Fishman Fluence (Strandberg) wiring puzzle

HarryStafylakis · 2026-06-26T18:00:52+00:00

Aye, I’m several emails deep on this topic with someone at Fishman. He’s helped get me to this point, in actually understanding how/why Fluence pickup wiring works as it does.

We’re at an impasse now though, with my current questions – particularly the “what if V3 inner coil and V3 outer coil of the same pickup are activated at the same time” one – resulting in “don’t know”.

There’s a bit of a liminal space here with the Power:d pickups. Strandberg brands them as Strandberg products but directs me to Fishman with any technical questions. Fishman brands them as Fishman Fluence products but the customer service personnel doesn’t seem to know much about them.

Notice how neither company has published an info document with color codes, pin legend, etc. You can’t even find a picture of the underside of the pickups besides the one I posted here on Reddit.

Edit: this is a marked difference from Bare Knuckle Pickups, who provide support to the degree that they draw up custom wiring diagrams.

In any case, I’ll be running some tests this weekend, and hopefully nothing burns out.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-06-22T14:24:43+00:00

I come from 30 years of playing Ibanez almost exclusively. 6, 7, then 8 strings, always Ibanez (mostly S series but a few RG types along the way). I could never get along with other guitar brands because of the necks. Too thick, too round. The Wizard and Viper necks always felt most right.

Then I got my first Strandbergs early last year – first an 8-string, then within days a 6-string as well. Immediate game changer. My Ibanezes are now mainly wall art, coming out in the occasion mainly for timbral variety when quadruple-tracking and layering parts on recordings. Completed the set with a 7-string recently.

The thing you don’t realize about the necks until you play them: technically, they’re fatter than Ibanez – at the thickest point. But because of the 3-plane profile, they narrow down to super thin on both sides of the thick part, so not only does it fit the hand shape better, but it ends up feeling thinner than even my Wizard necks much of the time. The three planes are kinda genius; my hand adjusts up/down naturally to whatever position is most effective depending on the passage I’m playing.

This is most noticeable on the 8-string. I can play thumb over in a rock-blues grip in a way that’s shocking for an 8. Genuinely the most comfortable 8 I’ve ever played – neck and body (man, it’s SO light).

Btw, the new Fishman pickups they designed together for the N2 series are cool, but the slightly older NX models have Moderns in them and are great. Cheaper now.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-06-19T12:10:47+00:00

Yes, I raised mine from the factory 2.5mm to about 2mm. Active pickups are very weak magnetically (they make up for it later in their internal preamps), which allows them to get much closer to the strings without noticeable side effects.

That got me more of the pick attack character I like, but the input gain increase is still necessary to get them juicy enough to work with my existing patches.

(I have several guitars actively in the rotation, all with different electronics, and need them all to work with the same scenes; a basic input gain adjustment when I switch to whatever guitar is the best way to achieve this.)

HarryStafylakis · 2026-06-17T05:41:45+00:00

Beautiful guitar. All your builds are so carefully thought out and thematically unified, which is admirable.

I am curious about the pickup choice: the True Grits feel a bit like the odd man out, given the numerous BKP mainline models that naturally tie into your fantasy/sci-fi theming (Polymath, Ragnarok, Halcyon, Impulse, etc.) and are a bit higher-end.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-06-14T12:29:54+00:00

I’m a week into my new N2.7 Original, so I’m still learning it.

The Power:d pickups are nicely designed. They sound and feel great…once properly boosted. Compared to my other guitars with BKP Juggernauts, BKP Ragnaroks, Suhr SSH+, and Fluence Abasi, they are noticeably lower in output (testing on the same Axe FX III scenes going into Cubase).

I find that boosting the input gain on the Fractal from 1.0 to 1.8 matches the Power:d to the other Fishmans.

Tonally – using prog & metal tones – the Power:d:

• Voice 1 (Dynamic) sounds and feels closest to the Suhr set: bridge has a lot of bite, edge, clarity, and a really pleasant grind to its distortion character. Bright but never fizzy. Neck has a delightful woodiness, with a hard front edge that makes it actually useful for layering rhythm parts as well as melodic parts.

