PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus

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Offline Ricey

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PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« on: April 20, 2018, 10:44:46 PM »
Need pup recommendation for a 91' Charvel Fusion Plus.  It has 24 frets, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, ash body, dual humbuckers, Jackson JT-590 Schaller licenced Floyd Rose bridge.  Crucially, this guitar is a "Fusion" between a Strat and a Gibson; i.e., Strat body and vibrato bridge, but Gibson dual hum configuration and "short" 24.75" Gibson scale length.

This guitar will be my primary 80's EVH and Hair Metal axe, but also will be used for classic 70's Hard Rock.

It has a 5-way super switch to select pups, which gives multiple combinations of humbucking and split coil tones, so both pups need to have enough output to produce convincing single coil tones when split.

Current pups are very high output active Reflex Silver pups, which have great sustain for single note instrumental rock melody lines, but are too compressed for what I play.  I need more attack and punch for rhythm work.  Also, when I turn the active tone control up past the flat detent, the bridge pup becomes very harsh, but if tone is flat or cut, there is not enough bite and cut.

Any suggestions would be appreciated
« Last Edit: April 20, 2018, 10:50:18 PM by Ricey »

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Offline DarthPhineas

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PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2018, 11:06:38 AM »
Check on eBay or Reverb for a Virtual Hot PAF or a Virtual PAF. If you cannot find one, go for a 36th Anniversary Bridge.

Personally, with that setup and with that goal from that guitar, I’d start with the Virtual PAF. But your mileage may vary.

For a neck option, the PAF Pro.
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Offline Ricey

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2018, 12:42:14 PM »
Would those pups sound good split?  Usually, vintage output pups sound kinda shrill when split.

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Offline DarthPhineas

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2018, 03:50:24 PM »
Would those pups sound good split?  Usually, vintage output pups sound kinda shrill when split.


Depends on your definition of “good” and “shrill”.
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Offline Orkhan Julfa

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #4 on: April 22, 2018, 10:22:02 AM »
May be Evo2 ? This pickup very versatile and work great for EVH tone and modern too.

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Offline Ricey

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2018, 06:40:34 PM »
Great recommendations so far!  Keep em' comin'.  Anybody know why Vai keeps switching pups?  Is he no longer happy with the Evolutions and Evo2?
« Last Edit: April 22, 2018, 06:42:32 PM by Ricey »

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Offline Orkhan Julfa

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2018, 07:31:10 AM »
I think just experimenting. Searching for something new.

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Offline darkbluemurder

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2018, 11:59:45 AM »
I would go with an AT-1 in the bridge and a Bluesbucker in the neck. The Bluesbucker splits exceptionally well - the split tone is almost as loud as the humbucking tone. I have that combination in a dual humbucker telecaster type guitar and it sounds great.

Cheers Stephan
Area 67, Area 58, Area 61, VV Pro 54, Injectors, VV HB2, Virtual Solo, SDS-1, Area T, Area Hot T, Area T 615, Virtual Hot T, Chopper T, Bluesbucker, Breed set, Air Norton, Super Distortion, DLX+ set, DLX-90, DP240, DP198, DP168, VPAF b, AT-1, Mo' Joe, FRED, Super 2; GS b

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Offline DarthPhineas

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2018, 07:07:20 AM »
I think just experimenting. Searching for something new.


^^^ this ^^^

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Offline Ricey

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2018, 01:02:04 PM »
The AT-1 seems like the closest current production Dimarzio pup to the Virtual Hot PAF recommended by Darthphineas?  My interest is piqued!

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Offline DarthPhineas

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2018, 02:09:27 PM »
The AT-1 seems like the closest current production Dimarzio pup to the Virtual Hot PAF recommended by Darthphineas?  My interest is piqued!


36th Anni Bridge is closest to VHPAF. My exp is that the AT-1 is closer to the Virtual PAF. Both options are winners, depending on you goals.
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Offline Ricey

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2018, 07:18:23 PM »
I would be more interested in the higher output of the two for this particular application.

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Offline devastone

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Re: PUP recommendation for 91 Charvel Fusion Plus
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2018, 01:44:12 PM »
The Norton is a great bridge pickup and very versatile, it seems to be criminally overlooked.

http://www.dimarzio.com/node/2145