Jaen SIRACUSA 15R User manual

MAN.SR.V1.1 - Feb. 2022

1
CONTENTS
CARE 3 ⚠
MAINTENANCE 5
Changing Strings 5
Adjusting the Bridge Height 6
Adjusting the Compensation 7
Adjusting the Truss Rod Tension 9
Adjusting the Pickup-String Clearance 11
Replacing the Battery 12
USE 13
Electric Controls 13
Deciding on the Amplifier 14
Connecting Your Guitar 15
Anti-Feedback Plug 19
Specifications 21

2

3
CARE
The Siracusa family has a very light construction, with very thin plates
that can be easily damaged. This is not a conventional archtop with plates
that triple the thickness, virtually indestructible. In fact, you could open a
hole on some places of the top by simply pressing hard with your finger.
⚠Read and observe what follows ⚠
⚠Do not allow the guitar to stay in places where humidity,
temperature or light conditions are extreme. These can affect very
seriously the stability of wood and adhesives. Relative Humidity must
be kept around 50% at all times!
Try not to press excessively on the sides of your instrument. For
example, trying to reach for something on the floor ahead of you
while playing seated.
Protect your instrument from accidents:
Try to keep it in its case, always with the drawbolts closed, when
you are not using it. Do not trust too much in the stability of guitar
stands.
Try not to wear buckles, key holders or zippers that may cause
damage to the instrument while playing.
Clean your instrument with well proven products designed
specifically for this job. Avoid abrasive cleaners or those containing
silicone or solvents such as alcohol or acetone.
Do not try to lubricate the machine heads.

4
Try to clean the strings after use with a dry clean cloth.
Avoid the contact with alcoholic beverages. If it happens sometime,
absorb them with a dry cloth without rubbing.
Connect your instrument only to reliable equipment that have a
ground connection. The power line must have a ground-fault
interrupter. If you do not follow these recommendations, you can
cause damage to the instrument as well as to yourself.
⚠If you don’t plan to use your guitar for some time, remove the
battery to avoid leak damage.
If you are going to modify your instrument, ask advice from the
maker.
Even if you are careful with your instrument, some wear will take
place in normal use:
Frets must be redressed or changed after some time.
The finish and the wood below it can suffer color changes,
usually to a more yellow/orange hue. The high gloss will not last
a lifetime.
The gold or chrome plated pieces may lose their plating.

5
MAINTENANCE
Changing Strings
You should do this…
Whenever the strings don’t sound bright, are worn or dirty or have
tuning problems in certain areas of the fretboard.
Necessary tools and materials: Pliers and strings.
Method:
Loosen one string. To untie it from the machines and the tailpiece,
cut it with the pliers. This is the best way to avoid damaging the
string anchors at the tailpiece, your fingers or the finish.
Place the new string in the tailpiece.
Insert the string into the hole in the post and pull until it is around
50 mm high above the fretboard.
Bend the end slightly, just at the exit from the tuner post.
Turn the tuner until the string feels tight, then tune it.
Cut the remaining, leaving about 1 cm out of the post.
Repeat for each string.

6
Adjusting the Bridge Height
You should do this…
Whenever there are buzzes in wide areas of the fretboard. The height
may be lowered if the action is too high and there are no buzzes.
Necessary tools: Small Hex (Allen) key, supplied with the guitar.
Method:
Depending on the problem affecting
more the bass strings than the treble
strings, you will have to turn the
corresponding adjustment screw to
each side of the bridge saddle.
Clockwise to lower it, and
counterclockwise to raise it. The
adjustment will be finished when the
strings are high enough so that, in
your playing style, there are no
buzzes.
Notes:
I usually set the action very low before delivering my instruments.
You can always raise it if you like it better.
If you use thin plain strings, it is possible to have buzzes because
they don’t have enough tension for straightening out the small
irregularities in the steel caused by playing. Use new strings before
performing any adjustment.
After this adjustment, you should also check the truss rod tension
and compensation adjustments, as explained later.

