1990/91 Fusion Pro Project

[CamPocketRocker]

Hello,
I’m new here, my first post. I’ve long admired they are Jackson guitars and have finally pulled the trigger…sort of.
I recently acquired a MIJ Jackson Fusion Pro neck and body from the early 90’s Professional series, Now, I’m trying to sort out the next steps. Since I don’t have the original neck plate (I was hoping that the seller was bad at listing things, but wasn’t counting on it), and even if I find the “correct” plate from a different guitar, this is still a parts guitar. No need to try to source original parts… or is there?

Vibrato: I was told that stripped out baseplates can be an issue in the old Schaller/Jackson trems. I’m planning on getting a new original Schaller Trem. From what I’ve gathered, that and the JT-590 are exactly the same. What about the Lockmeister? They both are listed as drop in replacements for Original Floyds, but I’ve read that are different from each other?! The Floyd Rose rabbit hole is a confusing one.
Sidenote: Does anybody have experience with the Ruthenium finish? My buddy had durability issues with it on his Floyd Rose 1000. As it was a Korean model. I’m assuming different manufacturing specs.

Pickups: I’m keeping my eyes out an original set, J50BC in the bridge and J200s in the middle and neck. Now, I know the world is my oyster with the pickups, but I’m sure Jackson new what they were doing when they put these together. Are there modern equivalents? Otherwise, I’m thinking a Super Distortion or SD Black Winter in the bridge…not sure about the middle or neck.

That brings me to the JE-1500. There’s someone selling repros on Ebay. I’m leaning towards yes, I’m partial to the cocked wah sound/mid boosts. Is there any reason to avoid? Alternatives?

Finally, tuners. I’ve searched to find who manufactured original tuning machines but have’t found. I’ll admit, I haven’t gone deep. Does anybody have the answer to this? Once again, I’m leaning towards Schaller.

Please excuse any typos, this was all written with my thumb on a tiny screen.

thanks!!!

[CamPocketRocker]

I’ve tried uploading some pics. No dice

[john.w.lawson]

Hello,
I’m new here, my first post. I’ve long admired they are Jackson guitars and have finally pulled the trigger…sort of.
I recently acquired a MIJ Jackson Fusion Pro neck and body from the early 90’s Professional series, Now, I’m trying to sort out the next steps. Since I don’t have the original neck plate (I was hoping that the seller was bad at listing things, but wasn’t counting on it), and even if I find the “correct” plate from a different guitar, this is still a parts guitar. No need to try to source original parts… or is there?

Vibrato: I was told that stripped out baseplates can be an issue in the old Schaller/Jackson trems. I’m planning on getting a new original Schaller Trem. From what I’ve gathered, that and the JT-590 are exactly the same. What about the Lockmeister? They both are listed as drop in replacements for Original Floyds, but I’ve read that are different from each other?! The Floyd Rose rabbit hole is a confusing one.
Sidenote: Does anybody have experience with the Ruthenthium finish? My buddy had durability issues with it on his Floyd Rose 1000. As it was a Korean model. I’m assuming different manufacturing specs.

Pickups: I’m keeping my eyes out an original set, J50BC in the bridge and J200s in the middle and neck. Now, I know the world is my oyster with the pickups, but I’m sure Jackson new what they were doing when they put these together. Are there modern equivalents? Otherwise, I’m thinking a Super Distortion or SD Black Winter in the bridge…not sure about the middle or neck.

That brings me to the JE-1500. There’s someone selling repros on Ebay. I’m leaning towards yes, I’m partial to the cocked wah sound/mid boosts. Is there any reason to avoid? Alternatives?

Finally, tuners. I’ve searched to find who manufactured original tuning machines but have’t found. I’ll admit, I haven’t gone deep. Does anybody have the answer to this? Once again, I’m leaning towards Schaller.

Please excuse any typos, this was all written with my thumb on a tiny screen.

thanks!!!

never had a jt500 or 590 strip out on me and I've had a fusion "PRO" I did move the switch to the front because vol is always in the way.




SANY3285.jpg

DSC01464.jpg mine had a tb-4 i believe ? get what you like

[CamPocketRocker]

never had a jt500 or 590 strip out on me and I've had a fusion "PRO" I did move the switch to the front because vol is always in the way.

Thanks! Good idea!

[ed]

My main question regarding the trem is does it have the bushings still installed to the body? If yes you are in luck.

[john.w.lawson]

Thanks! Good idea!

I'm pretty sure you would need short block screw if you went with an frt or anything with long block tightens?

[CamPocketRocker]

My main question regarding the trem is does it have the bushings still installed to the body? If yes you are in luck.

Yes! I forgot to mention that. I was very happy to find them installed.

[ed]

Yes! I forgot to mention that. I was very happy to find them installed.

Thats good since in that time they used bigger diameter bushings for the jt-590s and today they use smaller diameter. The threads should be the same as todays schallers and OFRs. So the posts should fit.

The current schaller should be s straight replacement. OFR and lockmeister the intonation screws will probably hang over the routing on the back.