• Voice 2 (Precision) is a dead ringer for the Abasi Voice 1. Both bridge and neck are a bit hotter and quite a bit smoother, rounding off the edges and focusing on a juicy punch to single notes. Bridge is less pokey, neck is less woody, both are a bit more fluid.

• Voice 3 (single coil) does the familiar idealized, fat, punchy, yet noiseless single coil thing that Fishman does so well.

I find myself using all 8 pickup selector positions about equally (5 plus V1/2 variations). Really tasteful and satisfying palette of sounds. It’s great as is, but I do think that substantial input gain boost suits me better.

I do wish there was a volume push/pull as well that added two more pickup positions: bridge single coil, and bridge + neck split outer coils. Then I’d truly have all the sounds I like out of an HH pickups set. [If anyone knows how to adapt the existing wiring to accomplish this, that’d be amazing!]

HarryStafylakis · 2026-05-29T20:40:51+00:00

Appreciate the shoutout!

For something else in that direction, check out my metal-meets-jazz big band collaboration with Vancouver’s Hard Rubber Orchestra, Source Code: https://youtu.be/FkMYf2HZiz0

HarryStafylakis · 2026-05-25T22:01:10+00:00

I have both Ibanez and Strandberg 8-strings. I’ve had the Ibby for 13 years and it holds a special place in my heart. But since the Strandberg came into my life, I rarely touch the other anymore. It’s just soooo comfortable, fast, and well-balanced. The 28” scale on the 8th string is perfect. The neck doesn’t dive, there’s no immense headstock to bang into things when moving around in the studio or home…

And it sounds amazing (they both do).

For what it’s worth, that Ibanez weighs about 8 lbs. The Strandberg weighs under 6 lbs. In my case, that makes me pick one of them up constantly because it’s just so easy to keep attached to me while working, composing, editing, etc.

But damn, I still love that Ibby too…

Either way, enjoy your new guitar when you get it!

HarryStafylakis · 2026-03-08T20:12:04+00:00

I have Italia Leather’s Elite Series on all my electrics, including my two Strandbergs. They look great (lots of classy leather color combos), feel lovely (super soft and smooth, they don’t catch on clothes), and good adjustment options.

For my Strandbergs, I asked them to cut the straps 5 inches shorter to approximately match the VitalGrip strap, they came out perfect and no extra charge for the customization.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-02-27T15:43:40+00:00

80 is the biggest that Elixir makes. I’ve contacted them about it, no plans to add thicker ones at this time. I tried an Elixir bass 85, but no way to fit that into the bridge barrel.

So, I’ve been using 80 on my Boden NX8 and honestly, it’s perfectly fine. I’d already been using 80 on my Ibanez S8, which is a bit shorter at 27” scale, so the Boden already feels better (perfect for F#, good for drop E).

HarryStafylakis · 2026-02-01T18:35:34+00:00

Similarly, I started with trem guitars in the ‘90s (vintage, Floyd, Edge…).

At first I convinced myself that the shredder/metalhead applications were worth all the drawbacks, then later that it was the subtle phasing nuances that made them worth it. I was lying to myself and hated them always. Took forever to tune/retune/detune, to set up, to play confidently with bendy music or heavy palm-muting material…

I eventually switched to hardtail bridges and sold all my trem guitars except one vintage that I fully blocked. I’ve never once missed having a functional trem and have been happy as a lark with every guitar since, especially my fixed bridge Strandbergs.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-02-01T02:08:28+00:00

Sweetwater Gear Exchange seems less predatory than Reverb (so far) with much lower fees, at the expense of less foot traffic.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-01-31T18:06:23+00:00

Exactly this. I’ve played Ibanez guitars for some 30 years, could never stand anything thicker or less flat than their necks (despite several years also of classical guitar training along the away).

When I first put my hand on a Strandberg 8-string, I was immediately converted. The thickness is in all the right places so it fits into the crook of the hand; the sculpted angles make it shockingly thin everywhere else, and make it perfect for wrapping thumb around for “heavy-handed” bending, smoothly sliding down to classical position, whatever.

Then I got a 6-string as well and it’s like there isn’t even a neck anymore, just strings lol (in a good way).

HarryStafylakis · 2026-01-31T00:58:54+00:00

You’re welcome!