7
Adjusting the Compensation
This procedure must be performed so that all the notes and their octaves
sound reasonably in unison, independent from their position on the
fretboard. A guitar that is not well compensated can be especially
unpleasant when playing chords that mix notes fingered in high frets with
open strings.
You should do this…
When your new strings are a different gauge, or you plan to use an
alternate tuning permanently.
When the bridge has been moved, usually as a consequence of
removing all the strings (which I don’t recommend).
When the height of the bridge has been modified substantially.
However...
Don’t do this every time that you change the strings, it’s not
necessary.
Don’t do this if you find that your worn strings don’t intonate well.
Instead, change them and check if the new ones are OK.
Necessary tools: Electronic tuner or a good ear.
Method:
Start with new strings, already tuned in the guitar for at least a few
hours.
Check if the natural harmonic for the second string in fret 12 is the
same as the fingered note in that same fret. If the tuner (or your
ear) finds that the fingered note is higher than the harmonic, the

8
bridge will have to be moved closer to the
tailpiece. Otherwise, move it further
away from the tailpiece (see drawing).
Check the same for the fifth string, but
this time try to move only the bass
side of the bridge, as you should not
modify its position for the string
that you adjusted first.
Notes:
Some bridges may be hard to move.
Don’t force anything, you can damage the
top if you press hard on it. Better loosen the strings.
Worn strings, deformed from playing or dirty can be impossible to
play in tune—never try to adjust the compensation for old strings,
it’s wasted time.
Some wound strings have defects in the uniformity of their
windings that make them useless. Plain strings have their problems
too: some show a kind of coiling right out of the package that
doesn’t correspond to the curvature that they assumed while in
the package—don’t use these, especially if they are in a low
tension set.
The fixed bridges found in archtop guitars don’t allow a perfect
adjustment for every string, but the discrepancy is usually quite
small.
The saddle in your guitar has been adjusted for string sets that
have a wound third string. If you use a plain third, you may need a
different saddle. Inquire.

9
Adjusting the Truss Rod Tension
You should do this…
When there are buzzes but the action is high. This has three main
probable causes:
- Change of the tension exerted on the neck, usually following the
change of the string gauge or alternate tunings.
- Wood adaptation to the strings/truss rod tension and compression
forces. This is especially important during the first year of life of the
instrument.
- Changes in relative humidity.
Necessary tools: There are two different methods, depending on your
playing style. To perform the “A” method you will need a thin guitar string
(0.010”) and, perhaps, some assistance. For the “B” method, you won’t
need the string. If, after the check, you must make the adjustment, you will
need both the small and the large Hex (Allen) keys supplied with the guitar.
Method A.- This is the way to adjust your guitar if your style is more limited
to the first frets, including lots of open strings.
Press a string (preferably, the third or fourth) simultaneously on
frets 1 and 15. Check if the 0.010” string, working as a gauge, fits
between the top of the seventh fret and the bottom of the chosen
string. If it fits snugly, then stop here: you won’t need any
adjustments.
Remove the magnetic truss rod access cover: insert the small Allen
key into its hole until you find some resistance, then pull.
If the gauge (the 0.010” string) fits loose (so there is still some
clearance), turn the adjustment nut with the large Allen key,
clockwise as seen from the peghead end, an eighth of a turn or less
(see drawing).

10
If the gauge doesn’t fit, turn the adjustment nut with the large
Allen key, counter-clockwise as seen from the peghead end, an
eighth of a turn or less (see drawing).
Wait until the following day, then adjust
the height of the bridge (Page 6) and
repeat the process.
Put in place the magnetic truss rod
access cover again.
Method B.- This is the way to adjust your guitar if
your style involves all the fretboard.
Press a string (preferably, the third or fourth) simultaneously on
frets 1 and 15. Press it lightly on the seventh fret and check if there
is a gap between the fret and the string. If there is one, but it is
extremely small, close to nothing, then stop here: you won’t need
any adjustments.
Remove the magnetic truss rod access cover: insert the small Allen
key into its hole until you find some resistance, then pull.
If there is a noticeable gap between the fret and the string at fret
#7, then turn the adjustment nut with the large Allen key,
clockwise as seen from the peghead end, an eighth of a turn or less
(see drawing).
If the string is making contact with the seventh fret, turn the
adjustment nut with the large Allen key, counter-clockwise as seen
from the peghead end, an eighth of a turn or less (see drawing).
Wait until the following day, then adjust the height of the bridge
(Page 6) and repeat the process.
Put in place the magnetic truss rod access cover again.
CCW
CW

