Schatten Design CV Clip-On Violin Pickup User manual

Handmade Pickups For Acoustic Instruments
CV Clip-On Violin Pickup Instructions
Before You Start, A W ord About Am plification:
The CV is a passive pickup and as such has a very high impedance of approximately 1 mega ohm. This
pickup will generally work properly when plugged into any normal electric guitar am p but will not work
properly plugged directly into a PA system and may not work properly plugged straight into som e acoustic
amps without using an acoustic preamp in between. For best results, and to allow the use of this pickup
with all amps and PA system s, the use of an acoustic preamp, such as our Mini Pre, is suggested.
The design of the CV allows the pickup to easily be moved from one violin to another without damage
to the violin or the pickup. Please read these instructions through completely prior to use.
Notes
The CV is intended for use on violins. It was not
designed to be used on violas due to the thicker nature
of a viola bridge. The maximum thickness of a bridge
that the CV will accomm odate (as measured at the
bottom arc) is 5.1mm (0.200")
The pickup sensor should be attached to the bass
side of a bridge with the logo facing towards the tail
piece. For use on left handed violins the sensor would be
attached to the bass side of the bridge with the logo
facing towards the neck.
This distinction m ade between right handed and left
handed instruments is because the “U” shaped slot
within the pickup body is not symmetrical. The slot is
wider at the bottom and it tapers towards the top of the
sensor to allow it to better fit the taper of a bridge.
Pickup Attachm ent
The CV will slide onto a violin bridge and be held in
place by the spring action of the pickup body. It is
important to hold and support the bridge when the
pickup is being pushed into place as the spring action of
the pickup body has som e stiffness to it and m ay move
the bridge.
Be sure to hold and support the bridge when
rem oving the pickup as well.
Pickup Placement
Norm al placem ent for the pickup sensor is on the
bass side of the bridge with the bottom edge of the
pickup as even with the bottom arc of the bridge as it
can com fortably be fitted.
A small gap of between 1/16" to 1/8" (1.5 to 3 m m )
should be left between the bass end of the bridge and
the inside “U” of the pickup body. Leaving this small gap
will benefit the sound quality and output level of the
pickup.
627 Colby Drive Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2V 1B4
www.schattendesign.com email: [email protected]
519-742-3862 toll free: 877-633-0177 fax: [phone]

Using A M ini Pre
When using our Mini Pre acoustic pream p with the CV it is
important to note that the Mini Pre has a trim pot on its’ circuit
board to set the input gain level. As supplied, the level is set to an
average setting that works with most instruments.
If the input gain trim pot is set too high, then the sound of the
instrum ent may be distorted though the am p or PA system. If
distortion occurs, decrease the input gain by carefully turning the
trim pot screw counter clockwise with a small jeweller’s screw
driver.
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