Question Bridge pickup recommendation Morse Y2D

[DennisS]

Hello all,

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a different bridge pickup for the Morse Y2D?
I tried to search about this matter, but I didn't seem to quite find what I was looking for; it seems that not a lot of people do change their pickups.

I own a De-Purple burst Y2D with floyd rose for some years now, and I really like the guitar. Unplugged it has a very well balanced tone in my opinion; one of the best I own. I have the floyd set flat to the body (also for the D-tuna), and this also helps the tone!

I liked the bridge pickup at first, because it has a nice crunch to it, but over time I am starting to miss something. I changed the tone pot to a 500k one. This way I like it better for my rhythm stuff, but this way the pickup even sounds more shrill (of course) when soloing higher up the neck.
It just doesn't have a "3D sounding" that some other pickups have; it seems to have a very narrow focus or something going on. It certainly has much less lows than all the pickups in my other guitars.

The music I play goes mostly from classic rock to old school thrash, and I like a pickup that has (at least) an acceptable clean.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tollywood]

Hello Dennis and welcome to the forum.

There is a guy named Giovanni who often changed pickups and pots in his y2ds. Here are some of his threads:

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-guitars/57909-y2d-pickups.html

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-guitars/58718-y2d-pickup-help.html

http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-guitars/46936-mods-steve-morse-y2d.html

 

[DennisS]

Thanks for the links!
I actually saw the topic from the first link before.
Strange that the Morse pickups don't seem to be replaced often. Or maybe these guitars are not sold as much

 

[Joeoboe]

I replaced my Y2D Darklord pickups with Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz. I am heading to the SD Custom shop next week to pick up a set of Eclairs and Fifty Two stack that they wound for me. The main problem is the mounting ears of the pickups have to be modified to fit the routing of the body.
But...yes... the bridge pickup of really NEEDS to be replaced! I love Steve Morse and I love the guitar...but I do not love that pickup!

 

[Joeoboe]

 

[DennisS]

How do you like the JB in the Y2D?
I don't really have much experience with the JB, but to my ears they really do not sound as horrible as can be read in a lot of reviews, although it does seem to have some sort of a fixed wah/filter sound.

 

[Tollywood]

View attachment 27843

It looks really cool, Joe!

 

[beej]

When I hear you want more lows and "3D sounding", I interpret that as you wanting something lower output, with a wider frequency window. There's a large number of low output PAF-type pickups that fit that description, you could explore that idea.

Fwiw, I have something similar in my regular Morse (Bill Lawrence L90) and like it.

 

[banjoplayer]

Strange that the Morse pickups don't seem to be replaced often. Or maybe these guitars are not sold as much

maybe the stock pickups are really great?

changing the height off them makes also a big difference, but I´m sure you tried that before. I´d also try some lower output PAF-type pickup

 

[DennisS]

maybe the stock pickups are really great?

Yeah, maybe my hearing is not ok
And, when mr Morse can get reasonable sounds with them, they can't be that bad?
I can imagine that it is possible to get reasonable good sounds out of the stock bridge pickup, but that would man I would need to change the amp settings drastically, compared to all other guitars.

I actually never thought to go lower output pickups.
Firstly because the lower output pickups that I know tend to sound not focussed with high gain, or some sort of frayed sound (if this is correct english).
But for cleans you are absolutely right, higher output overwound pickups seem to have a certain honky midrange, which I don't like for cleans, but I play in the crunch to high gain department most of the time, so I tend to sacrifice the clean sounds.

Secondly, would a lower output pickup match the neck pickup of the Morse? I'm not planning to swap the neck pickup, I like that one.
The Morse pickups aren't low output (although the dc resistance is not that high) so if I have a low output bridge pickup, wouldn't it be overpowered by the neck pickup?

 

[DrKev]

Secondly, would a lower output pickup match the neck pickup of the Morse? I'm not planning to swap the neck pickup, I like that one.
The Morse pickups aren't low output (although the dc resistance is not that high) so if I have a low output bridge pickup, wouldn't it be overpowered by the neck pickup?

Possibly. If we use two identical pickups, the same distance from the string, the neck pickup will produce a larger signal (because the string vibration is larger pver he neck pickup). That can be balanced by raising the bridge pickup and/or lowering the neck pickup. Which is why bridge pickups are often wound hotter than neck pickups. But they are also designed for different frequency ranges - bridge pickups don't want to be too bright and neck pickups don't want to be too muddy or bassy. In fact may neck pickups work great as a brighter sounding bridge humbucker.

