L.R. BAGGS PICKUPS
RTS 2
INSTALLATION MANUAL & USER'S GUIDE
483 N. FRONTAGE RD.
NIPOMO, CA 93444
WWW.LRBAGGS.COM
1 . R E A D T H I S F I R S T
We recommen d t ha t the Dual S ou rce System and D ua l Source prea mp be
install ed by an L.R . Baggs dealer or professi onal luthier. We do not warrant y our
produ cts o r p rovide technical ass istance to home or hobby installer s. L.R. Baggs
is n ot res ponsible for any damage to t he ins trument or p ersonal injury r esulting
from the install ation, use, or misuse o f this product.
2 . I N S T A L L A T I O N
2.1. S trapjack In stal lation:
Drill a 1/2" hole in the tail block usi ng a s tep drill. Cove r the area you are drilli ng
with ma sk ing tape to protec t th e finish.
Remov e the str ap ring, reta ining nut and one wa sher from the end of the jack .
Th er e sh ou ld s ti ll b e on e st ar l oc kin g wash er, on e fl at was her an d a n ut
remai ning on the mid sec tion of the jack. Bring the jack down into the sound
hole and th rough your pre-d rill ed hole in th e tail block. Using t he internal nut
(be s ure to i nclude th e flat a nd st ar wash ers) , se t the pr oper depth t hat w ill
allow th e smaller thr eaded sectio n at the end of the jack to pro trude out of the
end of the guitar. Whe n the jack is fully seated in the tail block, ther e sho uld be
about 2 threads of the small threaded sec tion rem aini ng inside the hole. With
the jac k in plac e, lay the remaining wa sher over the thread s an d attach the
externa l retaini ng nut unt il it's tight. Finish by a ttaching the strap butto n (it
should cover the retai ning nut and wash er) careful ly s o as to not crack the fin ish
of the guitar by asserting too much pr essure.
2.2. R ibbon Transduce r In stal lation:
Notes :
1. For optimum pe rforma nce of this picku p, the bri dge slot must have a clean,
flat surf ace free of any debr is or over- spray f rom the finish. The slot must be a
minimum of .12 5" (1/8") deep but we sug gest a dept h of .187" (3/ 16") to avoi d
exc essive saddle ti lt (see f igure 4).
2. I nstalling a .090" pickup in a . 120" sl ot i s not r ecommen ded.
3. D o no t remove the bla ck mate rial that is affixed to the bott om of the pickup.
fig. 1
tail block
smaller threaded
section protrudes
fig. 2
4. Avo id un neces sa ry hard b end in g of t he pi ckup. R ep eated rem oval and
repla cement of t he pickup during t he course o f the ins tallation is not a dvised.
the pro duct.
5. Do not use s hims unde r the sad dle or pickup as a reme dy for string balance
probl ems or to a djust the action.
6. Failur e to secure the loo se end of the pickup un der th e br idge will pro duce
bizarre audio consequen ces and eventual ly r uin the pic kup.
7. The q uality of sound, o utput l evel, balan ce an d feedback resist ance ar e all
de te rm ined by how we ll the pickup mates wit h th e sadd le and the bridge.
Un even o r p ar tia l co nt act b etween th e sa ddle and th e pi ckup wi ll caus e a
bo om y s ound wit h low outpu t, exces si ve body sen si tivit y and poo r s tring
balance.
Install ation:
1. R emove the strings from th e gu itar. I f you w ish to du plicate the stri ng height
fig. 3
scribe a l ine a long the fro nt edge of t he sadd le wh ere it exten ds ab ove t he
bridge. The line will later be used as a guide when remov ing mater ial from the
botto m of the sa ddle to com pensate for th e thickness of the pic kup (.025" to tal).
2. Remov e the saddle to d rill t he h ole for the p icku p. The drill bit n eeds to be as
large as the saddl e slo t wil l allow. Inspec t the inside of the guita r and note the
positio n of the b races in relati on to the saddl e slot . Drill at eit her end of the slo t
on the side that wil l enable you to avoid all braces as you penetrate the to p, as
shown in figures 2 and 3.
3. Feed the pickup into the slo t fro m inside the guitar wit h the yellow side up.
Inserting a toothpick or simila r object th roug h the h ole from th e outside is
helpful in finding the location of the hole on the inside of the guitar. Sand the
botto m sur face of t he sad dle on a bel t sander until the scribe line (from ste p 1)
lines up with the bridge top. Leave the s addle just a hair tall and fini sh sanding
the bottom by hand. It is best to do this agains t a machin ed flat su rface wi th
fine sand paper. Use a str aight edge with a stro ng lig ht sou rce to ins pect the
flatnes s of yo ur saddle.
fig. 4
proper saddle-pickup contact
(saddle lean exaggerated)
fig. 5
Important : The f it of the sad dle in th e sl ot is the sin gle most important fac tor in
this installation. It is cru cial that the bottom of the slot and the lower surface of
the saddl e be fla t to make even cont ac t with the pick up. The saddl e should fit in
the slo t lo ose enough to b e able to b e ju st pulled o ut w ith your fing er tips. If it is
too tight or binds at al l, this will h ave a negat ive effect on the str ing balance.
Likewis e, if the saddle is to o lo ose, it wi ll have a subst antial forward tilt whe n
under s tring pressure, ca usin g it to make poo r con tact with t he pickup (see
figure 5).
