Cutlass Maintenance & Setup

[brockroberts]

Hello

I just recently received my purchase of Cutlass RS HSS EB Stealth Blk. It is my first MM guitar and I like it!

I am concerned over what seems to be a gray wall blocking access to maintenance, setup and technical information about the guitar. As I have played the guitar over the last couple of weeks, the bridge cover has become the slightest bit loose. I want find out the technical details of how the bridge cover is attached before I simply start taking my new $3000 guitar apart in an exploratory fashion. I read this this thread...

http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-b...itar-bridge-cover.html?highlight=instructions

... where the user was asking about removing the bridge cover but the question was not answered. It was changed to "you don't need to remove the cover". All this and my inability to find maintenance information as well as replacement parts sources is concerning.

I also want to understand the guitar circuitry. It has a battery/battery port, but NO information was provided or available that speaks to what the battery is doing (pre-amp I presume but what are the features - what is the wiring - what are the details)?

Is it Music Mans general policy to block end users from working on or maintaining instruments or having easy access to this info?

I don' t want to start life here in a negative fashion. I would like to think Music Man is a dream company not only in high quality instruments but customer support as well. Am I just missing something?

Any information would be greatly appreciated...
Thanks
Brock
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[kimonostereo]

Welcome!

To answer your question about the bridge cover: @DrKev answered it here. I haven't done this on my Cutlass or St. V as I haven't had to so I can't verify, but DrKev is a very reliable member and knows his way around these things.

For the rest of your questions:
Most parts can be replaced via EBMM Customer Service. Either shoot them an email or give them a call. There are some parts that are proprietary and they will only replace if you send back the original part.

I sort of agree that they could volunteer a bit more technical info via a FAQ about each of the more recent models, but the older models are well documented and the rest can be found here in this forum with some searching. Yeah, you shouldn't have to wade through a forum to find your answer, but here you are.

Under the pickguard of the Cutlass, you will find both pots connected to a PCB board which houses the transparent buffered output and I believe the new silent circuit. You can request a wiring diagram from EBMM customer service if you need it.

And lastly, while I don't work for EBMM, I don't feel like they have a policy to block end users from working on or maintaining instruments or having easy access to this info. I don't think they post any wiring diagrams online the same as some of the others out there. I do feel like they could do a better job of making FAQs for the newer models and answering questions that appear here in the forum from new owners.

One more thing: it's a tradition that if you claim to have a new EBMM, it's doesn't really exist until you post a photo of it here!

 

[DrKev]

Hi Brock and welcome to the forum family!

The Cutlass has a silent circuit, which removes much of 50/60 Hz hum from the single coils. The volume and tone pots are mounted on a circuit board which includes two mini trim pots to adjust the silent circuit.

The guitar also includes a buffer circuit, part of the same circuit board, which means that "tone loss" due to cable capacitance or pedal/amplifier input impedance is no longer an issue, i.e. whether you use a 10ft cable or a 50ft cable your tone will always be consistent and will never suffer high frequency loss, and no high frequency loss when rolling down the guitar's volume (so no treble bypass required). The only disadvantage of an onboard buffer is that some vintage style pedals with a low input impedance (e.g vintage style fuzz pedals particularly) may sound different because the pedal/pickup interaction is different.

You have to remove the bridge to remove the bridge cover (there are two little screws accessible from the underside of the bridge plate).

I whole heartedly agree that Music Man could do better at supplying technical information; I particularly love that info (it's the engineer/physicist/guitar tech in me). In the case of the Cutlass, the silent circuit should be correctly set at the factory and the buffered output is non-adjustable. They are both mentioned on the Cutlass page of the Music Man website but most retailers websites, and even the best YouTube reviews, either don't get it right or miss it altogether. But I realize that EBMM have to find a balance with plug-and-play-ness and not putting off potential customers by making things seem over complicated for the sake of keeping more technically minded folks like us happy.

I have photos of the Cutlass bridge disassembled and of the wiring innards too. If I get a chance in the next few days I'll post them in a new thread. I was trying to do a Cutlass review video that covered all the things I think were missed but I'm realistically not in a position to make that happen right now.

 

[brockroberts]

Thanks for the replies. Here's the pix (attached). You can't see it however due to Stealth technology.



--------------------

I am Variable Lost
Variable Lost | ReverbNation
VariableLost
- YouTube

 

[DrKev]

None more black! Awesome!