The Fishman Fluence Thread

Indigo Shinigami

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Guys, need some guidance. I have a HSH guitar with as normal 5 way switch. Single vol and tone. I have a set of open core fishman humbuckers. Is it possible to install the fishmans? I wasn't able to find a wiring diagram on fisman site other than one that is using a 5-Position 4P5T “Super Switch”. My 5 way looks like this https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://img.cesdeals.com/products/1/1/9/119288/119288-4_wmk.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.cesdeals.com/product/5-way-selector-electric-guitar-pickup-switches-toggle-lever-switch-black-musical-stringed-instruments-guitar-parts--accessories-119288&docid=Zk_m25jRewFiRM&tbnid=MkBVezhW9JWq-M:&vet=10ahUKEwjfrY3Rs73kAhVFILcAHeYcBI4QMwjAAShFMEU..i&w=1001&h=1001&bih=657&biw=1366&q=5 way pickup switch&ved=0ahUKEwjfrY3Rs73kAhVFILcAHeYcBI4QMwjAAShFMEU&iact=mrc&uact=8.

Will be grateful if anyone of you could provide me with some guidance or direct me to a wiring diagram. Many thanks guys.
Fishman only have the basic wiring diagrams for common control layouts and such, so you'll have to improvise by using other diagrams in conjunction with it. In theory, if you find a wiring diagram that matches your guitar's, then you can look at that for your specific 5-way switch wiring, and the Fishman "Super Switch" diagram for the pickups.
 

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oversteve

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Guys, need some guidance. I have a HSH guitar with as normal 5 way switch. Single vol and tone. I have a set of open core fishman humbuckers. Is it possible to install the fishmans? I wasn't able to find a wiring diagram on fisman site other than one that is using a 5-Position 4P5T “Super Switch”. My 5 way looks like this https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://img.cesdeals.com/products/1/1/9/119288/119288-4_wmk.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.cesdeals.com/product/5-way-selector-electric-guitar-pickup-switches-toggle-lever-switch-black-musical-stringed-instruments-guitar-parts--accessories-119288&docid=Zk_m25jRewFiRM&tbnid=MkBVezhW9JWq-M:&vet=10ahUKEwjfrY3Rs73kAhVFILcAHeYcBI4QMwjAAShFMEU..i&w=1001&h=1001&bih=657&biw=1366&q=5 way pickup switch&ved=0ahUKEwjfrY3Rs73kAhVFILcAHeYcBI4QMwjAAShFMEU&iact=mrc&uact=8.

Will be grateful if anyone of you could provide me with some guidance or direct me to a wiring diagram. Many thanks guys.

you can wire it in exactly the same way as 3 way switch, but the switch positions 2-3-4 will all work as the middle position on 3-way switch with both pups enabled
 

klnol

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Greetings Fishman fans! Wondering if anyone has experienced the following (read through this entire thread yesterday and didn't see anything similar). Got a sweet deal on a set of Modern 7s. Dropped them into my ESP NT7B, replacing the EMGs that came stock. Stoked on my 1st successful solder/wire job (finally brought the proper tools which made all the difference!). It's a 1 Vol, 1 Tone, 3-way switch set up - I have the voice toggle on the Tone push pull. Everything seems to be working, pickups give a consistent reading on a multimeter, all switching works, and they're nice and quiet. Problem is, the neck pickup seems to have a fuller, possibly louder output than the neck. I've played with pickup height, but it seems beyond that. It is way more noticeable on the clean channel of my Mesa mk5 25. On hi-gain channel 2 it seems more balanced. Is this just eq/tone perception i'm hearing, or do you think there's a mistake in my wiring that could be causing this? I've been over and over the wiring, and it seems correct. Any info would be appreciated!
 

diagrammatiks

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the neck has to be way low. it's much baser then the bridge.
but that's not saying there could be a wiring problem.
is there any hum on the bridge? tap both coils are they both on?
 

klnol

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the neck has to be way low. it's much baser then the bridge.
but that's not saying there could be a wiring problem.
is there any hum on the bridge? tap both coils are they both on?
I'll crank that neck p/u way down later tonight - I suspect it's just that. No crazy hum anywhere, which is awesome. Pardon my ignorance with all things electronics, how do I tap the coils? I'm pretty certain I have the p/u's plugged in standard configuration - I do not have coil taps/HF Tilt/or the low gain setting activated for now. I'll probably try setting the low gain mode on the neck to see how that balances. Thanks for the info.
 