A saddle that fits corr ec tly in the slot will have a sli ght forward tilt unde r string
press ure (see figu re 6 ). The sadd le m aterial can be a key elem ent in curi ng string
ba la nce problem s. This pi ckup re sp ond s mo st f avorably to a r igi d sa ddle
mater ial such as m icar ta or bone. Using softe r, more flexible materi als may cau se
the out side stri ngs to be l ower in volume than the other st rings.
If you are replacin g the saddle, prepar e the bottom of the new o ne a s expl ained
above (see step 3). Place it in the slot and scribe the s ame line on the front of it
like the or igin al saddle. To dup licate th e ac tion, lay the old saddle on th e new
one, matc h up the scri be lines, and trace the sh ape of the old saddl e onto the
new one . We recomme nd either b one or M icar ta for your saddle . Softer material s
tend to sound overly bo omy.
4. Inse rt th e pic kup all the way into the slot, lay the saddle on top of it and
te mp orari ly secur e i t with a p ie ce of tap e. Rem ov e t he backi ng fro m t he
adhesive on t he end of the pickup hangin g insi de t he g uitar and att ach it to the
bridge pl ate or the un derside o f the top as sh own in figu res 6 or 7. Be carefu l
not to place t he adhesi ve ov er the brid ge pin ho les.
5. Choos e a location for the wire clip and secure the pic kup wi re. Remove the
backing from the adhesive on the end of the pickup hanging inside the guita r
and attach it to t he bri dge plate or the und erside of the top as shown in figure s
5 or 6. Be ca reful not t o place the adhe sive over th e br idge pin holes.
improper saddle-pickup contact
(saddle lean exaggerated)
fig. 6
fig. 7
2.2. B attery Bag Ins tallation:
Stick the doubl e-si ded adhesive to an easily-a ccessib le s pot inside of the guitar.
The batte ry can the n be chang ed by op enin g th e fl ap on th e bag and pulling
out the batter y.
Two wire clips have been provided to secure the battery bag wire to the ins ide
of the guitar.
3 . U S E R ' S G U I D E
The RTS 2 p reamp by itse lf has no use r control s. The outp ut level has been s et to
th e -10d B stan da rd w he n par tn ered with the Ribbo n Transducer. The RTS 2
pream p is designed to interface with just about anyth ing you can plug into. The
output ja ck acts as the swit ch; plug it in and it's on, unplug it and it's off. The
easiest way to chec k the batter y is to plu g into your rig and play ver y hard on
the lower s trings. If you hear a disto rt ed tone (and your g ain is not too far hig h),
drop in a fresh battery.
Pas sive auxil iary channe l: It is pos sible to add a mini -mic or s econd pickup to
the RTS 2, but to avoid c rosstal k, th e second pic kup must have a low impedanc e
output. This req uirement basi cally eli minates eve ry thin g but magne tic pickups
and min i-mics. Do not use high imp edan ce pi ckup s su ch a s th e iB eam.
Addin g a mini mic: To add a mini-mic, sold er the hot le ad to pos itive and the
groun d l ead to negati ve of the auxiliary pass ive input and run both pick up and
mic dow n a stere o cord to a Mixpro. Be sure to turn the Mixpro 's ring channel
phantom power on or the mic will not work. The tip channel phantom power
must be off. See t he Mixpro man ual for the loca tions o f th ese swi tches.
fig. 8
RT active input (A)
+
-
Addin g a second picku p: Add a second pic kup the same way to the auxilia ry
passive chan nel, and run both sig nals down a stereo cord to a Mixpro, or use a
stere o Y cord to t wo Para DIs. If you wish to use the RTS 2 with a seco nd pic kup
into the Mi xp ro, make sure the pha ntom p ower swit ch es on the Mixpro are
turned off for b oth ring and tip chann els.
Of ten in a two p icku p system the "default " pick up wil l be preferred to be on the
tip conta ct of the strapj ack. On the RTS II pream p, the Ribbo n Tran sducer outp ut
is routed to the tip contact but a provision has been ma de wit h so lder bump
jumpers on the PC boar d to reve rse the pickup ass ignment, as shown in figur es
1 and 2. Using a solder ing iron with a small tip, scrap e the older solder off the
jumpers until a small gap ap pears between the jumper pads. Then add solder
acros s the o ther g ap, until a bridg e form s. Do this on both jumpers so t hey look
like figure 2. This will allow the sec ond pic kup to be the default pickup on the
tip and the Ribbon Transducer to be on the ring. Plugging and unpluggin g the
cord will stil l turn th e preamp on and off.
Pai ring th e RTS I I w ith the G igpro or Mixpro : Th e RTS I I p reamp has a bui lt-in
EQ curve. Both t he Gigpro and Mixpro p reamps a lso have a buil t-in EQ curve
when the contro ls a re set "flat" at 12:00. If you wish to use t he G igpro or Mixpro
with the RTS II, we rec ommend that you back o ff the EQ on the Gigp ro or Mixpro
to avoid a do uble EQ. Reduce the gain control and low c ut entir ely and s tart
with both the bass and treb le EQ on the Gigpro or Mixpro in the 8:00 to 9:00
positio ns, then adju st to taste.
solder bump jumpers
A to tip B to ring
solder bump jumpers
A to ring
B to tip
+
aux passive input (B)
fig. 9
RT active input (A)
+-
+
aux passive input (B)
-
-
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