11
Adjusting the Pickup-String Clearance
You should do this…
When you notice that the amplified sound of a string or group of strings
is louder or weaker than the others, or when the output of the pickup is
too high or too low. This adjustment is only for the magnetic pickup.
Necessary tools: You will need a small Hex (Allen) key, supplied with the
guitar.
Method: The magnetic pickup in Siracusa 15R/16R guitars is set at a fixed
height, so all the adjustments will be only on the individual polepieces,
two per string. Turn them clockwise to reduce the output of a string, and
counterclockwise to increase it.
Note:
The pickup in your guitar has two rows of polepieces. I favor this design
because it makes possible to use bronze wound strings instead of the
usual steel or nickel wound strings that are used for electric guitars. Let
me explain this.
Bronze wound strings have a fantastic acoustic tone, but their volume is
quite low when used with magnetic pickups. The plain strings in the set
(usually the first and second) will have a much higher volume, resulting
in a very strong imbalance. The logical way to correct this problem is to
raise the polepieces of the wound strings and lower the polepieces of
the plain strings, trying to equalize their output. However, in my
experience, achieving an acceptable balance is impossible for pickups
that feature adjustable polepieces just for one of their coils, no matter
how extreme the adjustment (even removing the polepieces for the
plain strings). However, it can be done if both coils have them, which is
the way my pickups are made.

12
Replacing the Battery
The battery will typically last hundreds of hours. It will need to be changed
when you notice distortion or reduced volume. To do it, remove the four
screws on the wooden cover located near the output jacks. Please notice
that the cover has a preferred mounting position: internally, there is a TP
sign that must be pointing at the tailpiece.

13
USE
Electric Controls
All the controls are located at the pickguard:
Magnetic Pickup Volume Pot
Piezo Pickup Volume Pot
HB/SingleCoil Switch
Magnetic Pickup Tone Pot
Master Volume Pot

14
The independent volume controls for the two pickups, magnetic and piezo,
are located close to the pickup, still above the pickguard. The master
volume, which allows you to set the volume of both pickups at the same
time, is located below the pickguard, just as the tone control for the
magnetic pickup. These two mimic somehow the ones that you find in
many single-pickup archtops, with some subtleties:
The output of the guitar, controlled by the master volume, will have a
fixed blend of piezo and magnetic, adjusted by means of the two
independent volume controls. However, please notice that the guitar
always keeps the piezo and magnetic outputs separate.
The tone control will affect just the magnetic pickup. I put it there
because all players expect to have it. However, the piezo does not
have a tone control. More on this below.
Most archtops with controls below the pickguard place the tone pot
closer to the end of the pickguard. Here it is just the opposite; I think
that the pot in that position is easier to find by touch, so it’s the
volume that goes there.
There is an additional control below the pickguard, a slide switch that
changes the magnetic pickup coil configuration from humbucker to single
coil (HB/SingleCoil Switch in the drawing above). When in humbucker mode
(towards the tailpiece), you’ll have a fuller tone, more powerful and almost
free of hum. In the single coil position (towards the peghead), the tone will
be more clear, less powerful and more prone to being affected by
electromagnetic interference.
Deciding on the Amplifier
The recommended way to connect this guitar is to use either a single
amplifier with two independent channels or two separate amplifiers. If you
like the first option better, there are some great amps from AER or
Henriksen, for example. Separate amps can have the obvious advantage of
their physical separation.

15
No matter what amp you use, piezos need some hard processing to sound
natural. Keep in mind that the preamp in this guitar is in reality a simple
buffer, designed just for overcoming the problems that a passive piezo
circuit would have with cables and potentiometers. If you want to get the
best of it, you’ll have to use a modern preamp, such as the ToneDexter, by
Audio Sprockets, between the piezo output and the amplifier.
Connecting your Guitar
The Siracusa 15R/16R has two jacks at its side, shown here:
1
2
#1 is a Mono jack and #2 is a Stereo jack, both for
1/4” plugs. We’ll explain a few things about plugs
now.
There are many different types, but conventional
electric guitars use 1/4” TS plugs. The TS indicates
that they are designed to be used with a Shielded
(hence the S) cable with a single conductor inside,
available at the Tip (hence the T). There are also TRS plugs, meaning that
they have another conductor inside the shield, connected to a Ring piece (R)
right below the tip, and so they can transmit two separate signals.