Noisy Humbucker

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how do I tap the coils?

In this case literally tap both sides (neck/bridge) of the pickup with something metal. I usually use the round side of a wrench (don’t want to accidentally gouge the cover with a screwdriver).

This is a good quick functional test after doing anything with the electronics before restringing.

P.S. I’d do it on a clean channel. :)

P.P.S. The whole “Modern neck pickup too bassy” thing has been a common complaint in various threads as of late. Hasn’t really been a problem for me, but it sounds like you’re hearing the same thing as others.

P.P.P.S. The “coil tap” function on the pickups is actually a coil split (tap vs split is a whole different can of worms) that let’s you pick just one of the two coils in the pickup. This feature alone has me using Fishman over EMG in my ERG at the moment.
 
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klnol

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In this case literally tap both sides (neck/bridge) of the pickup with something metal. I usually use the round side of a wrench (don’t want to accidentally gouge the cover with a screwdriver).

This is a good quick functional test after doing anything with the electronics before restringing.

P.S. I’d do it on a clean channel. :)

P.P.S. The whole “Modern neck pickup too bassy” thing has been a common complaint in various threads as of late. Hasn’t really been a problem for me, but it sounds like you’re hearing the same thing as others.

P.P.P.S. The “coil tap” function on the pickups is actually a coil split (tap vs split is a whole different can of worms) that let’s you pick just one of the two coils in the pickup. This feature alone has me using Fishman over EMG in my ERG at the moment.

Gotcha, thank you! That's what I thought "tapping" meant, but thinking these fishmans are active(ish?!), didn't think of that. I love rich, full, bassy neck p/u tones, so not a problem, but currently on the clean channel, it is an apparent, abrupt boost when switching from the bridge. I may coil split in the future, but since this guitar is primarily my hi-gain monster I may keep it simple. Always been surprised how great this guitar is over-all however - nice clear, punchy cleans. I had replaced the stock 81/707 with a 57/60 set shortly after getting it - nice pickups as well!
 

alekosh

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Recently I installed my first 6 string modern set to my ltd401. I always have the neck pickup a bit lower. Noticed a slightly fuller/louder neck, but I attributed it to the gainy bridge and fuller sting vibration difference on neck position. All in all I was much more satisfied with their performance than my 81/60 especially in the clarity aspect therefore did not pay attention. I then installed a moderns 7 soapbar set to my schecter blackjack that had blackouts. It was during that installation that I noticed that schecter's factory setup of the blackouts had the neck mounted much more lower than the bridge soapbar (that was 5-6mm from the strings/blackouts bridge soapbar is much more thicker also). I installed the moderns with the schecter's factory mount screws on exactly the same heights as stock. My moderns are way more balanced that way.
 

jco5055

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Ok guys, maybe dumb question so forgive me.

Out of all the models (mainly thinking Modern vs Classic, but feel free to chime in with the others), which has the best clean sound? And/or do any do clean so well, that as a piezo user and lover you'd have the thought of "don't bother getting a piezo equipped guitar in the future if you're going to install X pickup"?
 

diagrammatiks

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Ok guys, maybe dumb question so forgive me.

Out of all the models (mainly thinking Modern vs Classic, but feel free to chime in with the others), which has the best clean sound? And/or do any do clean so well, that as a piezo user and lover you'd have the thought of "don't bother getting a piezo equipped guitar in the future if you're going to install X pickup"?

abasi.

But you don’t really use a piezo first an electric clean sound. They don’t sound anything alike.

I have 4 piezo guitars. It’s not really similar at all
 

jco5055

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abasi.

But you don’t really use a piezo first an electric clean sound. They don’t sound anything alike.

