Haha… I also used to do that. I’d almost forgotten how poor I was in those days!

🙂

When i was a cash strapped teenager, i couldn’t afford a complete set of new strings, so when a string busted, i used to buy a single string, obviously this string when played would sound louder and brighter than any other string in the chord, this was quickly sorted out by using a tiny piece of loo paper wedged between the overbright string and the nut, varieing the amount of bog roll you stuff between the nut and the string will vary it’s brightness.
Give it a go, you never know, sometimes the cheap solutions are the best.

For recording purposes especially, a little delicately applied compression works wonders for this type of cross-string volume difference.

You might also find changing the make of string helps. Mass-produced hex-core strings are particularly bad (IMHO), having poor tension consistency across the strings. I know that the B and top E are round cross-section, but even so, the manufacturers don’t seem to tension the strings consistently.

I have been using Newtone Masterclass strings for a few years now. These are hand wound round-core strings, which the manufacturer pre-tensions (for whichever gauge you buy) to be consistent, and they cost no more than most and a lot less than some. They seem to last well too. Once I started using those on my Martin, all the strings seemed to even out in volume when recording.

Hope this helps.