Larry Fishman started out as a mechanical engineer in Cambridge, Massachusetts working on high-speed trains. At the same time he was attending Berklee College towards a degree in composition, plus playing stand-up bass in a jazz quintet with rising volume levels. As happens, necessity led to opportunity, and Fishman developed piezo pickups that worked well with double bass, then for violins. Guild Guitars then contacted Fishman to supply transducer pickups, and other manufacturers followed, including Gibson and Taylor.

Fishman’s product line has expanded into the components that support the pickups – preamps, amplifiers, tone controls, and so on.