U.S. Masters Guitar and Bass Owner's Manual

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Thank you for purchasing this U.S. Masters instrument. We have put heart and soul into making some of the highest performance guitars and basses ever made available. They embody many innovative and substantial features and designs as well as precision craftsmanship. They are protected by U.S. Patent No.s 5,886,272 and 6,051,765. Our Ever-Tru neck profiles (both guitar and bass) with conical radius fingerboards, Contoured Flex truss rod assembly, Compression-Set Captive Neck Joint, use of premium components and custom-designed pickups and electronics will provide you with playability and sound quality worthy of the world’s finest players. We hope you enjoy making great music with our instrument.

Index
Neck care
Fingerboard care
Body care
High gloss finish
Transport and Storage
Adjustments
Neck Screws Adustment
Truss Rod Adjustment
Bridge Adjustment
Pickup Adjustment and Balance
U.S. Masters V2 Humbuckers
Tuning
Stringing your bass
Stringing your guitar
Sperzel Standard tuning machines
Tuning with tremolo
Guitar wiring
Bass wiring

Care of Neck, Fingerboard, and Body
A. Neck
The neck (aside from the headstock) does not have a standard build finish such as lacquer or urethane. The neck is treated with a hand rubbed finish that soaks into the neck, sealing it and strengthening the wood fibers. This allows you to maintain the feel of wood and reduces the “stickiness” associated with build finishes. This proprietary deep penetrating treatment seals and protects the wood unlike gun oil, tung oil, linseed oil or other similar neck “finishes”. It is easy to care for. To clean and revive the neck you can use a non-silicone penetrating oil such as lemon oil. Simply rub it down with a soft cloth and the oil and then wipe off any excess with a dry cloth. If the surface should become rough it can be wet-sanded with 800 grit sandpaper and lemon oil, wiping off the excess with a dry cloth. Afterward the neck (not including the fingerboard) may be buffed, if desired, to bring up the sheen. The finish on the headstock can be cleaned and polished with a commercially available guitar polish. See the following section “D. High Gloss Finish” for more details.

B. Fingerboard
Coat the fingerboard with lemon oil or fingerboard oil that has no silicone in it and let it sit for a few minutes. If it soaks up the oil add a little more. After about a half hour thoroughly wipe off the excess along with any dirt or grime. Commercially available fingerboard oil may also be used, as long as it contains no silicone.

C. Hand-Rubbed Oil Finish Body
The bodies are finished with a special sealer and a top coat of a satin urethane varnish. White it gives the rich appearance of an oil finish, this process seals, preserves, and protects the wood better than any oil finish. It may be cleaned with a commercially available guitar polish or lemon oil that does not contain silicone. We do not recommend the use of furniture polish. If the finish is showing wear and you wish to revitalize the appearance, clean the area first using alcohol, let dry, then apply a thin coat of a satin urethane varnish available from your local professional paint/finish supplier.

D. High Gloss Finish
Cleaning should be done with a soft, non-abrasive, cloth and a standard guitar polish available in music stores. As dust can act as a micro-abrasive it is best to remove any dustwithout wiping across the surface - use air or a feather duster. Do not use paper towels, they are quite abrasive. We do not recommend using furniture polish. Commercial polishes are available at music stores.

E. Transport and Storage
Do not expose the finish to rapid temperatures, climates, humidity or dryness. This can cause damage to the finish and/or wood. Do not expose the instrument to rapid temperature or climate changes. If exposed, allow the instrument to slowly return to room temperature in the case. For example, if the instrument is stored or transported in cold/winter conditions, do not bring indoors and open the case, allowing a rush of warm air to "hit" the guitar. This can cause damage to the finish, wood, and metal parts. Do not leave the instrument in a hot car or trunk during the summer. The extreme heat can cause metal parts to "sweat", causing damage to their finish, and/or cause finish or wood damage. Do not expose the finish to direct sunlight which can cause the finish to fade. IMPORTANT! Do not release truss rod or string tension when transporting!
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Adjustments - Critical information!!
If you don't adjust your guitar it is like buying a car and never changing the oil! Maintaining the adjustment of your instrument is vitally important to keeping it playing and sounding its best. Adjusting the action is something that should be done by an experienced, respected guitar technician so that your instrument will play its best. Read this information carefully and if there are any questions, contact us. There are many people who claim to know how to adjust instruments that may not do a quality job and can compromise the playability of your guitar. There is tremendous interaction between these various adjustments so it is important to check and re-check them all to make sure everything is properly set.