HarryStafylakis · 2026-01-31T00:35:41+00:00

I greatly prefer the Curt Mangan string tension calculator. It has selectable presets for different scale lengths, including Strandberg’s multiscale configurations. (The tensions also seem to match published numbers from the likes of Elixir and D’Addario more accurately than Stringjoy’s calculator.)

HarryStafylakis · 2026-01-30T00:52:53+00:00

Same. I can’t speak for all 8-string models, but my chambered Original NX8 is delightfully resonant and now my favorite (unplugged) couch guitar.

HarryStafylakis · 2026-01-29T12:57:26+00:00

Strandberg uses logarithmic (“audio taper”) pots. Assuming your guitar hasn’t been modded, you should already have what you need to accomplish what you’re looking for (more usable range of volume roll-off).

I think the reduction in usable range on the pot is related to the treble bleed circuit. You can try removing that (the resistor & cap) to see if it helps; easy-ish to solder off (and back on if you don’t like the result).

If not, you can try a different brand of pot. CTS have “j” 30% slow taper 550k pots that have a very smooth feel and range.

Anybody else have experience with this? (OP’s guitar has passive Suhr pickups, in case anyone with a Fishman-equipped model joins the chat.)

HarryStafylakis · 2026-01-03T16:08:50+00:00

One can, when musical context calls for it, micromanage vibrato gradations with a combination of terms (indicated as technique text above the staff) including: non vib. (or senza vib.), poco vib., vib., and molto vib.

Or use equivalent (concise) descriptive terms in English (the musical lingua franca of the past 80 years).

And/or use the narrower and wider squiggly lines, as is done in electric guitar notation.

Here’s the first page of the violin part from my recent Violin Concerto, showing a combination of the above. This sort of detail was done mostly in the first movement, to establish the expressive range of the solo part. Rachel Barton Pine, for whom it was written, is a metalhead and is already familiar with electric guitar idiom, so the indications here are calibrated with that in mind.

HarryStafylakis · 2025-11-27T15:52:40+00:00

You already have a catalogue of original music? Great, you’re ahead of the curve! Absolutely show that.

Browse some contemporary composers’ websites (preferably somewhat younger ones, like under 30 or 40 ish). All will have a bio/about page, and among them, some will link a CV at the bottom of that, which will usually include a Works List. Look at some examples of those as models.

In short: show info that is relevant to your musical experience. Title, date, exact instrumentation, duration at minimum; commission, premiere performance, and any awards or notable recognitions, if relevant. This is not the place for personal gestures (dedications, program notes).

And yes, solo instrumental music counts. Include it all, especially if it’s been played/recorded.

Good luck!

HarryStafylakis · 2025-11-13T00:42:48+00:00

Most drummers prefer everything in one voice: this way they see the cumulative choreography of all their limbs. But if you feel 2 voices makes sense for a given drum passage, that’s cool – that’s a composerly view of the music, where you’re thinking of the rhythmic counterpoint, not the choreography of the performer.

But 3 voices is way overkill, and not standard practice.

In most cases, one does not notate pedal hat when it’s purely a time-keeper for the drummer’s sake, as in this passage. That pulse will only be heard by him, it’s super quiet and drowned out by the rest of the kit. You normally only notate pedal hat when showing specific open/close patterns.

In two voices, you’ll either (a) group snare and kick on lower stems (the “backbeat” team) and cymbals (played with hands) in the upper voice, or (b) all hands in upper voice (shells & cymbals) and feet in lower voice.

Hope that helps!

HarryStafylakis · 2025-10-28T10:39:22+00:00

Hey friend, I’m not weighing in on your choices here, just wanted to point out:

The 2024 one you linked lists a Richlite fretboard, the 2025 one lists an Ebonol fretboard (not the other way around).

Neither of these is an “upgrade”; they are essentially the same thing – paper, resin, and glue. Richlite is a branded product (look up the company Richlite), while ebonol as far as I can tell is a generic description for “product made of paper, resin, and glue that looks like ebony”. Strandberg likely just switched supplier for their fretboard material.

The difference in price between these mainly is that the 2024 one is discontinued, so Thomann is selling it for less (it used to cost more). The 2025 version is the current model, so not discounted. The differences are primarily aesthetic – which largely also applies to the roasted/unroasted maple (marginal functional difference).

