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Double Bass Fishman Full Circle repairable?

Kael

Kael

Dec 26, 2004
4,049
1,193
Oklahoma City
#1
While futzing with the bridge on my chadwick following recent work done on it, I screwed the pooch and inadvertently turned the adjuster while holding the portion of the pickup where the wire enters into the adjuster. Result, the white wire entering the pickup/adjuster is borked. It's crimped over and I can see a little bare wire there. Makes a lovely loud hum when plugged in now, but that's it. Can this thing be fixed? Not sure if this wheel can be opened and the wire resoldered or not. I seem to recall the wheel being glued together or some such silliness. I suppose I could just take it off and look but thought I'd try asking before poking into its innards.

Plus side, sorta, this prompted me to finally fit my backup pickup (KK bassmax) to my bridge. Wasn't nearly as time consuming or difficult to fit it into the wing as I had anticipated. Probably old news as far as A/B reviews, but the KK is boomier on the low E and seems to be stringier. Not positive about that string sound though as I lowered my bridge a decent amount which could be accounting for that sound.

If the fullcircle cannot be repaired I may just trim the wire, use the dead pickup as a standard adjuster, and try rolling with the KK for a bit. I was extremely pleased with the fullcircle but thus far I think I can live with the sound coming from my backup pickup.

sidenote: Fishman really ought to add a jack for the wire entering the pickup/adjuster wheel so that it can be unplugged when using the adjuster as an adjuster. The lack of one is a definite design flaw.
 
#2
If you want a detachable cable, get the Japanese Yamahiko. It's the original design, not the Fishman clone, but more expensive.

Older Full Circles were glued together, newer ones have screws on one flat side of the wheel and can be disassembled. You might get a new Full Circle a bit cheaper if you send in the old one, the new one can be repaired if it's only the cable.
 
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#3
I believe when the wire is broken at the adjuster end that you're pretty much SOL. I have one that is fine on the adjuster end but broken on the jack end. I managed to repair it but the repair didn't hold up for very long. I think the design is too damn fragile. I still have one on my other bass but I gave up on the Full Circle on my Chadwick Folding Bass. I'm using a Lifeline instead and keep an MSP as a backup.
 
#6
My FC was acting up with some odd (non-cable related) crackles and such. Mine is about 4-5 years old (bought from the Gollihurs), and had the end replaced along the way, etc. I've been wondering about the health of the element as well, and was wondering if the tone was suffering. There's this honky mid thing that I can't get rid of with my current setup.

Anyway, I contacted Fishman about it, they sent me an RMA and took it back. It seems that they have a $20 bench fee for assessment if no fault is found, and a flat $50 bench fee to fix whatever may be wrong. Customer pays shipping both ways. I was thinking about backup/replacement options, but this option comes in at much less cash for the time being... I'd still need a backup along the way, when I can, but things are a bit tight for the moment. Luckily I have good friends in town and was able to borrow a Lifeline for the time being.

It may be worth your while to contact them--even to keep it around as a spare.
 
#7
Not sure anyone cares, but I figured I would update this thread...

Unsure if the pickup was repairable or not, but Fishman sent me an entire new pickup with an additional adjuster wheel for the other leg of the bridge. I'm extremely pleased with Fishman's response to my damaged pickup. I hadn't even opened the package sent back to me from Fishman till today so I didn't realize that an entire new pickup was in there. I've been using my backup pickup since I mailed off my old pickup mainly because the adjuster wheels I had installed were a little nicer and I didn't want to swap out the wheels yet (read, I am lazy). Glad I decided to do that today. Good job Fishman.

For the record I was charged for a repair, but not a new pickup.
 
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#8
DoubleMIDI said:
If you want a detachable cable, get the Japanese Yamahiko. It's the original design, not the Fishman clone, but more expensive.

Older Full Circles were glued together, newer ones have screws on one flat side of the wheel and can be disassembled. You might get a new Full Circle a bit cheaper if you send in the old one, the new one can be repaired if it's only the cable.
Click to expand...

Not to bad mouth Fishman but when my FC was broken, they offered me a new one for about six bucks less than I could get it on line. After shipping (free from most onliners) it ended up being a little more from Fishman.
 
#9
My Full Circle crapped out on the RCA end of the wire. I bought a new RCA plug to solder it to but I guess I'm surprised and not sure exactly how to proceed. When I stripped back the White wire there was one single wire sticking out. Do I just add some solder on the sides to this wire where it can fit into the center hole? Or does this wire attach to the cup of the adaptor? Is there really on one wire?
Thanks for any help, have soldered pickups on electric basses but nothing like this.
 
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#10
This is a shielded wire, so you have the inner wire that connects to the inner pin of the connector and the shield around it, often several very thin wires, I haven't had a look at the Full Circle cable yet.

I guess you stripped the shield that needs to be connected to the metal body (or outer ring) of the connector with the outer isolation. Be very careful when cutting through the outer isolation not to cut the shield. Often it helps if you bend the cable where you cut take the knife with a bit higher speed and very low pressure until you see the isolation been cut and stop immediately. Then turn the cable a bit and repeat until you got to the point where you have started.

Doing that is not easy with the Full Circle cable. You might prefer to let strip and solder it by an experienced electronics guy.
 
#11
Jon Mush said:
My FC was acting up with some odd (non-cable related) crackles and such. Mine is about 4-5 years old (bought from the Gollihurs), and had the end replaced along the way, etc. I've been wondering about the health of the element as well, and was wondering if the tone was suffering. There's this honky mid thing that I can't get rid of with my current setup.

Anyway, I contacted Fishman about it, they sent me an RMA and took it back. It seems that they have a $20 bench fee for assessment if no fault is found, and a flat $50 bench fee to fix whatever may be wrong. Customer pays shipping both ways. I was thinking about backup/replacement options, but this option comes in at much less cash for the time being... I'd still need a backup along the way, when I can, but things are a bit tight for the moment. Luckily I have good friends in town and was able to borrow a Lifeline for the time being.

It may be worth your while to contact them--even to keep it around as a spare.
Click to expand...
On the "honky mids"...if you haven't tried it, turn the wheel with the pickup in it one quarter around. That should address it. Where that wheel sits really affects the sound of the pickup.
 

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