LR Baggs Control-X Preamp User Manual

L.R. BAGGS PREAMPS

CTRL-X

INSTALLATION MANUAL & USER'S GUIDE

483 N. FRONTAGE RD.

NIPOMO, CA 93444

1.PACKAGE CONTENTS

One (1) nine-pin output j ack
One (1) batter y clip with foam pad
One (1) cable ti e
One (1) 470 pf c apacito r
One (1) black sw itch bu tton
One (1) white switch butt on
Mountin g hardw are

2.OVERVIEW AND CAUTIONS

The followin g instruc tions are for a tradit iona l Strat with three knobs and a 5-way s witch. It is reco mmended that insta ller s perform a dry run
throu gh the entire proced ure before cutting or dril ling. We reco mmend that t his system b e instal led by a profess ional dealer/in staller. We do not
provi de install ation advice or suppor t for home or hobbyi st install ations. Installers : please rea d the inst ructions caref ully before proceedi ng. We
will no t be re spon sible for any damage to the gu itar or p ersonal inj ury re sulting f rom ins tall ation, use or mis use of th e produ ct.

3.INSTALLATION

WWW.LRBAGGS.COM

1. If you do not alrea dy have an X-Bridge in you r g uitar, install one accordi ng to t he installat ion instru ctio ns that com e with the bri dge. Remo ve
the middle tone pot and its wire to the 5-way switch (as stated in the instruction s), but do not insta ll the 5 meg vol ume pot or ster eo jack. Th e
only solder ing conn ecti on to make at this time is to put a jum per between the two lugs on the 5-way switc h that go to the tone pots, a lso stated
in the instruction s.

2. If you already have an X-B ridg e with passive w iring, unhook the conn ec tions fro m the 5 meg volume p ot and remove th e pot. Unsolder t he
wires that come from the output jack into the contro l cav it y; in a reg ular Strat there will be two. On the passive X-Br idge hook up there will be
three .

3. Uns crew the jack p late and remove the jack f rom the pla te. Unsolder the ground wire fro m the bridge (it usua lly goes from the volu me pot case
throu gh t he hole to the spr ing cavit y), so the p ickguard will co me comp letely off the guita r.

4. Com pletely rem ove the wire that runs from the 5-w ay switch to the CW (clockwis e) lug of th e Volume control. You sh ould also tempora rily
unsolde r one end of the wire that goes from the lower tone pot to the 5-way switch, to give your self more r oom to work . Figure 1 sho ws all the
wiring you will need to rem ove.

5. Now rep lace t he old output jack with the one that comes in the Ctrl-X kit. You will most likely need to do some woodwo rk ing in the jack cavi ty
to mak e room for the new jack (see fig ure 2), which is slightly larger than the orig inal jack. Use a Dremel r outer or chisel t o extend the inside of
th e cavi ty ( towar d th e br idge) by
about 1 /2". M ake sure th e large n ut
on the jac k bushi ng is tight, feed the
jack wires through the ho le into the
cont ro l cavit y, a nd re place t he ja ck
plate screws .

6. D rill a 1/ 4" hole in the pickgua rd
for t he t og gle sw itc h. The co rr ect
positio n fo r th is hol e is bet ween the
5- way sw itc h an d v olume kno b,
ce nt er ed on t he 5-way sw itch, a nd
volum e knob, center ed on the 5-way
sw itc h, about 5 /8" awa y from it ,
measure d from center to cente r (see
fi gu re 3) . Before y ou dr il l, hol d the
toggl e switch up to the inside of the
pickgua rd, 5/8" away from the 5-way,
to make sure the bodies of the two
sw it ches wi ll c le ar ea ch o th er. The
to gg le s witch sh oul d n ot b e a ny
fa rther t han 3 /4" a way fro m the 5­way s lot, or it may hi t th e b atter y
when the whole thing is a ssemble d.
St ar t wi th a 1/ 16" pi lot ho le, and
rech ec k the loc at ion before dr illin g
the rea l hole.

fig. 1: s teps 1-4

7. To posi tion the hole for the push -button swi tch, tem poraril y in -stall
the Ct rl-X pot and circuit board in the hole where the mid dle to ne
pot use d to be. Ce nter the po t in the hole, wi th the ci rcuit board par ts
facing the outs ide e dge o f the pick guard, as shown in figure 4. Be
sure that the edges of the circ uit board ar en't touchin g t he 5- way
switc h or the bottom of the tone pot. With the p ush-but ton switch in
the out pos ition, it wil l a lmost touch the p ickg uard. Trace around the
switch pl unge r, remove the Ct rl-X ass embly and drill a 1/16" pilo t
ho le where the cen te r o f the plu nger w il l b e. H ol d t he Ctr l-X
assembl y in place and make sure the switch can still be center ed on
th e pilot h ole. Then d rill the real hole. A 15 /64" bit is preferred;
however, you can use a 1/4" bit (althou gh this may look a bit large).
Gently de-b urr the out side of the hol e using a c ounters ink held in the
hand.