Also new schaller models have hard metal inserts in the baseplate so the threads will not strip. That was a pretty common issue on the old jt-590 units.

[Dak]

The Fusions are at the moment my favorite guitar and at the moment I've built two from primarily Ebay parts. The first was a Charvel Fusion Deluxe. Other than the color I tried to do it with semi-correct parts. Sourced what I think is the correct neck plate and used a new Schaller bridge identical to the JT-590 but with the steel inserts. I used the correct J200r for the neck but have an Invader in the bridge with a push pull pot to split it. The second one I wasn't so lucky. I ended up buying a Jackson Fusion HH body as an experiment with my Charvel neck. I finally found a Jackson neck for it but it's from a Fusion EX so it has the right offset dots but doesn't have the binding the HH is supposed to have. Sounds like you got lucky and got the right neck and body. I put a Floyd Rose built from a Special baseplate and 1000 saddles and block in it since it originally had a JT-580. The correct cast 6 digit serial neck plate is proving hard to come by. Right now I have a 7 digit plate on it since they are from Japan as well. This doesn't really answer your question but I guess the point I was making is you can go either direction. Build it as close as you can to how it left the factory or just build a good player. I guess resale would be better on one that uses the correct parts so one couldn't tell it's a parts guitar. I'd love to have the right neck on my HH but I rarely see a guitar for sale much less a neck.

I do have question. Did your neck come with the nut on it? Neither of mine did and as such I discovered the nuts on the Jackson Professionals are not the same as the current R3 Floyd nut. They are thinner. So if you didn't get a nut with it the Floyd R3 nut will be too tall making the strings too high off the first fret. It's almost like they are R3 width and R2 height because I used an R2 nut with a shim made from a business card on it for a while until I ordered an R3 Nut .On the Charvel I cut the shelf for the nut deeper. On the Jackson I took the nut to work milled it down to a touch thinner than it needed to be and shimmed it to get the string height I wanted because I didn't want to route on the Jackson neck.

[Dak]

Oh I forgot about tuners. It seems there are always a set of Jackson tuners for sale on Ebay so no need to search out who made the originals. That said I think they are Gotoh or Gotoh knock offs. As far as I know all the Jackson logo tuners look the same so I would and did pick up a set off Ebay.

[CamPocketRocker]

Oh I forgot about tuners. It seems there are always a set of Jackson tuners for sale on Ebay so no need to search out who made the originals. That said I think they are Gotoh or Gotoh knock offs. As far as I know all the Jackson logo tuners look the same so I would and did pick up a set off Ebay.

Thanks for response Dak. Yeah, I'd like to find the right neck plate for my own neurosis, but I'd never try to pass it off as an OG Fusion if I were to sell it. That's a bummer regarding the nut. Milling the nut definitely seems like the best option. I was certainly hoping for a nice easy drop in.

Regarding the tuners, I've checked out the Jackson tuners on eBay. My question, are all Jackson tuners created equal?

Thanks again!

[CamPocketRocker]

never had a jt500 or 590 strip out on me and I've had a fusion "PRO" I did move the switch to the front because vol is always in the way.




SANY3285.jpg

DSC01464.jpg mine had a tb-4 i believe ? get what you like

BTW, John, that's a sweet looking guitar. Mine is solid blue (candy blue?) It appears to be the same color as the edges of yours. It looks pretty cool in person. It almost has an iridescence.

[john.w.lawson]

BTW, John, that's a sweet looking guitar. Mine is solid blue (candy blue?) It appears to be the same color as the edges of yours. It looks pretty cool in person. It almost has an iridescence.

Personally, I've never seen a Pro thats a solid color. Sometimes it means the body is made of bass wood or something else if its solid. I'm no expert though.
Good luck with your build.

[Dak]

Thanks for response Dak. Yeah, I'd like to find the right neck plate for my own neurosis, but I'd never try to pass it off as an OG Fusion if I were to sell it. That's a bummer regarding the nut. Milling the nut definitely seems like the best option. I was certainly hoping for a nice easy drop in.

Regarding the tuners, I've checked out the Jackson tuners on eBay. My question, are all Jackson tuners created equal?

Thanks again!

As to the tuners. That I don't know. I think I bought the cheapest black Jackson logo set I found at the time. Since I rarely have to touch them once tuned up and the nut locked down I wasn't too concerned with anything beyond cosmetics. Maybe I just got lucky but from my sample size of one set they turned smooth and looked and functioned like the ones on my actual Fusion.
I didn't get the tuners from him but I've had good luck with quiet a bit other parts from this guy. Items for sale by stigatsu | eBay Looking through his items he doesn't always say what the tuners come from but it looks like you could end up with tuners ranging from various Japanese guitars to a JS32.

I'm still on the hunt for a neckplate. Hope we don't get in a bidding war if one pops up.

[CamPocketRocker]

I'm still on the hunt for a neckplate. Hope we don't get in a bidding war if one pops up.

If there’s an auction, I’ll check in. I’m not that worried about it.