16
Now a few words about cables:
A cable with 1/4” TS plugs at both ends is known as Guitar Cable.
A cable with a 1/4” TRS plug at one end can be several things,
depending on what’s at the other end. Among all the possibilities:
If there is another TRS plug, this is usually known as Stereo
Cable. It carries two signals from the guitar to some other
equipment that will take care of both.
If there are two plugs, no matter their type, this is usually called
Y Cable. There is some confusion here, because this Y shape, by
itself, says little about its function, so that name is a generic. If
there are 1/4” TRS plugs at the other two ends of the Y, then
this cable will simply fork a stereo signal to two stereo
destinations. These cables serve no purpose for this guitar. The
type with a 1/4” TRS plug at one end that forks into two 1/4” TS
plugs at the other two ends of the Y is the one that is useful for
us, and is usually called Insert Cable. For example, the Roland
RCC-10-TR28. A cable like this will allow you to route the two
signals in the TRS plug (at its Tip and Ring) to two different
devices or two separate inputs on the same device (at the Tip of
each TS plug). There is a convention for telling apart the TS
plugs in these cables: the one that is connected to the Ring of
the TRS is Red. The other is usually black or white.
Guitar Cables and Insert Cables are the ones to use for connecting this
guitar. Stereo Cables can be used in some situations where you have a
stereo equipment managing both signals, but this is unusual. These are the
most useful possibilities:

17
a. Guitar Cable in #1, nothing in #2
This is just like any conventional electric
guitar with a magnetic pickup. You’ll have
two volume controls available (the one
close to the pickup plus the master volume
below the pickguard), plus the tone control
and the HB/SingleCoil switch, these two
below the pickguard.
This has the advantage that you don’t
need the battery to make it work. It won’t
use it either, so you may leave the cable connected permanently.
b. Guitar Cable in #1, Guitar Cable in #2
You can route the signals to two separate
amps/amp channels for your piezo and
magnetic pickups: #1 is the magnetic, #2 is
the piezo. All the controls shown on Page
13 are operational.
This has the advantage that it uses Guitar
Cables, easily available everywhere, so it
may be really useful if you forgot to bring
your special Insert Cable to the gig. Also if
your amps are separated by more than what the Insert Cable permits.
You must remove the cable from #2 when you are done playing; otherwise
the battery will deplete.
Ch.A
1
Ch.A Ch.B
21

18
c. Nothing in #1, Insert Cable in #2
You can route the signals to two separate
amps/amp channels for your piezo and
magnetic pickups. The black (or white) TS
plug at one end of the Y corresponds to the
piezo, the red TS plug at the other end
corresponds to the magnetic. All the controls
shown on Page 13 are operational.
Having a single cable at the guitar is an advantage. However, many times
the distance between the two TS plugs is not enough for what you need;
think for example of two amplifiers located far from each other. Your
guitar comes with a Hosa STP-204 cable, that you can use even if the amps
are separated by meters. If you forgot to bring it to the gig, then use two
cables, as in (b).
You must remove the cable when you are done playing; otherwise the
battery will deplete.
There is a fourth possibility that is not exactly useful, but it is good to
mention it in order to highlight a small detail in the operation of this guitar:
d. Guitar Cable in #1, Insert Cable in #2
You can route the signals to two separate amps for your piezo and your
magnetic pickups, so it is equivalent to case (b), except it is more expensive
and less elegant. That’s not good, and shouldn’t be in this list of useful
combinations. But perhaps you are trying this because you want to connect
a third amplifier. This won’t work because, the moment you connect a plug
in jack #1, the signal from the magnetic pickup will only be available there.
This is done to preserve the output of the magnetic pickup in case (b), which is really useful for
the player but has the problem that the ring of jack #2 would get a direct path to ground due to
the TS plug there.
You must remove the cable from #2 when you are done playing; otherwise
the battery will deplete.
Ch.A Ch.B
2