A. Neck Screws
The neck is attached to the body using machine screws with a #2 square drive head which is easier to tighten without “slipping out” or damage to the screw head than other types of screw heads. #2 square drive screw drivers are readily available at most hardware stores. As part of routine maintenance it is good to check and make sure the neck screws are tightened firmly by hand. The neck screws do not have to be tightened hard. Simple hand tightening will do. If the neck should be taken off please note, on guitars, the two different screw lengths and their locations. Do not mix them up or replace them without the washers or damage may occur to the neck. This voids the warranty.
Do not shim the neck. Both guitars and basses are designed for the neck to seat directly against the body in the neck joint with a slight space between the body and neck in the visible area of the “lip” at the end of the heel.

B. Truss Rod
Your instrument features our patented Neck Reinforcing Contoured Flex™ Truss Rod System which reinforces the neck, improves tone, attack and sustain, and sets a special relief contour in to the neck to provide for lower, more consistent action.
Make truss rod adjustments with the guitar tuned to pitch and strings set to their desired height. The bass truss rod is adjusted at the heel end of the neck with the supplied 1/4” “socket style” hex wrench. Guitar truss rods are adjusted by inserting the supplied 3/32” metal rod (a 3/32” allen wrench will also work) into the spoke of the wheel nut at the heel end of the neck. No parts need be removed or strings loosened. Simply insert the wrench and turn clockwise to tighten, counter-clockwise to loosen. Tightening the rod will reduce the “relief”, or “bow” of the neck. Generally 1/8th of a turn will be all that is required for adjustment. As our necks are extremely strong and rigid, it may take a day or two for the full extent of the adjustment to take effect though you will notice most of the effect immediately.
Our necks are designed to have minimal relief. Check this with the instrument tuned to pitch. Hold down the low E string on both the first and last fret noting the distance between the string and the top of the 7th fret. On our guitars this distance is typically 1/32” to 1/64”, slightly greater on the basses. It is generally best to get the neck as flat as possible before you start to notice the strings buzzing. If they buzz simply add a bit more relief. But, you must also make sure that your string height is adjusted properly (strings are not too low) or the truss rod will not be able to be properly adjusted.

C. Bridge Adjustments
1. String Height
This is adjusted by raising or lowering the bridge saddles using the proper sized allen wrench supplied with the guitar. When adjusting make sure both height screws are in solid contact with the base plate of the bridge or buzzing may occur and tone may be affected. Make sure the truss rod is properly adjusted before making final settings of the string height. Then, if the strings are buzzing against the frets slightly raise the strings. The height of the strings relative to one another is critical as is the overall height. The height of the strings follows the curvature of the fingerboard but with each lower pitched string slightly further from the fingerboard than the last. This forms a diverging curve from high strings to low. Please note: 5 and 6 string basses have an asymmetrical fingerboard with the treble side curving down lower than the bass side so the height adjustment must take this into account. In other words, the highest strings will be set very low as compared to the lower strings; the curvature of the saddle heights will look more radical than those of conventional basses.

