stratguy23
New member
I'm at NAMM this weekend, and I met the one and only Frank Falbo today. I played a beautiful hollowbody he designed.
It had a set of Fluence humbuckers - the Classic set, I believe, since it had polepieces.
Honestly, Fluence pickups have not really been on my radar until today. I find the construction interesting, and many of the demos sound great, but the whole USB-charging thing didn't appeal to me, mainly because I prefer things as simple as possible. Also, the engraved line that's the visual trademark doesn't really appeal to me, either.
I was more interested in Frank's guitar than the pickups, but, wow, the pickups were great.
Evidently the neck is inspired by the Seth Lover, and the bridge in the hotter voice is inspired by the original old-school JB wind (normal voice of the bridge is a PAF). I picked up (so to speak) on these aspects right away. Having switchable voices on the pickups is very cool, sort of like an overdrive/boost option.
But my main takeaway was that despite the vintage voicing, the pickups had a detail and clarity around the top end that I haven't heard with traditional vintage-spec humbuckers. Maybe I could compare it to a higher presence setting on an amp.
If I wanted a straight-up vintage vibe, I would probably still pick a vintage-spec pickup. But in a setting that required any modernity (jazz fusion, a studio player who needs versatility, etc.), Fluence would be a good tool.
And the USB thing - at least the way Frank had it in his guitar - just plug a USB cable into the port built into the back cavity plate to charge the pickups. Evidently a charge is good for ~200 hours playing time. I still would prefer my guitars not to have USB, but this is actually less of an inconvenience than dealing with traditional active pickups and 9V batteries and battery compartments.
This did *not* feel like an active pickup. No headroom issues, no loss of organic feel, etc.
I'm impressed. While I think this set sounded and felt great and could stand on its own with its core PAF voicing, what would push me over the edge and get me to buy a set (or a guitar loaded with it) is the 2-voicing option. I would use the core voicing most of the time and bring up the hotter voicing for solos, choruses, etc.
I know this has run a bit long, but I thought it might be useful for folks steeped in the traditional pickup construction paradigm (probably most of us here). I went into today with that mindset and came out knowing about an equally viable alternative that isn't as worlds apart as typical active pickups.
It had a set of Fluence humbuckers - the Classic set, I believe, since it had polepieces.
Honestly, Fluence pickups have not really been on my radar until today. I find the construction interesting, and many of the demos sound great, but the whole USB-charging thing didn't appeal to me, mainly because I prefer things as simple as possible. Also, the engraved line that's the visual trademark doesn't really appeal to me, either.
I was more interested in Frank's guitar than the pickups, but, wow, the pickups were great.
Evidently the neck is inspired by the Seth Lover, and the bridge in the hotter voice is inspired by the original old-school JB wind (normal voice of the bridge is a PAF). I picked up (so to speak) on these aspects right away. Having switchable voices on the pickups is very cool, sort of like an overdrive/boost option.
But my main takeaway was that despite the vintage voicing, the pickups had a detail and clarity around the top end that I haven't heard with traditional vintage-spec humbuckers. Maybe I could compare it to a higher presence setting on an amp.
If I wanted a straight-up vintage vibe, I would probably still pick a vintage-spec pickup. But in a setting that required any modernity (jazz fusion, a studio player who needs versatility, etc.), Fluence would be a good tool.
And the USB thing - at least the way Frank had it in his guitar - just plug a USB cable into the port built into the back cavity plate to charge the pickups. Evidently a charge is good for ~200 hours playing time. I still would prefer my guitars not to have USB, but this is actually less of an inconvenience than dealing with traditional active pickups and 9V batteries and battery compartments.
This did *not* feel like an active pickup. No headroom issues, no loss of organic feel, etc.
I'm impressed. While I think this set sounded and felt great and could stand on its own with its core PAF voicing, what would push me over the edge and get me to buy a set (or a guitar loaded with it) is the 2-voicing option. I would use the core voicing most of the time and bring up the hotter voicing for solos, choruses, etc.
I know this has run a bit long, but I thought it might be useful for folks steeped in the traditional pickup construction paradigm (probably most of us here). I went into today with that mindset and came out knowing about an equally viable alternative that isn't as worlds apart as typical active pickups.
. I'd like to try his acoustics, have a feeling that I might start liking dreadnoughts if I do.
