal with whoomfy bassy fart-out hence lack of treble compared to other strings.

[GilmourD]

I wouldn't say it's louder for me. Almost less present really as it "obliterates" the signal with whoomfy bassy fart-out hence lack of treble compared to other strings.

Can you post pics of your bridge? As high a resolution as you can with as good a focus as you can, the whole bridge as well as a focus on the low E saddle.

[JSett]

Does it do it with each pickup on it's own or just when in the middle position? Are the pickups accidentally wired in series?

All my offets have been very balanced on the bass strings.

[GilmourD]

Does it do it with each pickup on it's own or just when in the middle position? Are the pickups accidentally wired in series?

All my offets have been very balanced on the bass strings.

If that thing is wired in series that's definitely not the factory three-way toggle, unless the Classic Series came with a DPDT box-style toggle. A Switchcraft toggle is SPDT.

[auxiliaryjoel]

It's a 3way toggle but someone's definitey messed with it as the washers and metal seat around the toggle are different/bigger than what it should be.
Would it being in series account for one string behaving this way?
(I will get some pics together later today)

[GilmourD]

It's a 3way toggle but someone's definitey messed with it as the washers and metal seat around the toggle are different/bigger than what it should be.
Would it being in series account for one string behaving this way?
(I will get some pics together later today)

Just one string? Probably not.

[auxiliaryjoel]

Can you post pics of your bridge? As high a resolution as you can with as good a focus as you can, the whole bridge as well as a focus on the low E saddle.

[JSett]

Looks perfectly normal to me. If it's both pickups that do it then it's definitely electrical. Unless we can also see the wiring it's hard to say much further without risking complete speculation