Early 90's Jackson Fusion/Charel Predator questions

[FireEagle]

Well the guitar arrived yesterday. Good shape, almost no fret wear, just dirty. Action pretty high though. I immediately took the strings off and bridge out, polished the frets and cleaned/oiled the fretboard. I was looking the trem over and to my dismay I found a "nut" glued to the bottom of the baseplate under the low E intonation screw... meaning it had been stripped. Looks like a quick fix... they ground down a hardened black nut and superglued it under there in the rearward hole. I don't know if it will hold or not. I strung it up and let the new strings stretch over night. Tonight I'll tune it up and lock it down and see how it plays. Kind of bummed about the stripped screw hole, but Guitar Center had no way of knowing it was there either.

Nice looking guitar, a burst finish with yellow "tiger stripe" flamed maple center and it fades to a funky orange outer color... I have no idea what to call that finish. I'll post a pic or two when it is cleaned up and all back together.

[FireEagle]

Oh yeah... I also noticed the string lock blocks on the A and low E didn't look right or work right, had to use a small flat blade screwdriver to get them to move back so I could get the string down far enough to clamp properly. Did the JT-590 string lock blocks have the string lock screw hole in the center or offset toward the bottom? Seems like tip of the lock screw just wasn't locating in to the string lock block right.

Thanks for any help!!

[toejam]

Nice. Sounds like a cherry sunburst. Those old Schaller/JT590 trems were notorious for stripping out saddle screws, and people sometimes put nuts or helicoil inserts in there. I believe Schaller has reinforced their saddle holes now so the stripping doesn't happen.

[Dak]

Nice. Sounds like a cherry sunburst. Those old Schaller/JT590 trems were notorious for stripping out saddle screws, and people sometimes put nuts or helicoil inserts in there. I believe Schaller has reinforced their saddle holes now so the stripping doesn't happen.

I just bought a new Schaller for my Fusion Deluxe project I'm working on and it looks like it has steel inserts in the base for the intonation screws.

[FireEagle]

Nice. Sounds like a cherry sunburst. Those old Schaller/JT590 trems were notorious for stripping out saddle screws, and people sometimes put nuts or helicoil inserts in there. I believe Schaller has reinforced their saddle holes now so the stripping doesn't happen.

If it is a Cherry Sunburst, the red has faded to kind of a dull orange... I have not seen another one that looks like it yet. I have looked in catalogs to properly ID it, but having some trouble. I need to post a picture or two, maybe you guys would know. The neck plate is black, has a 7 digit sn#94xxxxx, and has a small switch between the volume and tone knobs, offset dots... Is that characteristic of a '94 Fusion Std?

I read some old archived info about the JT590 having a zinc baseplate and the intonation screws stripping. I didn't know they made helicoils that small! Do you know the thread size by chance? I want to wait to do the intonation until after my neck checker tool arrives, but it is just unplayable with the low E that far out of whack... so I may wing it over the weekend. I finally ordered a neck checker after years of eyeballing or using the strings to check neck relief.

[FireEagle]

I just bought a new Schaller for my Fusion Deluxe project I'm working on and it looks like it has steel inserts in the base for the intonation screws.

Nice... Which modern Schaller tremolo will fit a JT590 route? Sounds like a cool project. I'm starting to regret jumping the gun and not waiting patiently for an affordable Fusion Deluxe to come along. I haven't really been able to play it much, but I had a lot of trouble just getting the guitar restrung, trem leveled, and tuned up right. Played it for a while and it just didn't have that "Wow... this is the most comfortable guitar I ever played" feeling that I had with the Charvel Predator. I need to give it a chance and get it set up right though.

[Dak]

Nice... Which modern Schaller tremolo will fit a JT590 route? Sounds like a cool project. I'm starting to regret jumping the gun and not waiting patiently for an affordable Fusion Deluxe to come along. I haven't really been able to play it much, but I had a lot of trouble just getting the guitar restrung, trem leveled, and tuned up right. Played it for a while and it just didn't have that "Wow... this is the most comfortable guitar I ever played" feeling that I had with the Charvel Predator. I need to give it a chance and get it set up right though.

This one https://schaller.info/en/tremolos/359/schaller-tremolo?number=13020432.02 IIRC It was what was always known as the Schaller Floyd Rose until they came out with the Lockmiester that's an OFR copy. The stratosphere on Ebay has the best price I've seen.

I hope it turns out good. The body has at least three cracks I need to glue. It's taken a hard hit at some point.

I'd say setup is key. My Fusion std. went from not the best playing, from an un level bridge and too high action to probably my favorite guitar once I got the action how I like it.

