Fishman stresses that its Fluence pickups aren't about messing with the great tone of vintage favorites, but changing the way pickups are made. At the heart of the new pickups is the Fluence Core – two 48-layer boards, each interconnected layer packing printed mini coils and a spacer inbetween. True Multi-Voice electronics allows for the creation of the kind of classic colors and timbres you've come to expect from great guitar pickups, but without any of the annoying problems.

Each Fluence pickup can be wired up to toggle between different voices via a push/pull pot, or set to a favorite. Players can select a hum-free vintage 50 single coil tone, for example, and then switch to a fat, overwound Texas Strat sound, but without sacrificing any high end presence. The instrument's volume knob can be rolled back, and guitarists can still look forward to the same high end response and fidelity they'd get at full whack.

The Fluence pickups are initially being offered in three varieties, and in a choice of finishes. More variations will follow later in the year. There's a single width version suitable for Strat-like guitars, and sporting Alnico IV rod magnets. A classic humbucker model comes in neck and bridge configurations, both making use of an Alnico V bar magnet with poles. The former offers vintage PAF or the exclusive Fluence "clear, airy chime" tone, while the latter comes with a calibrated vintage PAF or Hotrod bridge voice.

Modern humbuckers come in Alnico or Ceramic flavors and can be mounted in either neck or bridge positions. One uses an Alnico V bar magnet with blades and offers active metal and crisp, clean voices. The other boasts a Ceramic VIII bar magnet circuit with blades and active metal and organic, high output passive attack voices.