For all the variety available in replacement pickups today, very few that offer “traditional” electric-guitar performance stray from the formula of coupling a wire coil to a magnet. According to Fishman, a company best known for making acoustic pickups and amplifiers, all of that changes with its Fluence Open Core Classic Humbuckers. Each Fluence Humbucker is made from 48 thin layers of “traces” (similar to what’s found on printed circuit boards) laid on a robust substrate, which makes them impervious to variations in wire gauge and insulation, fluctuations due to heat and humidity, and other anomalies. At the same time, it allows for consistent sonic results from one pickup to the next. While this might imply that they can’t sound like the conventional PAF-style pickups that zillions of players have come to know and love, Larry Fishman declares that this iconic electric tone was the benchmark for Fluence R&D and absolutely non-negotiable.
Another benefit of the Open Core Classic Humbucker set is that the technology enables the player to access three distinct tones from each pickup via the push-pull tone pots included in the set. The bridge pickup switches between vintage PAF, hot-rodded humbucker and clear vintage single-coil (the latter, Fishman claims, is much more convincing than split-coil sounds from traditional humbuckers). The neck switches between vintage PAF, a more-scooped setting Fishman calls “clear airy chime” and vintage single-coil. Note that the three sounds per unit is achieved with only two switches. The push-pull tone control for each pickup activates that unit’s second voice, and to achieve each pickup’s third voice, the push-pull tone control for the other pickup is used. This is possible because each switch is a DPDT (Double Pull/Double Throw) capable of two simultaneous functions. Clever!
The pickups require