Purchased from: Manufacturer
Street Price: $49.95 USD + shipping & tax
About:
FU-Tone PMS (Pickup Mounting System) Upgrade.
FU-Tone, formerly known as Floyd Upgrades, is the Manufacturer of aftermarket high-performance guitar parts designed to optimize a guitar's voice, sustain, playability, and tone.
Installation:
Adding the PMS (pickup mounting system) to your guitar is very simple. It took me about a half hour and 1 beer. If you can use a screwdriver you can install this upgrade. If you do not know how to use a screwdriver, please stop reading this and play with a Barbie.
Sound
Guitar used:
Jac Harrison signature Chili Caster by Chili Custom Guitars
Amp used:
Guitar used:
Jac Harrison signature Chili Caster by Chili Custom Guitars
Amp used:
Bogner Alchemist 1x12
1972 Fender Bassman head through a 2x12
Epiphone Valve JR head through a 1x12
Epiphone Valve JR head through a 1x12
Cables used:
Intex
Strings used:
Dark Horse 10-46
Strings used:
Dark Horse 10-46
 |
| Bridge Pickup on My Chili Caster |
I have used the FU-Tone big block upgrade on a few guitars and went into this review with very high expectation -- to say the least I was definitely not disappointed. This is probably the easiest explanation of how and why an aftermarket upgrade works that I have ever done... so here goes. Your stock pickup is hung from a plastic or thin metal ring allowing zero vibrations from sound transfer to the body, resulting in a large percentage of your guitars tone to just evaporate. This is kind of like what that one bourbon company advertise as "the angles cut" with their product -- well eff that, there is no such thing as an "angles cut" with tone, you get to keep it all if you know how. By attaching the pickup to the guitars body you are using the body wood to amplify the vibrations from sound transfer resulting in a fatter/fuller sounding tone. Now some guys already know this, (like EVH) and have mounted their pickups directly to the guitars body. Adam at FU-Tone took this concept one step further and devolved the FU PMS (pickup mounting system). Besides it's cleaver name, this is a bell brass bracket that you sandwich between your pickup and guitars body during the pickup installation process. For those of us that are scratching our heads and saying why bell brass -- or why not just mount the pickup directly to the body? Well that's simple -- brass is one of the best conductors of electrical current. It amplifies the signal making the vibrations from sound transfer greater resulting in longer, deeper sustain with a rounder fuller tone spectrum and clearer individual note clarity. So, to sum it up...it wakes up your pickup.
This is by far the best upgrade I have seen to date dollars spent -vs- achieved results. I have heard less dramatic tonal differences from replacing pickups that cost (3) times as much. This product took the tone I already loved about my guitar and made it better without coloring or changing her tonal characteristic -- it just made her sing louder, longer and clearer.
My advice:
This is one of those "please take my money" kind of products, and it is standard equipment in my mind. We guitarist are always looking for the next great whatever to improve our tone -- this is it. So my advice is next time you change your strings try one, they are inexpensive and deliver amazing results.
Check out the installation video -HERE-
Contact: FU-Tone
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Posted 10/2013
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