[toejam]

If it is a Cherry Sunburst, the red has faded to kind of a dull orange... I have not seen another one that looks like it yet. I have looked in catalogs to properly ID it, but having some trouble. I need to post a picture or two, maybe you guys would know. The neck plate is black, has a 7 digit sn#94xxxxx, and has a small switch between the volume and tone knobs, offset dots... Is that characteristic of a '94 Fusion Std?

I read some old archived info about the JT590 having a zinc baseplate and the intonation screws stripping. I didn't know they made helicoils that small! Do you know the thread size by chance? I want to wait to do the intonation until after my neck checker tool arrives, but it is just unplayable with the low E that far out of whack... so I may wing it over the weekend. I finally ordered a neck checker after years of eyeballing or using the strings to check neck relief.

I don't think the Fusion Standard had the little mini switch. That switch is typical of other Fusions, though... it should be the on/off for the active JE-1500 wah/filter boost circuit in there.

The colors might have faded through the years, either from sunlight, or just even the clear coat that was used back then that used to tend to yellow over time.

[toejam]

I just bought a new Schaller for my Fusion Deluxe project I'm working on and it looks like it has steel inserts in the base for the intonation screws.

Good to know. I couldn't remember if they had the steel inserts or just upgraded the baseplate.

[FireEagle]

This one https://schaller.info/en/tremolos/359/schaller-tremolo?number=13020432.02 IIRC It was what was always known as the Schaller Floyd Rose until they came out with the Lockmiester that's an OFR copy. The stratosphere on Ebay has the best price I've seen.

I hope it turns out good. The body has at least three cracks I need to glue. It's taken a hard hit at some point.

I'd say setup is key. My Fusion std. went from not the best playing, from an un level bridge and too high action to probably my favorite guitar once I got the action how I like it.

Thanks for the trem info... Would be very nice to have a new one. If I can get the neck and action feeling good I might be able to save up for a new one.

Good luck on the project too! Wow... Cracked body? Good lord, how could a guitar ever get whacked that hard?

[FireEagle]

I don't think the Fusion Standard had the little mini switch. That switch is typical of other Fusions, though... it should be the on/off for the active JE-1500 wah/filter boost circuit in there.

The colors might have faded through the years, either from sunlight, or just even the clear coat that was used back then that used to tend to yellow over time.

Active wah/filter circuit? I pulled the covers when cleaning/checking and it looked all passive, like a normal HSS w/5-way and tone/volume. Which reminds me... The covers are black brushed & anodized aluminum? Was that how they came? I'm primarily an Ibanez guy, so I've never seen anything other than plastic covers.

There were also some markings under the tremolo springs, I'll have to post a picture in case they mean something. Who knows... maybe the original owner wrote his name in there in case of theft. I think it said "Todd T. 3 - Z -101" or something like that.

[toejam]

The older stuff did have the metal covers. The old Jackson pickups were passive and could be used with active circuitry that Jackson made (mid boost, preamp gain boost, or wah filter). If there's no battery in there and the pickups are working, then someone removed the circuit. The switch was used to turn the circuit on and then one of the tone controls would sweep through the range like a wah pedal. What exactly is the switch doing now?

[FireEagle]

The older stuff did have the metal covers. The old Jackson pickups were passive and could be used with active circuitry that Jackson made (mid boost, preamp gain boost, or wah filter). If there's no battery in there and the pickups are working, then someone removed the circuit. The switch was used to turn the circuit on and then one of the tone controls would sweep through the range like a wah pedal. What exactly is the switch doing now?

Thanks for the info... Right now the switch is just wired to split the humbucker. I don't see any other empty screw holes in the cavity, but there is a lot of room in there.

[Dak]

Thanks for the trem info... Would be very nice to have a new one. If I can get the neck and action feeling good I might be able to save up for a new one.

Good luck on the project too! Wow... Cracked body? Good lord, how could a guitar ever get whacked that hard?

No problem. I've been a bit baffled myself. The cracks coming from the neck pocket make sense like the neck took a hard hit, but there are cracks at the bottom and through the control cavity that don't connect to the neck pocket cracks. Also no real paint damage on the bottom edge like it took a hit there. I want to start a project thread if I ever get around to it. Just waiting until I have it glued and know it's salvageable.

Thanks for the info... Right now the switch is just wired to split the humbucker. I don't see any other empty screw holes in the cavity, but there is a lot of room in there.

I've been thinking about putting a push/pull pot in mine. I like having the option to split the humbucker.

[FireEagle]

Here are a few pics of the beast... I hope the link works anyway. I hadn't used photobucket in years and I guess it is a pay site now, so I tried "imgur" for free photo hosting. Let me know if it works or not.

http://imgur.com/a/9IheMo2

Hopefully it shows the weird orange color of the finish. Nice little guitar, if I can get it sorted out.