2. Harmonics - “Intonation” - String Length
Relative string lengths must be properly adjusted for the guitar or bass to play in tune with itself, let alone other instruments. If not properly adjusted, the sound of the instrument will not be good and cannot be corrected in any other way. It is easiest to adjust “harmonics”, the length of the strings, using an electronic tuner. This must be done when switching the gauge of string, type or brand. It is best done with a new set of strings that have sat under tension, at pitch, for an hour. This is the method...
Setting String Intonation
1) With the instrument set up (truss rod and string heights) and the strings tuned to pitch, play the harmonic at the 12th fret noting the exact pitch on the tuner.
2) Play the fretted note at the 12th fret and note the exact pitch on the tuner.
3) If the fretted note is higher in pitch than the harmonic the string length needs to be increased. This is done by turning the saddle “intonation” screw clockwise moving the saddle away from the nut, making the string longer.
4) If the fretted note is lower in pitch than the harmonic the string needs to be shortened. Turn the saddle screw counter-clockwise to move the saddle towards the nut making the string shorter. 5) If the saddle had to be moved greater than a 1/16” you may also need to adjust the string height again.
6) Repeat these steps for each string, so that the 12th fret harmonic matches the pitch of the 12th fret fretted note.

3. Tremolo Springs
The back cover plate for the tremolo spring cavity is slotted so that you can make adjustments to the spring tension without removing the plate. The tremolo claw is adjusted using a #2 phillips head screw driver. To adjust, make sure the guitar is tuned to pitch. To lower the back of the tremolo towards the body tighten the springs by turning the screws clockwise. This will reduce the range of pitch you will have when pulling up on the tremolo. Make sure after making the spring adjustment that you retune the guitar as any change in spring tension results in a change in string tension, thus changing pitch. To raise the back of the tremolo, simply loosen the screws, turning them counter-clockwise.

4. “Down Only” Tremolo Setup
To set the tremolo so it will only drop pitch and otherwise hold the pitch of the strings to constant when bending or when a string breaks, tighten the tremolo springs a little past the point where the back of the tremolo is pulled down tight to the body when the guitar is tuned to pitch.

D. Pickup Adjustment and Balance Between Pickups
The loudness of any individual pickup may be increased by moving it closer to the strings. However, it is possible to get it too close, especially in the neck position, and cause it to decrease sustain which will cause tuning and tone problems because of the magnetic pull on the strings. A pickup may also be too close to the strings and a string may physically vibrate against the pickup housing.
When a pickup selection is made which involves two or more pickups varying the height of the involved pickups will change the tone because the volume of each pickup relative to the other(s) has changed. At the factory, we set the volume of all pickups to be equal when playing a nut position chord except when humbuckers are mixed with single coils. In that case, humbuckers will generally be slightly louder. On pickups with adjustable pole pieces, the volume of individual strings may be subtly changed by raising or lowering the pole piece. The string-to-string balance may be changed for a tapped humbucker (operating as a single coil) vs. its humbucking setting by adjusting the pole pieces differently for each coil. Notes about factory pickup settings are included in the section on wiring.
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About Tuning and Stringing Your Guitar or Bass
Our guitars are equipped with Sperzel staggered height tuning machines. The short height of the 1st and 2nd string tuners creates sufficient downward pressure in the nut slot without the need for a string tree. Our string geometry/headstock design creates minimal friction in the nut slot which makes it easier to tune the guitar and helps it to stay in tune better than conventional designs, even with aggressive playing and use of a tremolo.
On basses the geometry is such that staggered height tuners are not necessary. It is important to note that we use a top load bridge not only to make changing strings much easier, but also because it reduces the “break” angle of the string over the saddle which helps the string to vibrate correctly from the break point by reducing the stiffness of the string at the break point and provides a longer effective string length. This provides better intonation and helps the heavier gauge string’s harmonic overtones to vibrate more “in tune” with the fundamental. Adequate downward pressure is maintained for aggressive playing styles.

Stringing Basses
Basses are equipped with Sperzel Trim-Lock locking tuning machines. On the back of the tuner is a knurled “dial”. As you turn this dial it pushes up on a pin that slides up through the shaft of the tuner and presses on the string inserted into the hole in the shaft of the tuner. This clamps the string into the shaft so it cannot slip. When stringing your bass it is not necessary to use more than one winding around the shaft. If you use more make sure the windings are neatly wrapped so that one winding does not overlap another. This will help your bass to stay better in tune. To restring, simply loosen the string, then loosen the knurled dial on the back of the tuning machines and slide the string out of the hole.

