Fishman pick up installation

[nathan slobodkin]

Any one out there have any experience installing Fishman or other Piezo pickups? As near as I can tell the pick up has to be installed between two completely flat and parallel surfaces. On my bridges and most nice bridges made for acoustic performance the only flat surfaces are the outer edges of the bridge. The top of the "thigh" is curved or angled and the bottom of the wing is cut thin enough to bend and also cut away to a point to allow shaping the leg. Is it possible to have a nice professional looking bridge with one of these pickups or does one need to use a more or less uncut blank and sacrifice the acoustic performance of the bridge? Also wondering if it makes a difference whether the pick up is installed on the bass or treble side? The picture in the directions shows the pick up on the treble side but I have seen them on the bass side and of course the jack and cord need to be on the bass side to avoid interfering with bowing.  Running the wire under the tailpiece looks like it risks interfering with the fine tuners and allowing it to touch the top looks like it would buzz. Lastly the directions say to attach the wire to the tailpiece using "black plastic". What the heck is that? I will probably use tape but wondered if there is some material i am not aware of. Any thoughts on these thing graatefully accepted.

[The Violin Beautiful]

I used to install them a lot at the first shop where I worked. The copper part fits into the bass kidney underneath the wing. If you don’t cut much out of that area normally, you may need to cut more out to fit it. You may also be able to flatten the copper a bit gently or open it slightly if it’s loose.

I’ve always been told to put pickups on the bass side because the pickups tend to have no trouble capturing the upper registers but benefit more from a bias toward the bass to capture lower frequencies. It’s also more convenient for most players to have the pickup and jack on the bass side so the cable can be positioned over the left shoulder.

I would expect the black plastic to mean a zip tie. Some pickups come with one so you can gather up any loose wires to keep them from rattling against the top.

The Fishman pickup one of the easiest to install because you don’t have to do any soldering or carve a bridge with a lead sticking out of it, but that pickup doesn’t get very positive reviews from players in my experience. 

[Brad Dorsey]

If you are talking about the type of Fishman that has a little metal spring that is inserted into the slot on one edge of the bridge, that is my favorite type of violin pickup to install because it is the easiest.  The instructions that come with the pickup give the size the slot needs to be, so all you have to do is widen the slot in the bridge to that size with a knife.  I use a mechanics' feeler gauge to measure the slot opening.  I don't recall the instructions saying that the sides of the slot opening have to be flat and parallel.  The spring expands to fill whatever shape the sides of the slot are.

A big disadvantage of other types of pickups is that they are built into the bridge, so if the bridge warps or breaks, you have to replace the pickup.  But with the Fishman you just have to replace the bridge, because it can be easily taken out of one bridge and put in another.  And fitting a bridge with a built-in pick-up is very difficult because it has a wire sticking out of one face.

I don't know how Fishmen compare tonally with other pick-ups.

[Violadamore]

4 hours ago, nathan slobodkin said:

Any one out there have any experience installing Fishman or other Piezo pickups? As near as I can tell the pick up has to be installed between two completely flat and parallel surfaces. On my bridges and most nice bridges made for acoustic performance the only flat surfaces are the outer edges of the bridge. The top of the "thigh" is curved or angled and the bottom of the wing is cut thin enough to bend and also cut away to a point to allow shaping the leg. Is it possible to have a nice professional looking bridge with one of these pickups or does one need to use a more or less uncut blank and sacrifice the acoustic performance of the bridge? Also wondering if it makes a difference whether the pick up is installed on the bass or treble side? The picture in the directions shows the pick up on the treble side but I have seen them on the bass side and of course the jack and cord need to be on the bass side to avoid interfering with bowing.  Running the wire under the tailpiece looks like it risks interfering with the fine tuners and allowing it to touch the top looks like it would buzz. Lastly the directions say to attach the wire to the tailpiece using "black plastic". What the heck is that? I will probably use tape but wondered if there is some material i am not aware of. Any thoughts on these thing graatefully accepted.

https://fishman.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/classic_series_violin_pickup_user_guide.pdf

https://fishman.com/dp/classic-series-v-100-violin-viola-pickup/

https://fishman.com/dp/classic-series-v-200-professional-violin-pickup/

https://fishman.com/dp/airlock/

I've installed a few pickups.  You're always gonna have to dedicate a bridge, as the pickup changes the response whether it's epoxied in, or clipped in the side slot.  For Fishman slip-ins I favor the V-200, pickup on treble and sidemount on the bass side, and like the Airlock (which acts as a preamp as well as a transmitter), slipped somewhere unobtrusive (like a purpose-made costume pocket) on a thin extension cable.  I haven't used the V-100 tailpiece mount. The "black plastic" is a zip tie, and IMHO, having stuff attached to the tailpiece will always affect sound, plus I feel that the cable would get in the way when attached.