Diffirent Steve Morse models?

[johan1985]

ok, here's the deal. I'm thinking of buying a Music Man Steve morse signature and I got a deal on a used guitar. I noticed there were some diffirences though when comparing to pictures on ernieball.com. Here's a pic of the one I'm looking to buy:

I Noticed the 6 bolt non Sculpted neck joint and the fact that the switches was located diffirently.

So my question to anyone who can answer is if there are diffirences between diffirent production years of the SM model. Also, could anyone give me like some background information on the SM model. When did they begin the production and did they do any major changes in the design or electronics through the years?

Thanks in advance! // Johan

 

[NorM]

When Steve autographed mine the first thing he noticed was that mine was a five bolt where his was a six. The 6 bolts were earlier production models. The guitar came out in late 86 or 87. There were 50 prototypes built and I have seen a couple of them on eBay before. The pickups are Steve's design for the most part and have always remained the same. The lowers pitch only Floyd Rose was added as an option later. Steve plays the same original beat up (experienced) hard tail every time I have seen him with The Dregs or The Steve Morse Band. When I saw him with Deep Purple he broke out some Floyd Rose models and even had one that allowed for pulling back on the bar. A feature not available to you and me. The switching system is pure Steve Morse. I read or heard him say somewhere that he would be ok if EBMM made the guitars with a more traditional switching system but EBMM replied they wanted to build the guitars the same way that Steve plays them. The switching system is identical to the system Steve has on his old Frankenstein guitar. Look for it on one of his older albums. I love the bridge activation toggle and I have added that feature to all of my HSH Silhouettes. A couple of guitar players who have played my guitars have remarked that the extra added switch is in their way. I even heard an EVH owner remark the same way about the toggle switch location on his guitar. I would be willing to bet the previous owner felt the same way so strongly that they moved it to below the tone knob. Of course it's all a matter of taste. Just understand that the EBMMSM model is a beautiful guitar to play and your practice time will increase dramatically, as you will not be able to put this guitar down.

 

[johan1985]

Thanks for the great answer! I'm having lots of gas for this guitar right now. I'm choosing between a SM model, a strat and a tele. And I can say that the Music Man SM came one step closer to my heart