Stringing Guitars
Guitars equipped with Sperzel Trim-Lock locking tuning machines
On the back of the tuner is a knurled “dial”. As you turn this dial it pushes up on a pin that slides up through the shaft of the tuner and presses on the string inserted into the hole in the shaft of the tuner. This clamps the string into the shaft so it cannot slip, helping your guitar to stay in tune. When stringing your guitar it is not necessary to use more than one winding around the shaft. We have found that your guitar will stay in tune better if you use no more than one wrap when tuned to pitch.To restring, simply loosen the knurled dial on the back of the tuning machines and slide the string out of the hole.

Guitars equipped with Sperzel Standard tuning machines
As there is no locking mechanism the string must be wrapped several times around the tuner shaft before going through the string hole and being bent to the side so that it will not slip. Wrap the low strings at least 2 times at pitch, the middle two strings 3 times and the top strings at least 4 times. Wrap them neatly with no overlapping windings and the guitar will tune better and stay in tune better.

Tuning guitars with tremolos
If your guitar’s tremolo is floating, that is it can go both up and down in pitch, you will need to tune the guitar and then retune it several times until it is up to pitch. As you tune you are increasing the tension on the tremolo which pulls up on the tremolo, increasing the pressure on the tremolo springs. As the tremolo pulls up the pitch of all the strings will drop. You may find that tuning slightly above pitch at the very beginning of the tuning process may speed things up. This is an inherent problem with all floating tremolos. However, once in tune, the design of our guitars is such that, including the use of the Point tremolo and Sperzel locking tuners, they will stay in tune better than conventional designs.
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Wiring and Electronics of Guitars and Basses
All of our instruments use U.S. Masters custom-designed pickups, designed to compliment the broad resonant tonal and dynamic range of our instruments.
Guitars
About our tone control...
Our tone control is designed to alter the high and mid-frequency response of the pickups giving you additional useful voicings instead of muting the tone. Listen to the effect of the tone control in each switch position with clean amp settings and with distortion. You will find it to be very useful.

Versatek Harness: dual humbucker, 5-way switch with a volume and tone control
1) Bridge series humbucking; 2) Bridge inside single coil; 3) Neck series humbucking + bridge outside coil single; 4) Neck outside coil single; 5) Neck series humbucking

Power Harness: bridge humbucker + middle and neck single coils with a volume and tone control
1) Bridge series humbucking; 2) Bridge inside single + middle; 3) Middle; 4) Middle + neck; 5) Neck

HSS Power Harness with Punch™: bridge humbucker with middle and neck single coils, volume control and a tone control with a push/pull switch to activate the Punch circuit.
1) Bridge humbucker; 2) Bridge-side single of humbucker + middle; 3) Middle 4) Middle + Neck; 5) Neck
With Punch control engaged (tone control pulled up): 1) no change; 2) Bridge humbucker + middle; 3) no change; 4) Middle in parallel with neck + bridge-side coil of humbucker in series; 5) Bridge humbucker in series with neck

LeGrand Harness: 3 single coils with volume, tone and punch controls
1) Bridge; 2) Bridge + middle; 3) Middle; 4) Middle + neck; or with punch control, middle + neck and bridge in series; 5) Neck; or with punch control, neck + bridge in series

LeGrand HSS Power Harness with Punch™: bridge humbuckers with middle and neck single coils, volume control, (middle) tone control with a push/pull switch to activate coil tap, and Punch control.
1) Bridge humbucker; 2) Bridge-side single of humbucker + middle; 3) Middle 4) Middle + Neck; 5) Neck
With Punch control engaged (rotated counter-clockwise): 1) no change; 2) Bridge humbucker + middle; 3) no change; 4) Middle in parallel with neck + bridge-side coil of humbucker in series; 5) Bridge humbucker in series with neck
With Coil Tap engaged (tone control pulled out): 1) Bridge single coil, neck-side; 2) Neck-side single coil of bridge + middle, Punch control has no effect; 3) no change; 4) With Punch control engaged switches to humbucker’s neck-side coil; 5) With Punch control engaged, neck-side single of bridge in series with neck single
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Basses
Important Note: Plugging in to the output jack turns on the battery of any of the active basses. If you leave the bass plugged in it will drain the battery. The battery is located in the control cavity of all models under a small rectangular plate, fastened with 2 phillips flat-head 4-40 machine screws.