I have 4 piezo guitars. It’s not really similar at all

I have a piezo also, it was me being ignorant if somehow Fishmans can get that piezo like clean tone lol
 

juka

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With Fishman having so much experience in piezo systems, mic'ing and simulating acoustics in live environments I still wonder when they will add a 4th voice mimicking a piezo / acoustic like sound to their Fluence pups.

My Fluence experience so far:

Moderns:
although I never liked ceramic pups before, the modern set instantly became my go to set for every guitar I got. Still missing the 3rd single coil voice most other Fluence have by now.

Townsends:
which I on the one hand liked even better than the moderns due to there more brutal distorted sounds and the addition of a clean single coil 3rd voice, but on the other hand had to throw out of my guitar soon again because I always kept reaching for the tone knob as they always felt like it was accidentally turned halfway down. I still hope that one day they bring out a 7 string version with a switch to turn off the treble compensation for his overly bright Framus signature guitar so that you can use it on more balanced sounding guitars too ;-)

Keith Merrows:
Being a huge fan of EMG57/66 I always hoped for Fishman to issue their take on these pups. After installing a KM7 set recently in a mahogany/maple top guitar I'm more than happy to report that they absolutely achieved that goal and more. Great set of pups!
 

MASS DEFECT

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With Fishman having so much experience in piezo systems, mic'ing and simulating acoustics in live environments I still wonder when they will add a 4th voice mimicking a piezo / acoustic like sound to their Fluence pups.

My Fluence experience so far:

Moderns:
although I never liked ceramic pups before, the modern set instantly became my go to set for every guitar I got. Still missing the 3rd single coil voice most other Fluence have by now.

Townsends:
which I on the one hand liked even better than the moderns due to there more brutal distorted sounds and the addition of a clean single coil 3rd voice, but on the other hand had to throw out of my guitar soon again because I always kept reaching for the tone knob as they always felt like it was accidentally turned halfway down. I still hope that one day they bring out a 7 string version with a switch to turn off the treble compensation for his overly bright Framus signature guitar so that you can use it on more balanced sounding guitars too ;-)

Keith Merrows:
Being a huge fan of EMG57/66 I always hoped for Fishman to issue their take on these pups. After installing a KM7 set recently in a mahogany/maple top guitar I'm more than happy to report that they absolutely achieved that goal and more. Great set of pups!

Yeah the Townsend Fluence is a miss for me. Feels like you are playing on old strings. Too bad, since it has a really nice low end. Aren't the Merrows supposed to be a darker Classic V2?
 

juka

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Only had the chance to try out the classics for a few minutes quite some time ago even before there were the open cores, so I can't really say how they compare to the Merrows.
But since having the Merrows I actually wonder how a pair of Open Core Classics 7 would sound in direct comparison, especially since they offer the classics with different bobbin colors. I mean this matt grey, almost sandblasted, industrial look of the Merrows looks cool, but not on every guitar and as most matt finishes doesn't seem very durable.
 

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new Andertons video where Chappers using a blindfold tries to work out where an assortment of guitars are made just by their feel.

got to the Koch signature with his Fishmans and he thought it sounded and played terrible - claiming the pickups sounded "Cheap"

pretty much what Ive been maintaining. If you take away their hype and go purely on ears, the Fishmans are overrated. (they are great but no better than hundreds of other options)

thought it was interesting
 

diagrammatiks

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new Andertons video where Chappers using a blindfold tries to work out where an assortment of guitars are made just by their feel.

got to the Koch signature with his Fishmans and he thought it sounded and played terrible - claiming the pickups sounded "Cheap"

pretty much what Ive been maintaining. If you take away their hype and go purely on ears, the Fishmans are overrated. (they are great but no better than hundreds of other options)

thought it was interesting

hmm chappers. that's who we should trust.
 
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IF that video doesnt prove that Fishman are the best pickups, I’d have to think one may be in denial about these revolutionary actives....there’s nothing even close, literally. It may be dependent on which set you get, for example, metal players may want the KSE or SRC set or the modern ceramics, jazz players may want the warmer classic sets, but there IS a set for EVERYONE. It is an expensive endeavor however, so the question really remains, not are fishman the best, because that is obvious, but are they WORTH their price?

Anyway thats my 2 cents FWIW
 
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