I Piezo'ed my Morse!

[beej]

I Piezo'ed my Morse!

So after borrowing Keith/DaveB's piezo Axis after the open house, I became totally hooked on the piezo (much to my surprise). Many weeks later, I've finally finished adding a piezo to my '91 Morse (the one with the "Tommy Alderson neck profile"). Man does it sound SWEET!

I dropped in a Graph Tech Ghost tuneomatic piezo bridge and Ghost preamp (many thanks to Dan Desy for encouraging me to go with the Graph Tech system - I looked at a few and found this to have the best reviews). I also routed the back to put in a battery box (StewMac) for convenient battery changes.

Control details:

- Volume knob is now push/pull for coil splitting of the Humbuckers
- Dual concentric pot for mag tone (bottom knob) and piezo volume (top knob)
- SPDT toggle switch for mag / mag + piezo / piezo output
- Stereo output jack- works with either mono or stereo cables (to split mag/piezo output)

There were lots of small finicky details (e.g. the concentric pots were 500k so needed to solder a resistor in parallel to lower them to 250k) to get it working right, but all in all a fun project. Roughly US$300 in parts.

Lastly, I'd just like to say the folks at Graph Tech were AWESOME! I originally ordered the wrong bridge - they were super friendly when I needed to get the correct one and actually overnighted it to me. They're totally accessible and friendly (Lea at R&D was available for a million questions and really helpful). And the bridge sounds absolutely phenomenal- I am so happy with the sound of this system!

Some assorted pics:

Off to play some more ... !

J.

 

[NorM]

That fieakin Rocks. So much so that I can't spell. After the Morse y2d I don't see buying another EBMM without the piezo system. I love them. I am stoked that Graph Tech gave you EBMM style service. That's great to hear.

 

[mhorse]

Wow this is waaay cool. Congrats!

 

[Adwex]

Nice job done on a cool little project. I never tried a piezo, but I've heard others, it's a cool idea. Any particular reason you took the neck off, or just a precaution?

 

[phatduckk]

thats awesome beej ...

so off the top of your head how many possible switch/knob combinations does that guitar have? LOL

 

[Spudmurphy]

nice job.
bet it sounds great - now you'll have to get an acoustic amp ;-)

 

[Raz]

Way to go Beej!

 

[beej]

Thanks guys! I love 'er.

Adwex- yeah, actually at the time it was shipped to Tommy in Delaware to be re-carved But I probably would have taken it off as a precaution anyway.

Spud- I generally play through a PodXT/Keyboard amp, so half goes through the Pod to the amp and the piezo goes either through the Pod's piezo preset (sounds awesome) or direct to the amp! But yeah, I'll have to try one next chance I get.

Phatty- thanks dude!

Stock there are 11 combinations. With the coil split, this makes 19. Add the piezo mixed in and piezo alone, and you get 39 different combinations

 

[tommyindelaware]

dang beej !!!!!! let's set up shop.........

looks awesome bud !!!!!
we might have to do a little chopping when you come down.......

 

[GWDavis28]

Beej, nice job!!!!!!!!

I'd be shaking in my boots doing that!!!!!

Glenn |B)

 

[dan desy]

Wow, great job, beej! I really like the battery compartment you routed out!

I'm glad I had some influence on your choice. My experience with Graphtech has been like yours. Very helpful people. I'm on my second GHOST'ed guitar

MExt time, maybe I'll have the gutys to do some routing like you did...

 

[lameduck]

Bravo! Congrats on a professional and ballsy mod.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Fantastic job mate!

 

[DaveB]

Watch out Dudley - Beej is in the house!!

Fantastic job my friend.

Dave

 

[kbaim]

Damn impressive work Beej...or should I say Tommyincanada

 

[mbgreene]

Looks like a great job beej

Now do you actually play any of these guitars or just spend you time adding pickups knobs and switches?

 

[fogman]

and now you have the perfect Morse!!!!
Nice job!!

 

[beej]

Now do you actually play any of these guitars or just spend you time adding pickups knobs and switches?

Yeah ... sometimes I think I like messing with them more than playing ... I've got a guitar in my hand whenever I can, but I lie awake at night thinking about taking 'em apart! (Now if I could just gig more ...)

...or should I say Tommyincanada

Hahaha! Thanks for the compliment

 

[tommyindelaware]

Watch out Dudley - Beej is in the house!!

Fantastic job my friend.

Dave

that's like telling master yoda to watch out.......

 

[beej]

dang beej !!!!!! let's set up shop.........

looks awesome bud !!!!!
we might have to do a little chopping when you come down.......

Thanks buddy! You got 'er!

As for the Dudley comment ... yeah ... I'm sure he's not quakin' in his boots (It did put a smile on my face )

Dudley is absolutely THE MAN. All of my favourite guitars are HIS designs!