EP4/EP5: P-style humbucking pickup, volume control, 3 band active EQ with center detent cut/boost.

EP41j/51j and EP41pj/51pj: dual J-style humbucking pickups or a P-style humbucker + a J-style bridge humbucker, blend control, volume, 3 band active EQ w/center detent cut/boost controls, active/passive bypass switch.

EP Basses with dual soapbar pickups and SD Multi-Voice Passive Tone circuit: blend control, volume, tone depth for SD Multi-Voice circuit (see explanation below), Filter Curve selector mini-toggle switch (closest to volume control) and High/Low Frequency selector mini-toggle switch, and coil tap switch.

EP Basses with Live Active Electronics: with dual soapbar pickups and a 3 band EMG Active EQ (EMG BT and EMG VMC) with variable frequency midrange blend control, volume, active/passive bypass mini-toggle switch (bass will operate in passive mode if batteries are dead, and it can be used to switch to an alternate tone), dual-concentric bass and treble controls, dual concentric mid cut/boost and mid-frequency controls. Internally there is a DIP switch for selecting the frequency range (knee frequency) of the treble control.
EP Basses with Studio Active Electronics: with dual soapbar pickups, SD Multi-Voice Passive Tone circuit, 3 band EMG active EQ with sweep mids and series/parallel/single coil switching: blend, volume, active/passive bypass mini-toggle switch (bass will operate in passive mode if batteries are dead, and it can be used to between passive and active tone voicings), Filter Curve selector mini-toggle switch (with a middle position that bypasses the Passive Voicing circuit) and High/Low Frequency selector mini-toggle switch, two series/parallel/single coil 3 position mini-toggle switches to select voicings for each pickup), dual-concentric bass and treble controls, dual concentric mid cut/boost and mid-frequency controls. Internally there is a DIP switch for selecting the frequency range of the treble control.

EP Basses with Studio Active Electronics: with dual soapbar pickups, SD Multi-Voice Passive Tone circuit, 3 band EMG active EQ with sweep mids and series/parallel/single coil switching: blend, volume, active/passive bypass mini-toggle switch (bass will operate in passive mode if batteries are dead, and it can be used to between passive and active tone voicings), Filter Curve selector mini-toggle switch (with a middle position that bypasses the Passive Voicing circuit) and High/Low Frequency selector mini-toggle switch, two series/parallel/single coil 3 position mini-toggle switches to select voicings for each pickup), dual-concentric bass and treble controls, dual concentric mid cut/boost and mid-frequency controls. Internally there is a DIP switch for selecting the frequency range of the treble control.

MVP Multi-Voice Passive™ Tone Circuit: a unique passive EQ/voicing circuit with a sound that compliments that of active EQ circuits, providing 4 different tone presets at the flip of two mini-toggle switches. These presets vary with your pickup selection and coil switching to provide an even greater range of voicings. The first mini-toggle selects the type of filter curve, either a notch filter (which cuts mids at a higher or lower frequency dependent on the position of the second switch) or a low-pass filter (which rolls off high frequencies with a slight midrange boost, operating at a higher or lower frequency dependent of the second switch).

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For further information please contact us at:
U.S. Masters Guitar Works
2324 Pinehurst Dr. Unit B
Middleton, WI 53562 USA
(608) 836-5505 ph
(877) 716-0000 toll free
(608) 836-6530 fax
techsupport@usmasters.com www.usmasters.com