DC resistance is a lousy way to measure output. DiMarzio actually list the output of their pickups in millivolts, which makes much more sense. Coupled with their bass, mid, treble ratings, their pickups can be compared to each other 'on the page' in a somewhat useful manner.

You should spend some time on the DiMarzio website. And their "Pickup Picker" can gie you some useful options based on what you need. Some of their pickups designed for the neck position will work nicely as a brighter bridge pickup.

 

[Joeoboe]

How do you like the JB in the Y2D?
I don't really have much experience with the JB, but to my ears they really do not sound as horrible as can be read in a lot of reviews, although it does seem to have some sort of a fixed wah/filter sound.

I love the JB in the Morse. I like the thing JB does... probably becasue I am an oboist... and that is the same thing oboe does!
I am going to be installing a set of Eclairs from the Duncan Custom shop. I will let you know how they sound!

 

[LawDaddy]

I posted a thread some time ago about replacing the stock pickups in my Y2D with a set of Seymour Slash sigs for a more vintage vibe, along with a 500k pot. I took the pickguard off and direct-mounted the pickups. Very nice result, they've stayed in.

 

[Samoht]

When I hear you want more lows and "3D sounding", I interpret that as you wanting something lower output, with a wider frequency window. There's a large number of low output PAF-type pickups that fit that description, you could explore that idea.

Fwiw, I have something similar in my regular Morse (Bill Lawrence L90) and like it.

Beej, can you post a pic of your Morse with the L90? Thanks!

 

[beej]

Beej, can you post a pic of your Morse with the L90? Thanks!

Sure. It's a 6H bridge / 2.8H neck set. Singles are L45s. Bridge was replaced with a a Callaham.

This also has a different switching scheme:

- The lever is a 5-way like the Y2D (N, N&B, Singles, Singles+B, B)
- The 3-way toggle selects which singles are on the 5-way (N, N&B, B)
- The 2-way toggle puts the bridge HB in series/parallel
- The tone pot has a Lawrence Q-filter when you pull it

 

[Samoht]

Sweet! I've wanted to see that guitar for a while but never asked. Glad I did. Can I assume that you're as close to satisfied as possible, since you've done lots of experimenting over the years?

BTW, those HBs look a lot like Bardens to me. I venture to guess that Joe copied Bill's design.

Thanks again!

 

[beej]

I don't really know the history, but I believe BL had rail designs before anyone else. (That said, it's a logical thing to do.)

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it right now. The L90s sound amazing in this guitar. Not totally sold on the singles, though they do sound good and are dead quiet. (I've never been 100% happy with any singles in the Morse.)

All of that said ... I do tend to tear this guitar apart every year or two and re-wire it

 

[DennisS]

Update:
I took all advices into consideration.....and in the end done nothing with them
I had some email contact with the founder of 4seasons pickups here in holland, about what kind of guitar, the guitar sounds I like, and what kind of music I play.
We agreed on a custom pickup (I was looking for a clear sounding pickup), and I could try before paying the pickup, so no risk for me. It has an alnico 5 magnet and a dc resistance of 14k, but
I don't know much about the technical details.
Compared to the bare knuckle nailbomb pickups I use in some other guitars (my favorite pickups, but I wanted something different for the Y2D), this one has not as much lows (or at least less "woofy") slightly more highs, but overall less compression and a more dynamic response. Very sensitive for the distance to the string. I started with a large distance (5-6mm), which gave some sort of acoustic air to the tone. Also nice, but not what I was locking for, so the pickup went up to 3mm from the string. Nice tone, but I wanted a more bold sound. Did I need to return the pickup for a modification, or should I put it even more close to the strings? I tried that first before removing the pickup.
I raised the pickup somewhere between 0,5 and 1mm, so a pickup to string distance between the 2,5 and 2mm, and bam! Balls to the wall heavy rock sound!
I took the Y2D to band practice, and I have never played with a humbucker sound that was this clear sounding with great note definition!
At these high volumes and in a context also containing bass and drums, this pickup really shines.
I have no idea how it works, most pickups (also my loved bareknuckle nailbomb pickups) use alnico 5 magnets, and in the end it is just a bunch of copper wire wrapped around some pieces of metal, but still, the clearness of this pickup is great!
I am happy now

There is only one downside....the Y2D neck pickup sounds like sh*t right now

 

[Firesource]

It's good to hear that you're happy!

Pickup height is crucial with some pickups - I remember having installed a Holy Diver in another guitar, and my first thought was "oh...", but raising it just a tiny bit brought out the low end and punchy mids that I had hoped to achieve.

 

[DennisS]

Yes indeed, but because that height is so important, it is difficult to do a quick comparison.