Fishman Fluence Tosin Abasi 8 String Modern Humbucking Pickup Set Black

I installed these in a Strandberg Boden OS8 string guitar. Replaced EMGs, so had to drill from under a saddle to place a grounding cable. Used a Fender multipole 5 position switch. Push pull pots and volume pots were included in the set, including a lot of wiring. Long wiring meant, easily soldered outside of the guitar. The tone pot would not fit into the controls cavity; had to use a dremel tool to sand down part of cavity edge that is under the cover, then it slid into its spot. Used online circuit diagram. Took 6 hours. worked first time. The voice 1 and 2 are like two separate pickups. Not coil tapping or so. I am guessing the fluence core coils/copper (metal) circuit rings are engaged at various points of circuit. It is like having an enhanced PAF in one voice and with Voice 2 it is a higher gain but with more mids, like a Dimarzio Evolution or Ionizer or something. Meaning, it is like having 4 full pickups for humbuckers and then the voice 3 split for inner coils is very much a vintage like bridge and mid pickup strat sound. I feels a bit coil tapped but has higher and clearer output of low output actual single coils. The neck Voice 3 is a tele neck sound. All sound stand on their own. It is like having 3 guitars in one guitar. Feel really weird. The highs are bell like, the gain sounds allow each string ring out. Sometimes the playing feels staccato, and it makes EMGs and Dimarzios seem very very smoother in feel in comparison. I tested with a Nextone amp, Boss pedals, Peavey Revalver IV, and A Boss GT-1000. I'm still trying to get used to. Initially I even thought I should reintall the EMGs and return these. The voice 3 inner coils with an OD-1x sounds like SRV. 4th and some other frets neck pickup harmonics disappear. 5th fret ok. Bridge pickups all harmonics present. selective harmonics? strange. Only neck voice 3 has single coily but low hum. Other positions are super quiet. Virtually no hum or noise. Very different ! Getting Classic 7 set next.

Installed these in a Carvin 8-string guitar, to replace the factory active "EMG like" pickups. I'm a "very experienced amateur" and use this guitar for rock and world-fusion sounds and some live looping. I wanted more organic textures and a wider variety of tones than the stock pickups and 3-way switch - which are probably just fine for metal. I had the set professionally installed. The wiring can be pretty complex with the active power supply and several switching options, and my soldering skills aren't really up to this quality of guitar. For this price and level of kit, I am surprised they just didn't add in the $20 recommended switch - you WILL need to buy one. After installation my setup is two pickups, with a 5-way switch that selects: neck HB, neck coil-tap, both HBs, bridge coil-tap, bridge HB. The tone pot pulls out for the alternate humbucker voicing in positions 1-3-5. Initial results: total success. All the sounds are usable, very articulate and clean, with great string definition and quick response. The "modern" humbucker sounds cover similar range as the original Carvin pickups, but seem less muddy and midrange-heavy. Neck pickup is great for jazz chords and leads, and the bridge is definitely the one to drive a high-gain amp setting. The alternate "vintage" voices on the humbuckers are not dramatically different, but have less fullness in the low end and and a little less bite - a nice option. The neck single-coil setting has the most sparkle for clean strumming or funk percussive riffs; that's a tone that was simply not available on this guitar with the stock setup. And surprisingly the bridge single-coil mode has great bite and presence with the bass strings. I'm really impressed with the Fluence system so far. The only drawbacks I can note are lower output level with the coil-tap positions (this is consistent with my other coil-tapped guitars), the cost and install complexity, and the need to purchase the switch separately.