Pickup Wiring for Lazy People: EMG is USUALLY Fine, But...

[andvari7]

Good evening,

As many of you may know, I'm a huge fan of Fishman Fluences. They seem to do everything I want an active pickup to do. If you solder them properly, or have a competent tech do it, they usually don't have a problem. However, my soldering skills are, to say the least, crude. Improving, but crude, nonetheless. I pre-wired my 7-string harness, to save a bit of time on the build, but I know that it's going to fail. I just do. So, I went into my parts bin, to see if I could find some inspiration, and I found a Fluence battery pack lead, wired to the EMG BTC wiring harness I used on a Peavey TL-Six rebuild that has been scrapped. The plugs fit, and I think I can make this work. Not the BTC, of course - that's a bass preamp - but I have 2 each of the 25k volume and tone pots, and a toggle and kill switch have been ordered. Now, for those of you who are familiar with Fishman Fluence pickups, you will likely be asking about the voice switching, which is done by either push-pull pots, or an on-off-on SPDT toggle. And, you'd be right; I don't believe EMG has anything that will work with any other manufacturers - they have push-pulls, but they are specifically for the TW cable, and the pickups which require them (including the EMG-89). So, I'm going to have to do some soldering of two Fishman cables to an SPDT. Five tiny wires to three tiny solder lugs (the middle lug is the switch ground) isn't difficult to do correctly, even for my inept hands.

If this works, and I have no reason to think that it won't, I will strongly consider replacing the wiring harness in my Carvin, because I'm still not happy with those Fluences, for some reason. One project at a time, naturally. Or, I'll put it back to stock, and reuse the Fluences in something else.

Thank you.

[clipless bumper]

You're welcome

[GuitarBilly]

I think the Fluences will work with EMG wiring but you won't be able to access the different voicings etc
Bite the bullet and solder the right harness. Do it slowly and check each connection as you go and it will be fine.

I preferred EMGs when they were soldered. I really don't like the quick connect thing. I mean, on the pickups themselves it's fine but for pots and switches etc soldering is better IMHO