ns design NS-CR4 Radius Bas, NS-CR5 Radius Bas Owner's Manual

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NS-CR4/5 RadiuS BaSS

Owner’s Manual

The contents of this document, including all graphics, are the property of NS Design. NS Design has made every reasonable eort to ensure that all the information contained in this manual is correct at the time of publishing. However, NS Design reserves the right to make any changes necessary without notice as part of ongoing product development.

Radius™ and Polar™ are trademarks of NS Design

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NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Overview (Front) 5

Overview (Back) 7

Re-Stringing and Tuning 8

Setting Up the Bass 15

Setting the intonation ..................................................................................................................17

Setting the action ........................................................................................................................19

Adjusting the truss rod ................................................................................................................21

Replacing the Batteries 23

Speciﬁcations 24

Accessories 25

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Piezo EQ

high – mid – low

EMG pickups

bridge – both – neck

Volume

Blend

Piezo – EMG

Treble

cut – boost

Bass

cut – boost

Overview (Front)

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Overview (Front)

Overview Features

1 Aluminum headplate with ball-end string.mounting slots 2 Magnetic pickups (EMG) unique design matched to the fretboard radius 3 Bridge with one piece aluminum saddle and integrated

Polar Piezo pickup system

4 Tuner housing with self-clamping precision tuning system 5 Volume pot for both piezo and magnetic pickups 6 Blend pot with center detent, blending between piezo and

magnetic pickups

7 Active treble boost/cut pot with center detent 8 Active bass boost/cut pot with center detent 9 Pickup selector switch for magnetic pickups 3-position switch 10 Piezo EQ switch 3-position switch 11 Output jack

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Overview (Back)

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Overview (Back)

Overview Features

12 Electronics compartment cover 13 Battery compartment cover can be opened separately for battery

replacement

14 Thumb screw for battery compartment cover 15 String aperture

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Re-Stringing and Tuning

This bass accepts any standard single-ball end, full-scale bass guitar strings. The way the strings are clamped leaves them undamaged and without the usual windings on the end. This lets you easily take them out (e.g. for cleaning) and put them back on the bass as often as desired.

1 Turn the tuning knob fully counter-clockwise

to loosen the string, until the slotted tuning arm is in the frontmost position (towards the bridge).

The clamping mechanism opens up and you can pull the string(s) out.

Re-Stringing and Tuning

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

To install strings:

2 Put the ball end of the new string into the slot

on the headplate.

3 Pull the string towards the neck and guide it

over the nut.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Re-Stringing and Tuning

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

4 Guide the other end of the string through the

opening behind the slotted tuning arm.

If you have diculties to guide the string into the tuning mechanism, check if the tuning arm is in the frontmost position (which at the same time fully opens up the clamping mechanism).

5 Push the string through the tuner housing

(and the bass body) as far as it will go, and hold it with one ﬁnger in this position.

6 Turn the tuning knob clockwise to close the

clamping mechanism, which now tightly holds the string. This happens shortly after the string holder has started moving back.

7 Continue rotating the tuning knob until the

string is tuned to pitch.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Re-Stringing and Tuning

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

After all strings are installed and tuned up to pitch:

8 Turn the bass over.

9 Cut the strings within the recessed aperture

of the body, so that their ends don’t stick out.

Bass strings are hard and may have sharp or pointy ends. Only use appropriate cutters to cut the ends of the strings. Otherwise you might injure yourself or damage the bass.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Intonation

String action

Setting Up the Bass

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Setting Up the Bass

If you are not familiar with setting up a bass, you should ask a qualiﬁed bass and guitar technician for help. Most set-up steps are easy, but if done wrong there is potential damage to the instrument.

Your bass has left the factory with the set-up already done. Additionally, the neck is very sti due to the carbon ﬁber core and the truss rod, which makes it highly insensitive to environmental inﬂuences. Changing the set-up is generally only necessary if a higher or lower action is desired, or when using a dierent string gauge which exerts dierent tension on the neck.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Setting Up the Bass

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Setting the intonation

The horizontal bridge position is locked by two screws on each side (3/32" hex wrench, provided with the bass). By loosening these screws you are able to move the bridge on the respective side back and forth to adjust intonation.

If the intonation becomes ﬂat when the strings are played at the higher frets, the bridge should be moved slightly closer to the neck.

To move the bridge towards the neck:

1 Loosen the screw on the tuner side of the

bridge and push the bridge into the desired position.

2 Turn in the previously loosened screw until it

slightly touches the bridge post.

3 Tighten the screw on the neck side of the bridge.

If the intonation becomes sharp when the strings are played at the higher frets, the bridge should be moved slightly closer to the tuners.

To move the bridge towards the tuners:

1 Loosen the screw on the neck side of the

bridge and push the bridge into the desired position.

2 Turn in the previously loosened screw until it

slightly touches the bridge post.

3 Tighten the screw on the tuner side of the bridge.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Setting Up the Bass

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Setting the action

The bridge has two posts which can individually be adjusted for each side. To set up the string action:

1 Using a 3/32" hex wrench, slightly loosen

one of the screws locking the bridge on the

bridge post (see page 17).

2 Put a 5/32" hex wrench (provided with the

bass) into the bridge post.

3 Turn the hex wrench

• counter-clockwise to raise this side of the

bridge, or

• clockwise to lower this side of the bridge.

4 When the bridge height is correctly adjusted,

tighten the previously loosened screw again.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Setting Up the Bass

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Adjusting the truss rod

Improper truss rod adjustment can permanently damage the neck. If you are unsure why and

how to adjust neck relief, ask a qualiﬁed guitar and bass technician for help.

For adjustment, use a 5 mm hex wrench (provided with the bass).

• Turn the hex wrench counter-clockwise to lower the tension of the truss rod (the neck bows more due to the string tension), or

• Turn the hex wrench clockwise to increase the tension of the truss rod (the neck gets straighter)

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Replacing the Batteries

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Replacing the Batteries

The active preamp/EQ in your bass is supplied by two 9V batteries. To replace the batteries:

1 Open the thumb screw on the battery

compartment cover.

2 Remove the cover.

3 Pull on the strip protruding behind the upper

battery. This will pull the batteries out of the battery holder.

4 Remove the battery clips from the batteries.

5 Install the new batteries in reverse order,

and make sure the strip still sticks out when ﬁnished.

Always replace both batteries at the same time. Don’t mix used and new batteries. Dispose of the batteries according to your local regulations and in an environmentally responsible manner.

NS-CR4/5 Radius Bass Owner’s Manual

Speciﬁcations

CR4 CR5

Overall Length 41.5" 43" Body Length 20.8" 20.8" Neck scale 34" 35" Neck radius 15" 15" Weight 8.4 lbs / 3,8 kg 8.63 lbs / 3,9 kg Bridge Spacing 19 mm 18 mm Nut Width 1.60" 1.85" 12th Fret Width 2.19" 2.54" Power supply 2 x 9V 2 x 9V Magnetic pickups EMG EMG Piezo pickup Polar™ pickup system Polar™ pickup system