Fishman Aura wires in guitar cavity

[jazz mart]

I have a Martin performing artist series with the fishman aura system built in and it's finicky (the electronics, I mean). When I plug it in I have to move the body of the guitar forward and back and sometimes jiggle the wires around gently before it makes sound. If I lean back in my seat it goes mute. When I lean forward it will usually turn on...Ugh... Other than that, it's my first nice acoustic guitar and I absolutely love it!

At one time I noticed that the wires were hanging down at the bottom of the cavity. There are 2 main strands or bundles of wires and each has a little white clip holding each of the two strands together. And the 2 white clips have stick-em on the flat edge of them which I assume is to hold the wires up and in place. At some point the wires must have fallen and so I attached them to the top bracing in back of the sound hole. But I don't know if this is correct because the electronics are still finicky (like I described above).

If anyone knows about this I'd very much appreciate any guidance. I'll probably try to call Martin (the guitar maker, not Scorsese) this week and see if they can tell me where the wires are supposed to go.

Pain in the tuckus. Next acoustic I buy won't have nothin' but wood and glue on the inside of it...

[Gmountain]

Originally Posted by jazz mart

I have a Martin performing artist series with the fishman aura system built in and it's finicky (the electronics, I mean). When I plug it in I have to move the body of the guitar forward and back and sometimes jiggle the wires around gently before it makes sound. If I lean back in my seat it goes mute. When I lean forward it will usually turn on...Ugh... Other than that, it's my first nice acoustic guitar and I absolutely love it!

At one time I noticed that the wires were hanging down at the bottom of the cavity. There are 2 main strands or bundles of wires and each has a little white clip holding each of the two strands together. And the 2 white clips have stick-em on the flat edge of them which I assume is to hold the wires up and in place. At some point the wires must have fallen and so I attached them to the top bracing in back of the sound hole. But I don't know if this is correct because the electronics are still finicky (like I described above).

If anyone knows about this I'd very much appreciate any guidance. I'll probably try to call Martin (the guitar maker, not Scorsese) this week and see if they can tell me where the wires are supposed to go.

Pain in the tuckus. Next acoustic I buy won't have nothin' but wood and glue on the inside of it...

You have Scorsese's number?

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by jazz mart

I have a Martin performing artist series with the fishman aura system built in and it's finicky (the electronics, I mean). When I plug it in I have to move the body of the guitar forward and back and sometimes jiggle the wires around gently before it makes sound. If I lean back in my seat it goes mute. When I lean forward it will usually turn on...Ugh... Other than that, it's my first nice acoustic guitar and I absolutely love it!

At one time I noticed that the wires were hanging down at the bottom of the cavity. There are 2 main strands or bundles of wires and each has a little white clip holding each of the two strands together. And the 2 white clips have stick-em on the flat edge of them which I assume is to hold the wires up and in place. At some point the wires must have fallen and so I attached them to the top bracing in back of the sound hole. But I don't know if this is correct because the electronics are still finicky (like I described above).

If anyone knows about this I'd very much appreciate any guidance. I'll probably try to call Martin (the guitar maker, not Scorsese) this week and see if they can tell me where the wires are supposed to go.

Pain in the tuckus. Next acoustic I buy won't have nothin' but wood and glue on the inside of it...

If I correctly recall from my days of Martin Aura systems, I think originally the wire guides would have been stuck to the side of the guitar. I don't like wires or guides hanging from the top of the guitar because I'm OCD and want to inhibit top vibration as little as possible.

Likely, from your wiring flopping around, a connection has come loose and only needs to be reconnected either via the two small screws that connect the Matrix pickup to the preamp or possibly having to resolder wiring at the endpin or having your jack loosen up from the endpin assembly. So, here's what I would do:

Before you begin, have you tried a different guitar cable? If so, and you still get an intermittent signal, try the following:

Firstly, check that your jack hasn't loosened up from the combo battery/end-pin/jack assembly. Martins with their new-style assembly tend to do this if you don't hold the guitar cord near the endpin when moving around; it's happened to me. Also, push and let off on the battery box several times to hear if that's a problem. If that's not a problem, then

Next investigate your Matrix leads by trying to gently push and pull on them near the preamp while strumming the strings to hear if that's the cause of your intermittent signal. You may have to loosen a couple of bass strings to get your fingers in there. If that's the cause of your intermittent signal, it could more than likely indicate a loose connection at the preamp and/or perhaps, but less likely so, at the Matrix pickup itself.

If the preceding operations haven't pin-pointed your problem, then maybe some connections have come loose, inside, at the endpin. The entire assembly can be removed from the rear of the guitar for inspection and any necessary work by removing the assembly screws.

[Sonics]

The stated symptoms are indicative of an intermittent connection or a short circuit caused by a wire touching something.
Follow the signal path in reverse. Starting with the instrument cable, then the jack socket (try using contact cleaner), then the wires leading to the jacket socket(pre-amp and battery). Use a pencil to 'shake' each loose wire and see if it makes a difference.

I don't think it's a circuit board problem if the display is working so I would concentrate on the jack socket itself and the wiring to the jack socket.

[jazz mart]

Thanks! This is all useful information. I'll investigate more tomorrow.

Sonics, when you say that it sounds like the wire is touching something, this rings a bell. My first thought was that 2 wires that cancel the output were crossing. When I separate the wire bundles, I get sound again and it lasts for a while, until I lean back or shift around too much...

SpruceTop, thanks for taking the time to give me such a thorough explanation. It's particularly good to know that the whole system can be taken out to work on.

And, no... I don't have Scorsese's number

[jazz mart]

Well, I took the Fishman unit out of the guitar and checked the connections. All the soldered joints on the jack looked and felt solid. And I gave a gentle push to any of the non-solder connections. I didn't notice anything loose but perhaps something was ever-so-slightly loose because now the electronics are working really well! Better than ever! I love it...

I'm still not exactly sure where the bundles of wires are supposed to live in there... But for the time being I'm just letting them float where they don't touch the top and barely touch the bottom. As I say...it works better than ever! so I'll leave it like that for now. I may still call Martin to find out where they're supposed to be. All the pictures I find online show them to be completely out of sight from all angles (at least on Sweetwater's website that's how it is). Mine however looks like R2D2's cousin in hiding in the sound hole.

I love this guitar though!

[Sonics]

That's great news, I'm glad it worked out and welcome to the Martin Aura club!