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Fishman Fluence Bass Wiring Question

tobascovodka

tobascovodka

May 14, 2020
136
314
#1
I am working on my first build, and I picked out the Fishman Fluence Bass pickups. The thing I do not like about the electronics is the voice switch. I much prefer rotary so it matches the other controls. Does anyone know how the 3 position voice switch, DPDT ON ON ON, can be replaced with a rotary switch?

This is the stock switch
Taiway DPDT On On On Switch - Solder Lug - Long Shaft

This is the wiring diagram
https://www.fishman.com/wp-content/..._SB1_Bass_Pickups_w_Blend__Active_BT_1x9V.pdf

Also is there no such thing as a dual concentric 25k pot that can be purchased individually ? I can only find the pot as part of the Fishman kit/w board, the board is the same as what comes with the pickups set, I just wanted the pot to solder in instead of the regular. $80 is a bit over the top for such a basic component. I would really like to reduce my electronics footprint, every square inch counts!
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Thanks!
 
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#4
I was trying to replace the two pot EQ (bass/treble pots) with a single stacked one to save on real-estate in my cavity. I found the stacked pot after hours of browsing and changing search terms, and posted the link above from Aguilar for anyone else looking for just the stacked 25k pot without the expensive proprietary boards that Fishman and EMG use on the pre-assebled EQ. So this is all set...

For visual comparison:
This is the one in the kit
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This is what I want to make instead of buying the $80 part since the only difference is the stacked pot.
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Now I just need to figure out a way to replace the voice toggle switch with a rotary switch to match all the other controls, and I don't like toggle switches on my guitars, also the provided switch is chrome and I'm doing black hardware.

Voice switch provided in the set:
Taiway DPDT On On On Switch - Solder Lug - Long Shaft
 
#7
Disclaimer: have never used the bass pickups, have never used the *guitar* pickups either but am currently in the middle of installing them on a guitar.

Looking at the manual, it looks like you can definitely use a rotary switch. Voice 2 and the Mid Flat option are activated by connecting the corresponding leads to ground. When neither is connected to ground, you get Voice 1. Moreover, switch leads from two different pickups can safely be connected together without causing any funny business with the tone.

If you want to recreate the three settings with a 2P3T rotary switch, you could connect the actuator pins (i.e. the pins corresponding to the bit that actually moves and makes connections to the other pins, sorry the name is eluding me right now) to ground, and then connect the Voice 2 Select wires from both pickups to positions 1 and 2 of one of the poles, and connect the Mid Flat wires from both pickups to position 2 of the other pole.

If that isn't clear, let me know and I can try to draw a picture or something.
 
#9
When I looked at the way the toggle switch works I couldn't figure out exactly what it did in relation to the pickups. Also, is there an option for a 5 way switch, allowing more than 3 voicings? I vaguely remember setting up my Ibanez guitar with dual humbuckers with a 5 way allowing N, B, N+B, and inner and outer coils in various combination between N and B. But that was all from a wiring diagram I found online, I think on guitarelectronics.
 
#10
FluenceRotary.jpeg

@tobascovodka here's a schematic of what I was suggesting. You can connect the voice 2 wires from both pickups together if you want the switch to work on both of them at the same time; likewise with the mid-flat wire.

The Fluence pickups use electronic switching for most of their features; you turn their different modes off and on by either leaving the connection floating or connecting it to ground respectively. That's what the included diagrams for the toggle switch are showing, and that's what this rotary switch configuration would do also.

As for fancier switching, you could definitely go down quite a rabbit hole with these pickups! While you can't do some of the things you might do with passive pickups like combining them in series or out of phase, there's still a LOT of features available to you. Each pickup individually has *nine* separate modes of operation:

humbucking, voice 1
humbucking, voice 2
humbucking, voice 2 mid flat

neck-side single coil, voice 1
neck-side single coil, voice 2
neck-side single coil, voice 2 mid flat

bridge-side single-coil, voice 1
bridge-side single coil, voice 2
bridge-side single coil, voice 2 mid flat

So really you're limited mainly by ergonomics, availability of the appropriate switches, and practicality (i.e. do you really want to fiddle with *all* of those settings?). I personally wouldn't want to use 9-position rotary switches, if such things are even easily available. Up to you though and what you're comfortable with!
 
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#11
@solderfumes Thanks for the diagram and the explanation! For some reason it wasn't making sense to me before what the switch actually did.

This is what I used on my Ibanez X series with H/H 5-Way Rotary Pickup Selector Switch

I figure I will use the same here, maybe the 6-way, but I'll have to draw it out and see the options visually, its still a mess in my head.

I kinda dove into a bass build head first, I already have a lot of the tools for a dining table I want to build. (planer/jointer/bandsaw/routers and hand tools) I might even start a build log on this forum once I've gathered all my parts. I'm a first time builder and only started to play bass when all the shutdowns happened. What I really want doesn't exist, at least not at an affordable price. My plan is to build a multi-scale,27 fan fret, neck thru, headless, 5 string bass. It's ambitious to say the least, thankfully the forum has a lot of good information, and clearly people willing to help!

This is a pic of the laminated neck I will be gluing up soon. It's purple heart, black walnut, and oak, and then an ebony fingerboard. I have some ABM Headless bridges/tuners coming soon I hope from Thomann, once I have those I can finish the blueprint to scale, and I'll be fabricating the string lock/headstock from brass ammo casings. I didn't like what was out there and want to make my own to fit this build.
 

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#12
Sounds cool, good luck with your project!

I've bought some pretty decent-quality 4p6t rotary switches from eBay sellers in the past, used them in a few guitars now. A 5-position switch sounds like it might be a slightly awkward fit with the way the Fluence options are laid out -- but then again it depends on what the 5 options you want are, and what works for you.

You mentioned you don't like toggles, but I think a fairly practical setup if you wanted *all* the options, say, would be to use three switches per pickup:

- one push-pull for single-coil mode
- one push-pull to select which coil to use in single coil mode
- one three-way rotary to choose between voice 1, voice 2, and voice 2 mid flat

It's highly debatable how useful that second one would be, also. Anyway, whatever you come up with sounds like it'll be interesting!
 

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