Switching from Fishman to passive

OldGtrGuy

OldGtrGuy

Well-known member
I've swapped a very small handful of pickups before but considering there were already pickups installed in the guitar and both being passive to passive, it was very simple to just say ok this wire goes here and that wire goes there and done.

Now I'm anticipating a swap in a guitar with Fishman pre installed. Is this going to be the same process? 1 wire here, 1 wire there and done?

Or will I need to gut this thing and start from scratch? I have never seen Fishman wiring before but I'm guessing it won't be as simple as passives.
 
You'll need either 250k or 500k pots and run the jack mono. If you can tell us what the guitar is or what type of switch is installed it'll be easier to find the proper schematic to post.
 
Aynirar27 said:
i'll be curious how this works out for you. I'm not sure how well the routes for those soapbar style actives will fit regular style humbuckers. I've been balking at taking on the same project on an LTD Buz7 guitar I have.
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I will post back if I decide to do it but if I do I'll probably just pay somebody else. Didn't consider routing and if they'll even fit.

The guitar is supposed to arrive today and haven't plugged it in yet. Maybe I'll love it but not expecting to.

I had the KM7 with KM Fishman. They did sound great but very boring and generic with no character.

I played the moderns in someone else's guitar and was not blown away. I much prefer Black Winter or Motor City Hothead.
 
The other thing to be aware of is, grounding the bridge when switching over to passives. Typically, a guitar manufactured using actives, the bridge is not grounded. Hopefully, there is a path through the cavity that allows for this already. This is usually easier with a guitar that has a tremolo bridge of some sort. You can attach a ground wire to the spring claw and ground it to the grounding network of the pots.
 
Duncan makes a few "Active Mount" pickups for 7's that you could look at if you don't want to go down the routing path.

@Emg77 is right though... hopefully they run a ground wire into the cavity for the Fishmans, otherwise you will be popping a tailpiece anchor and drilling a hole to run a bridge wire through. Fishman's instructions mention a bridge wire so maybe it's there? EMG is the one that outright says you don't need to use it to install their pickups.
 
That active mount idea is great, unfortunate no black winters.

After playing the guitar, yes the Fishman are not perfect for me but they sound decent so I'll probably just keep them in.

After learning what you guys all said I really don't want to go through all that hassle, especially if passives might not even fit.

Definitely appreciate the replies and info, thanks.
 
OldGtrGuy said:
That active mount idea is great, unfortunate no black winters.

After playing the guitar, yes the Fishman are not perfect for me but they sound decent so I'll probably just keep them in.

After learning what you guys all said I really don't want to go through all that hassle, especially if passives might not even fit.

Definitely appreciate the replies and info, thanks.
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If you don’t use your neck pickup much, I’ve had good results swapping the alnico neck and the ceramic bridge. It is a simple plug and play swap.
It makes the neck sound crappy but a great bridge sound.

The fishman classics are really the only actives ive really liked, but alas they don’t come in that mount
 
Aynirar27 said:
If you don’t use your neck pickup much, I’ve had good results swapping the alnico neck and the ceramic bridge. It is a simple plug and play swap.
It makes the neck sound crappy but a great bridge sound.

The fishman classics are really the only actives ive really liked, but alas they don’t come in that mount
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Interesting didnt think of that I can give that a try if it's just a swap.
 
don't they have their own volume and tone pots like emg? Not their own per se but ones with specific values to their pups? I installed all emg stuff in my greco and they were like 25k pots.
 
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