Making a Morse Tele....

[Butch Snyder]

Hi all,

After deciding to get a Steve Morse model guitar, I also decided to mod my Warmoth Telecaster. I want to make a pseudo Steve Morse Tele.

Basically, I have a Warmoth Tele that's ash with a maple neck/fretboard. I have modded it half to death. I guess the most unTele-like mod has been an HSH config with a Fred/Texas Special/PAF Pro setup. I took a bridge from my OLP MM1 and unscrewed the trem block and just drilled three new holes for it and installed it. The thing worked great. It's now setup like a Nashville Tele.

I want to set it up like the old Steve Morse Tele. I won't be using any guitar synth stuff though. I will also use a standard Tele pickguard but route it for the correct pickups. I will also use a standard control plate. All this is subject to change depending on what problems I run into.

Has anyone here done this? I did a search on Steve Morse's wiring and saw a few posts; but people were basically PMing the diagrams to each other.

Would you guys mind helping me out with some feedback here and diagrams if you can?

I would surely appreciate it.

Cheers,

 

[mesadualrec]

the general lee tele

my friend has made one and it is killer

he also has two balls...very nice ones too

a burnt apple axis MM90 loaded
and
Fully Loaded Mystic Dream JP6

 

[Butch Snyder]

the general lee tele

my friend has made one and it is killer

Cool....

 

[fbecir]

The Morse Tele is also an old dream ... I have a Tele S**ier that one day, I will upgrade. I am also interested by the diagrams.
If I remember well, a guy from this forum made a Morse Tele using some spare parts. I don't remember what was his name, but I think he was from Germany... My memory is not so good !

 

[tommyindelaware]

the fact that steve converted the tele to a top loader using an abr1 bridge has alot to do w/ the tone.

 

[Butch Snyder]

the fact that steve converted the tele to a top loader using an abr1 bridge has alot to do w/ the tone.

Yes, that's a good point. I'm going to install a modified Strat bridge. I could also use my top-loader Tele bridge cut in 1/2...

Here's a decent representation of what it might look like...

 

[morsecode]

I once though of the idea of building my own kramer like evh frankenstein or an jpm ibanez. It's easy enough to find crappy parts for those guitars as their everywhere and mass produced in sweatshops throughout places like china.

But now having come to my senses I'd personally save the dough and buy another ball. It's better money spent.

 

[Butch Snyder]

I once though of the idea of building my own kramer like evh frankenstein or an jpm ibanez. It's easy enough to find crappy parts for those guitars as their everywhere and mass produced in sweatshops throughout places like china.

But now having come to my senses I'd personally save the dough and buy another ball. It's better money spent.

Oh, I'm well on my way to getting my dream guitar; an EBMM Steve Morse model. I just thought this would be a very way to mod my already modded Warmoth Tele.

 

[banjoplayer]

I remember having this, because beej posted it.

I myself modded a strat copy with the pickup config of Morse - with parts lying around, nothing special, the HBs from a Ibz SZ 320, a Fender Lace Sensor and a Duncan SC.

you can take a look here: banjopayer/Pimped Chevy Strat - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

edit: now, owning a EBMM SM I can say, my modded strat is miles away, further than I ever thought. Save the money for the original. Even if you mod, your wish to own a "real one" will not go away ;-)

 

[fbecir]

So it was you , BanjoPlayer ....
My memories were good : you are German !

Nice work !

 

[Butch Snyder]

now, owning a EBMM SM I can say, my modded strat is miles away, further than I ever thought. Save the money for the original. Even if you mod, your wish to own a "real one" will not go away ;-)

I am getting an original. I just thought it might be a fun idea...

 

[banjoplayer]

So it was you , BanjoPlayer ....
My memories were good : you are German !

Nice work !

funny, I think I didn´t read your post properly, but I didn´t realize that you were talking about me. I thought, interesting, I didn´t see that guy so far

 

[banjoplayer]

I just thought it might be a fun idea...

No doubt it is, if you can keep the costs low. Guitar pimping is always fun. Do both

 

[Butch Snyder]

No doubt it is, if you can keep the costs low.

That might be the problem as I seem to remember I sold my last to humbuckers that were doing nothing. They were a Fred and PAF Pro; cool pickups that worked very well in that Tele.

 

[banjoplayer]

fyi: someone in the whole wide web built himself a Morse Tele. I saved this pic a long time ago, but I can´t remember where I found it and what was the story behind

 

[Butch Snyder]

Cool....

 

[mr.b]

the general lee tele

my friend has made one and it is killer

he also has two balls...very nice ones too

a burnt apple axis MM90 loaded
and
Fully Loaded Mystic Dream JP6

and here she is ... THE GENERAL and along side her, my JS Rainforest