8. Now install t he Ctrl -X assem bly. The pot should g o d irec tly agains t
the pickguar d on the insi de, and the washe r and nut on the outsid e.
Fin ger tighten the asse mbly. Center the switch plun ger over its hol e,
and add the button (we'v e prov ided a choic e of white or bla ck). Then
tighten t he nut, m ak ing sure the butto n stays centered in its hole. On
some guitars, th e Ctrl-X circuit board will come cl ose to one lug of
the lower tone pot. I f it does, bend the lug a bit to make sure n othi ng
will sh or t ou t.

9. Figure 5 show s the wiring for the foll owing thre e s teps. S olde r the
black groun d wire fro m the circui t board to the volum e pot case. R un
the orange outp ut wire to the CW lu g of the vol ume pot, but don't
solder it yet.

10. In stall th e to ggle switc h. Remove th e de cora ti ve nut from t he
threa ded bush ing and adjust the remain ing nut and lo ck-wash er so
that the bushin g stic ks o ut o f the hole by about 2 or 3 thre ads; this is
enough for the deco rative nut to catch t he t hreads and tighten. If the
bushing sticks up to o far, the decorative nut will bot tom out before
the switc h is tight in its hole. Move th e inside nut out a bit an d try
again. Before you tighten the nut all the way, positi on the switc h on
the underside of t he pic kguard so the side with three wir es is closest
to the 5-way swit ch. This is neces sary so that e ach p osition on the
switc h (up, midd le a nd down) fun ctions the way it i s expl aine d in the
owner 's m anual.

fig. 2: s tep 5

fig. 3: o ut si de v ie w

11. S older the white wire fro m the toggl e switch to the 5-w ay switc h
output (the sa me lug from which you rem oved the ori ginal wi re to
the vol ume control). S olde r the ora nge wire from t he toggle s witch to
the CW lug of the volume co ntrol, along wit h th e or ange wire fro m
th e PC board. Both orange wires g o to th e sam e lug. Solde r the
groun d wire from the other two pot cas es to the Ctrl-X pot case. It
will be nece ssar y to first scrape some of the yello w fini sh fro m the
side of the pot for the solder t o stick to it.

12. Th e follow ing three steps are shown in figures 6 and 7. Now, wit h
the gui tar on its back, lay the p ickguard next to it, open- book fash ion,
and reso lder the main g round wire (from the spri ng cavity) to one of
the pot cases. You will need to solder three wire s to the circu it b oard.
The solder pa ds are locat ed in th e upper righ t h and corner of the
board away f rom the 5-way switch. First sold er the yellow wire from
the output jack to the lowest of the three pads (labele d Y ), then the
white w ire fro m the jac k to the ne xt one up (labeled W), and the X­Bridge coax to the top connections (wit h the box aroun d the m). See
figure 6. The b raid of the coax goe s to the lar gest hol e a nd the inne r
"hot" wire to the small one next to it. Be sure the sle eve ins ulator is
on the coax, and pull the braid through the circuit board hole as far
as i t wil l go be fo re s older ing i t. Cl ip an y long wi re en ds af ter
solderi ng, and mak e sur e the clipping s don't end up in the cavit y to
short thing s out later.

13 . Aft er y ou 've completed t he solder in g, bu ndle th e three wires
toget her with the cable tie provided in the kit. T ighten the cable tie
aroun d the three wir es about one in ch away from the circuit boar d.
This ensures that the insulat ion f or th e X-Bri dge coax will not s lip
back and expose the bare brai d, and helps to keep the wires under
contr ol. Cau tion : finger tighte n only. Us ing pli ers to tig hten the
cable may cut th e insulati on, causing a sh ort. Clip off the excess
cable t ie (see f igure 6 ).

fig. 4:

inside view

14. So lder the bl ack wi re from the output j ack to the vo lume pot
grou nd, and the red wire from t he jack to the volu me pot wiper
(middle ) lug. R esolder the wir e from the lower tone pot to the 5-wa y
sw it ch . I f there is en ough le ngth, ru n it be hi nd th e Ctrl-X ci rcuit