Fishman
Larry Fishman built his first acoustic pickup prototype in 1980 and founded the company that carries his name a year later in Andover, Massachusetts, supplying pickups first to Guild and then to Martin. The business grew into amplification and performance audio for acoustic players, but its biggest shift came in 2014 with Fluence — a pickup built on circuit-board technology borrowed from aerospace and telecoms rather than traditional wire-wound coils. Fishman now supplies pickups fitted at the factory by PRS, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and Schecter, among others, which is mostly how it turns up on GuitarBomb: as the electronics inside guitars we're covering for other reasons. Here's what we've written.
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Harley Benton SC-550 Plus Fluence pairs Fishman Fluence active humbuckers with boutique specs—flame maple top, stainless steel frets, and locking tuners
- Acoustic instrument pickups
- Preamps and DIs
- Electric guitar pickups
- Amplifiers
- Rare Earth
- Aura
- Fluence
- Loudbox
- TriplePlay
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Fishman FAQ4 questions
What is Fishman best known for?
Amplifying acoustic instruments. Larry Fishman founded the company in Andover, Massachusetts in 1981, and its undersaddle pickups, preamps and Loudbox amplifiers became the standard way an acoustic guitar gets plugged in. The Fluence range extended the same thinking to electric guitars.
What are Fishman Fluence pickups?
Fluence pickups replace the traditional coil of wire with printed circuit board layers, which Fishman argues removes the noise and inductance losses of a wound coil. Each pickup carries more than one voice, switchable from the guitar, so a single humbucker can give a vintage-output and a modern-output sound without a pickup change.
Do Fishman pickups need a battery?
The active ones do. Fluence pickups and most Fishman acoustic preamps run on a 9V battery or Fishman's own rechargeable battery pack. Passive Fishman acoustic pickups exist, but the range is built around active electronics, so budget for a power source when you fit one.
Where are Fishman products made?
Fishman is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts and has been since it started, but like most pickup and electronics brands its manufacturing is spread across its own facility and overseas partners depending on the product line. The company does not publish a per-product country of origin.