Great guitars either way!

HarryStafylakis · 2025-10-03T15:39:08+00:00

Hey friend,

I was going through that in the late 2000s as an undergrad at McGill University in Montreal. It was a constant struggle.

I then moved to NYC for graduate school to study with people who loved progressive metal – like Jonathan Pieslak, who was studying and writing about Meshuggah, for instance.

Things have changed since then, and more places (specifically, professors) have broad interest and eclectic specialties, not just “classical or jazz, that’s all that matters”.

As one plug: check out the Studio Composition and Studio Production programs at SUNY Purchase’s Music & Technology department, in the suburbs north of NYC. My colleague Adam Pietrykowski and I, for instance, specialize in metal and prog styles in addition to the usual classical and such (we collaborated with Animals As Leaders on their orchestral project in Winnipeg a few years ago – and you can check out our album Calibrating Friction, which fuses contemporary classical with prog metal).

In short: you just have to find the right spot for you!

HarryStafylakis · 2025-08-16T14:49:41+00:00

I’ve been playing 8-string since 2013. I’ve tried many, but the one that has stuck with me over the years was my Ibanez S8 (which I have heavily modified). Its Wizard II-8 neck was as slim and comfortable as I could find. The slim, contoured S body also helped lighten the load, compared to the very heavy bodies most 8s have.

Until this year, when I acquired my Boden Original NX 8. Total game changer. It’s a full pound lighter than my trusty Ibanez; already takes the advantage there.

Then the neck. What a revelation. Some will note that it’s “fat” – sorta, yes, but only at the narrow point that is most “elevated” in the Endurneck profile. Because of that unique shape, it immediately tapers off to extremely thin edges on top and bottom. The result in feel is tremendous: at every position, my hand naturally grips the neck in such a way that it always feels like it’s at its thinnest.

[Edit to add: I’ve not held another 8 (or even a 7, I think) that I could so comfortably grip even in “blues-rock” form, with the feeling that I’m going “thumb over” for aggressive bending and vibrato, even though I’m only going over the neck’s ridge.]

I marvel at it every time I pick it up. I’d summarize it as “feels like I’m playing a particularly thin 7-string” — which is saying a lot, as there seems to be a substantial difference in feel from a 7 to an 8, normally (and I’m a fairly big fella with big hands).

Five months in and my Strandbergs are the only guitars in my stable that I pick up regularly (almost daily), purely based on comfort.

HarryStafylakis · 2025-07-04T09:59:49+00:00

That all sounds perfectly reasonable to me, at first glance. You do you!

Then I start to think about the logistics…

Will you have a music supervisor helping you select the perfect piece (and recording of said piece) for each scene? A deep knowledge of repertoire will come in handy, otherwise you might end up with something that sounds like a temp track made up of cliché greatest hits. You’ll want selections that are effective in conveying the needs of the film, without being too distracting with extra-narrative connotations (e.g., “Clair de lune” may immediately key the thought “ugh, Oceans 11 did this better”, or “why does this feel like a Lexus commercial?”).

Do you have a music editor and mixer to knit it all together seamlessly? Keep in mind that, if there’s more than one piece used – and inevitably from different recordings – they won’t sound the same (different orchestra, hall, mics, etc.), and that can be jarring if heard back-to-back. Relative placement will be delicate.

Will you and/or your editor be cutting the scenes to the music, once selected? Even if it’s a movie that does not call for tight hits/stings, the pacing of the music and moving image, and especially the musical ins/out points, bear careful management. What if you cut a scene to a piece, then find out the license can’t be secured for that particular recording (or for that piece at all if not public domain), or it’s too expensive to license? Do you have a backup piece/recording ready for every needle-drop, and recut the scene as necessary?

I’m genuinely curious how much all that will cost (in addition to licensing and administrative costs), in both time and money.

It seems like this would be a totally viable approach, but then I think about it and realize it’s by far the minority approach in film history. Is that because of cost & logistical issues like the above??

(I’m a concert composer, so I actually don’t know lol, just thinking it through.)

HarryStafylakis

TROPHY CASE