An HSS Morse???

[Butch Snyder]

Okay, before everyone thinks I've lost it, I was evaluating my Morse yesterday. Once again, I removed the stock pickups and installed an Air Zone/Air Norton combo. This time though, I left the 250k pots. Man, talk about fat and proud...

Not muddy and/or dark, but very very fat and warm. I love the tone. The blend with the single coils is nice too; much better than with 500k pots. Now, on to the subject at hand.

I really only use the neck pickup split as well as the slanted single coil. I don't use the straight single coil at all. Kind of like Steve Morse but he doesn't use the slanted single coil; hence, the design of the Y2D.

Anyway, I was thinking of ordering a custom pickguard from Pickguard Heaven. I was going to have them send me a Standard Morse pickguard but cut for a an HSS setup; that would include a 5-way blade switch and holes for the vole and tone pots. I would use the slanted single coil as my middle pickup, the Air Zone as my bridge pickup, and a Duncan APS-1 as my neck pickup. I would leave the straight single coil, the pots, and all the switches in the existing Morse pickguard. That way, it's easier to change back when I need to.

Here's a rough pic of how it might look.

Okay, what do you guys think? I know at least one of you will say, "Why don't you just buy a Silo Special?" Easy, I ain't got the money and I love the feel of my Morse.

 

[His Reverence]

Thou shouldest do what thine heart tells thee my son

 

[D.K.]

Well, Butch, it has supposedly been done 20 years ago)))))))) :

Sweet Guitars

according to the description it is a custom ordered Morse form 1988. I would pay a lot to get this if it's true.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Well, Butch, it has supposedly been done 20 years ago)))))))) :

Sweet Guitars

according to the description it is a custom ordered Morse form 1988. I would pay a lot to get this if it's true.

Very interesting, the guard almost looks homemade.

 

[D.K.]

Yeah, I thought abot this myself - however, you should be pretty good a craftsman to make (cut out) a guard that accurate. To me it seems more liek a custom ordered one-ply pickguard. And BTW, there deffintely were a couple of custom made Morse models that Steve still has - some of them have unusual pickup configurations, so there is a very little chance that everything is original on this one.

But anyway - it's an interesting Morse, isn't it?

 

[Butch Snyder]

Yeah, I thought abot this myself - however, you should be pretty good a craftsman to make (cut out) a guard that accurate. To me it seems more liek a custom ordered one-ply pickguard. And BTW, there deffintely were a couple of custom made Morse models that Steve still has - some of them have unusual pickup configurations, so there is a very little chance that everything is original on this one.

But anyway - it's an interesting Morse, isn't it?

I definitely wouldn't do this myself. I would order a pickguard from Pickguard Heaven.

 

[TonyEVH5150]

How is the Morse routed under the PG? is it a universal rout, or will it need some additional hacking into to fit?

 

[Spudmurphy]

Thou shouldest do what thine heart tells thee my son

god to see ya back !!

I think the mod looks a good un!

 

[Butch Snyder]

How is the Morse routed under the PG? is it a universal rout, or will it need some additional hacking into to fit?

You would think it is a universal route; but it's not. There's a littel "lip" I need to dremel down. Here's a pic of Beej's when he was installing the piezo bridge in his.

I would have to dremel down the top on mine. I think my route is different than his.

 

[beej]

Ah, my old beach towel ...

I think this is a pretty cool project, I'd half considered doing it myself at some point. More power to ya Butch!

Only thing I might do differently is re-consider the straight single for the middle position. I'm not sure how useful that would be if you want to get neck & middle quack. Would probably look for something better matched to whatever neck p'up you choose. Then again, might work well.

You going to split the bridge p'up in posion 2? What about doing position 3 as split bridge & neck, rather than single on it's own? I guess you could do a standard strat style wiring and keep the "add bridge" toggle which could do that.

 

[Butch Snyder]

You going to split the bridge p'up in posion 2? What about doing position 3 as split bridge & neck, rather than single on it's own?

