Morse Strat “quack” - SM1 vs Y2D

[Morseish]

I’ve seen several people ask about getting the strat “quack” on a Morse. I have the SMI, and honestly, I feel like I get a much better stray sound using the single coil closest to the bridge pickup, not the “extra” slanted single coil (that is missing on the Y2D).

So I have 2 questions:
(1) for people with the SM1, have you found this to be the case? And what do you use the slant single coil pickup for?

(2) for Y2D owners, can you get a strat-type sound with the sole single coil pickup you have?

I’m really struggling to find a use for the extra slant single coil - but I’m also using a small digital practice amp.....fender mustang gt40.....so going to something with tubes, larger speakers, smaller enclosure, etc.. may end up making all the difference.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Usually when I hear the term "quack" that is for the Bridge and Middle pickups together on a strat, not for one pickup alone. The regular morse definitely can get that quack. Just mix the two single coil pickups together.

 

[beej]

Quack is the one thing the stock Morse doesn't do so well (imo).

I don't love the singles together- they're too close and it's missing something. But- if you split the bridge pickup (and it does a good tele thing like that), it quacks well with the slanted neck single. It still doesn't nail the strat thing, but it gets a lot closer.

As for the slanted single on it's own, I use it where I'd use the middle pickup on a strat. Lots of uses.

 

[Morseish]

I don’t think this is the case - but just confirming, SM1 model doesn’t have a way to split either humbucker (as you suggested above) w/o aftermarket mods, correct?

 

[beej]

Correct. I have mine wired up differently.

 

[Morseish]

Do you have any other mods on your SM1? I’ve gone back and forth on wanting to leave it stock just like Steve and wanting to just go crazy and give it even more possibilities.

 

[beej]

How long do you have ... ha ha ha ... I've probably re-wired mine dozens of times, including a piezo and preamp at one point. (Though I'm now back to more of a stock-ish configuration.)

Personally I never loved the 3-way lever- I found the 5-way Y2D switching to be easier. If you do that, you free up the 'add bridge' toggle, and that's a handy spot to wire up a coil split. (I only split the bridge - with a Silent Circuit, so there's no hum - but some people like the neck split,) I'm also using a 500k volume and 250k tone pot, to brighten things up a tad. That's basically how I have mine set up these days.

Another good scheme is to wire both single coils to the 3-way toggle (e.g. neck single / both / bridge single), and run the output of that to where the bridge single goes on the lever switch. In that way, you can quickly switch from a humbucker to a position with the two single coils in parallel.

Anyhow- if you dig around here you'll find some other ideas as well.

 

[vuduhwy]

This is what I did: Duncan StagMag in the neck, DImarzio Area 61 in slanted middle, Dimarzio Injector and A Duncan Screamin Demon in the bridge. I have a push/push volume to split the bridge and neck. The Screamin Demon actually sounds very convincing when split and when I add the slanted Area 61 to it, it's a pretty convincing #2 position sound like on a Strat also. The #4 sound on a Strat really isn't there in this setup but I bet if I put another Screamin Demon in the neck, it would be. I don't really care because it's the #2 position "quack" that makes my tongue hard anyway.

 

[fbecir]

Hello

I use quite a lot the slanted single coil (alone or with the bridge single coil or the bridge humbucker).
You can find a lot of tones if you change the pickup height.
On my Morse, the humbuckers are quite low, the slanted single coil is also low but the bridge single coil is high (near the strings I mean).

Thus before using your soldering iron, you can change the height of the pickups. Perhaps you will find the combination that is good for you.

Good luck

 

[tommyindelaware]

That’s a great idea

 

[vp101]

I have a stock Y2D. Unfortunately, it doesn't so the quack sound on its own well. However, with the single coil (position 3) and a compressor, you can get an interesting sound. What surprised me the most about the guitar was hearing both hum buckers together (position 4) and just how much bite it had. The Morse is a very interesting sounding guitar and a big reason for its unique sound is that it doesn't really sound like anything else.