Fishmans Rare Earth Soundhole Pickups Installation & User Guide

8/6/2019 Fishmans Rare Earth Soundhole Pickups Installation & User Guide

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USER GUIDE

RaRE EaRth SoUnDholE PIckUPS


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Qui Is

To temporarily install the pickup, loosen the clamps with a Phillips screwdriver.

Position the pickup in the soundhole, parallel to and as close to the end o thengerboard as possible. Gently re-tighten the clamps. For now, run the cable outthrough the soundhole.

Preui: Dont let the pickup cable rest on your guitars nish or longperiods. The rubber jacket could interact with the nish and leave apermanent mark.

I you travel with your guitar or store it or long periods with the pickup in place,we strongly recommend that you have the endpin jack permanently installed inthe guitar. Installation instructions or proessional installers are available romService & Support at www.shman.com.


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Muig cmps

The jaws o the clamps are lined with natural cork, which will not interact withthe guitars nish. Use gentle pressure to tighten the clamps. Note thatover-tightening may perorate the guitar nish.

Pwer

The Rare Earth switches on when you plug in. To conserve the batteries, unplugthe endpin jack when not in use.

The batteries or the Rare Earth are conveniently mounted to the underside othe pickup. You can expect over 20 hours (110 hours or Rare Earth Blend)between battery changes. When the signal rom the pickup starts to distort it istime to change the batteries. See page 9.


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Piup Viig

The Rare Earth has been careully voiced to reproduce a balanced stringresponse. I your guitar has very high action on the bass side or very low actionon the treble side, you may hear slight imbalance between the outside strings. Inthese cases, raise the bass side o the pickup with a shim.

The Rare Earth is voiced specically or bronze or phosphor bronze strings. Inickel electric guitar strings are used with the Rare Earth, the lower wound stringswill overpower the higher plain strings.

Premp

All Rare Earth models eature a miniature preamp, housed within the body othe pickup. A low-noise circuit design preserves the pickups perormance in anyaudio environment. Plug the Rare Earth into an acoustic instrument amplier, anunbalanced input o a mixer or a direct box, without signal loss or degradation.

You may run cables up to 80' (2m) in length without audible signal loss.


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Piup types

Sige ci

This model is or those who preer the brightness and character associated with asingle coil pickup. Note that this version, like all single coil pickups, is susceptibleto 0 0Hz hum. To minimize noise, keep the Rare Earth Single Coil away romfuorescent lights, light dimmers, computer monitors and transormers.


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humbuig

A stacked coil style, or musicians who demand brilliant acoustic tone withquieter reproduction than a single coil pickup can oer. A volume control,located on the bottom o the pickup, is easily accessible through the soundhole.

Move the wheel clockwise to increase volume. For the lowest noise perormance,keep the control at the highest setting.


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8

Piup types (iued)

Bed

The Rare Earth Blend marries our active humbucking pickup to a high quality,internally mounted miniature microphone. These components couple seamlesslyor cohesive, three-dimensional amplied acoustic tone. The microphone is aminiature electret type, with a hyper-cardioid response pattern. It easily adjustsinto position with a fexible gooseneck mount.

Adjust the balance between themicrophone and magnetic signalswith the small rotary blend control,located underneath the pickup.Move the wheel toward the treblestrings or more pickup, andtoward the bass strings or moremicrophone.


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9

Bery Repeme

Remove the pickup rom the instrument and careully pry out the batteries with asmall fat-head jewelers screwdriver. When you replace the batteries, observe the

correct polarity. Note that plus (+) and minus (-) polarity marks are molded intothe shell o the battery clip.

Bery Requiremes

Two 1. Volt silver oxide:Eveready #ANSI-WS11EC-SR

Will also accept one -Volt lithium battery:Duracell DL1/NEveready 2L

Varta CR 1/N 12Union Carbide 2LSanyo CR 1/NOthers: K8L


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10

Rre Er Bed Mirpe Peme

Try experimenting with microphone placement until you nd a position you like.

Here are some suggestions to get you started:To begin, move the blend control toward the bass strings. A good startingposition is with the microphone capsule parallel to the soundboard. Point ittoward the edge o the soundhole to emphasize more bass. Once you nd asound you like, blend in the pickup to taste.

Preui: Do not bend or twist the gooseneck where it joins the

pickup housing.


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11


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Sere operi

The Blend model can be modied so the microphone signal is added to the ringoutput. Instructions or this modication are available rom Service & Support atwww.shman.com.

Once the Rare Earth Blend is wired or stereo, the thumb-wheel will not aectthe level o the microphone at the ring output, but it will continue to mix mic andpickup at the tip output. Move the thumb-wheel toward the treble side or allpickup to the tip.

For stereo operaton, use a TRS cable or a stereo Y cable. I you plug in a monocable, you may hear distortion rom the mic.


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1

Suggesis r Sere operi


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1

Speifis

a Mdes:

Output Impedance 1k OhmRecommended Minimum Load Impedance 10k Ohm

Supply Voltage .0 .V

Sige ci:

Maximum Output Level 0dBu RMS

Output Noise Level 20 hours


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humbuig

Maximum Output Level -dBu RMS


Rre Er Bed

Maximum Output Level -dBu RMS


The inormation and specifcations in this manual subject to change without notice.


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Fishmans Rare Earth Soundhole Pickups Installation & User Guide