Yes, IMHO, that is the only way to fly. I will install a Mega Switch "E" model from Stewart McDonald. That will give me the bridge/neck combo in pos. 3. I will install a 250k push/pull pot to split the bridge pickup.

 

[Butch Snyder]

$58 for a pickguard!?!?! Man, that's steep.

Pickguard Heaven charges $38 for a standard Morse pickguard in B/W/B. They view the bridge humbucker as part of a Standard Morse guard. The two singles for the neck and middle positions are $10/ea. extra...

Still worth it? I don't know.....

 

[Sticky1973]

.... I removed the stock pickups and installed an Air Zone/Air Norton combo. This time though, I left the 250k pots. Man, talk about fat and proud...."

Interesting; very interesting.

The sound of the Norton in the Poplar body? I want to add a neck pickup to my Black Poplar Sub1 soon, and the classic DiMarzio D Sonic/Air Norton combo is pushing top of the list just now.

Sound good? Really good?

I think your new pickguard and pickup change sounds ideal, but then i'm all for guitar tamperference

 

[Butch Snyder]

The sound of the Norton in the Poplar body? I want to add a neck pickup to my Black Poplar Sub1 soon, and the classic DiMarzio D Sonic/Air Norton combo is pushing top of the list just now.

Sound good? Really good?

Yes, it sounds very good. Very warm, smooth and punchy; but not muddy or dark. I'm also using 250k pots. I have the stock volume pot and a push/pull tone pot to spit the neck and bridge pickups. The AN splits very nicely too.

I think your new pickguard and pickup change sounds ideal, but then i'm all for guitar tamperference

I think the AN is an ideal neck pickup for those who want a really big, fat PAF tone that's a bit "souped-up". Because the AN is so nice, I'm tempted to go HSH and keep the AN in the neck position; well, that and the $60 pickguard. Keeping the humbucker route in both the neck andf bridge positions would bring the price down $10 and every little bit helps.

And speaking of HSH, here's a little design I did this morning.

I would use a 3-way blade switch like the stock switch and I would keep the two position toggle and use it to activate the middle pickup.

 

[PugNinjas]

So there are some thought of interchangeable pickguards going on here?

Does the Morse come with the clip connector going from the jack to the electronics?

Can you buy all the appropriate parts from EBMM (pots, switches, knobs, etc)?

Sounds like an interesting project

 

[beej]

The Morse doesn't have any Molex connectors. But Dudley gave the part #s a while back- I actually bought a bunch on my last Mouser order, so I'm going to put them in mine as I'm frequently removing the p/g for one reason or another.

You could buy all the pots, switches, etc. from EBMM. But they're pretty standard.

 

[PugNinjas]

The Morse doesn't have any Molex connectors. But Dudley gave the part #s a while back- I actually bought a bunch on my last Mouser order, so I'm going to put them in mine as I'm frequently removing the p/g for one reason or another.

You could buy all the pots, switches, etc. from EBMM. But they're pretty standard.

Thanks for the info, I was thinking it would be a cool idea to have those connectors because, if and when, I decide to switch out those single coils, I could just buy a different pickguard and leave the original completely stock.

It's fun to tweak these things

 

[Pablo]

If I might be so bold as to make a suggestion on an excellent pickup setup, I suggest you go for a variation of HHS. I did this on my home built monstrosity and it truly is an excellent setup. Essentialy, I wired this thing just like an HSH - I just moved the middle PU to the neck position. I don't have my camera with me right now, but I did a mockup of it, just to give you an idea.

To me, this rather unusual combo offers the ultimate in flexibility for a 22 fret guitar and you are more than welcome to steal my idea!

Cheers

Eske

 

[PugNinjas]

Beej,


........or I could just route out the rest of the morse so that I could install 4 DiMarzio X2Ns

 

[guitarman23]

hmmmmm....... im very picky, so dont mind me but i really dont like that, seems a bit strange to me after sights on my morse with the two HB and 3 SC it would be weird to me to have it have HSS, never planing on moding mine except for sc covers...