Morse Pickups too Dark for me....

[beej]

Ah yes...the Morse pickups...

I just LOVE the humbuckers, but ultimately decided to swap the single coils for DiMarzio Area 58/61. Best combination for me. Glad you're getting where you need to be. I wouldn't be too squeamish about modifying stuff - as long as you can get it back to the original state!

Actually John, you've got me thinking about this! Though I'd love more of a tele vibe from the single. I was thinking about trying an Area T in the tele spot, though I'd have to carve up the base a bit to get it to fit.

Any chance you can do up a sound sample of just the Area 61 with a bit of grit, say oh through the Vox module?

 

[John Czajkowski]

Actually John, you've got me thinking about this! Though I'd love more of a tele vibe from the single. I was thinking about trying an Area T in the tele spot, though I'd have to carve up the base a bit to get it to fit.

Any chance you can do up a sound sample of just the Area 61 with a bit of grit, say oh through the Vox module?

(Sorry to hijack ) Although most of this clip is the 61 in the bridge, you can hear at the end where I flick the switch to both 58 and 61 together for the the Hendrixy 5ths and final little riff.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Well, then you would be talking about the pickups AND a back-ache, and that would be no good...

LOL, you would be right about that! I had an LP Deluxe a few years back. I went back and forth with the mini-humbuckers and P-90s. I also had a nice Tele and an EBMM AL too.....

Actually John, you've got me thinking about this! Though I'd love more of a tele vibe from the single. I was thinking about trying an Area T in the tele spot, though I'd have to carve up the base a bit to get it to fit.

Hey Beej, I was thinking about replacing my straight single coil with a Red Velvet. From what I understand, it's voiced like a Tele bridge pickup; complete with a metal baseplate. That's what I would do because for a Telecaster bridge pickup to retrofit, you'll have to cut the sides of the flatwork and add to the ends; which I don't think would be possible.

 

[KungFu Grip]

I did the same thing with my Albert Lee when I first got it. I wanted more 'oomph', so I put a set of Rio Grandes in it. Those came out in short order. About a year later, I put a Twangbanger in the bridge position to give it more meat. That lasted a month.

These Music Mans seem to be set up pretty much perfect right from the factory, so I don't muck with them anymore.

 

[beej]

(Sorry to hijack ) Although most of this clip is the 61 in the bridge, you can hear at the end where I flick the switch to both 58 and 61 together for the the Hendrixy 5ths and final little riff.

No hijack at all- thanks John! I have heard that one before and had forgotten. Sounds excellent.

Hey Beej, I was thinking about replacing my straight single coil with a Red Velvet. From what I understand, it's voiced like a Tele bridge pickup; complete with a metal baseplate. That's what I would do because for a Telecaster bridge pickup to retrofit, you'll have to cut the sides of the flatwork and add to the ends; which I don't think would be possible.

Never played a red velvet, but the one hybrid strat/tele pickup I have tried is the Duncan bridge pickup in the Albert Lee which would be a great match. Again, the base size might make it awkward, but think it could be cut to fit. And the metal strip is quite small and wouldn't be an issue. (Not a full metal baseplate.)

The Area T would be interesting as the Area pickups are getting great reviews and are noisefree. I might try one as as an experiment and see.

Lastly, I might try and find a second hand Silent Circuit and see if I can wire it up with the Morse's split bridge. I'd like the singe coil sounds with a bit of gain, the noise is the issue. But the Morse's split bridge is excellent, IMHO.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Never played a red velvet, but the one hybrid strat/tele pickup I have tried is the Duncan bridge pickup in the Albert Lee which would be a great match. Again, the base size might make it awkward, but think it could be cut to fit. And the metal strip is quite small and wouldn't be an issue. (Not a full metal baseplate.)

When I had my AL, I had Evan Skopp, VP at Seymour Duncan, send me a couple of copper-plated steel baseplates from their Twang Banger pickups. The Twang Bangers were not in production yet; but being a loooooongtime member of that forum, I was allowed certain perks. Those baseplates were just like their Tele bridge pickup baseplates and they took up the whole footprint of the Strat pickup's bottom flatwork. The difference in that and my stock Duncan APS-2 (AL bridge pickup) was pretty noticeable. It had more punch, more mids, more snap, and more kick.

 

[Sub1 Zero]

Hey Butch, any shot of you selling your Morse bridge pup? It's an option for me, because I just cannot get a high gain sound out of my Silo that suits me.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Hey Butch, any shot of you selling your Morse bridge pup? It's an option for me, because I just cannot get a high gain sound out of my Silo that suits me.

I just put it back in...

 

[beej]

Hey Beej, I was thinking about replacing my straight single coil with a Red Velvet. From what I understand, it's voiced like a Tele bridge pickup; complete with a metal baseplate.

Hey Butch-

I'm still thinking about replacing this pickup as well. I had a long back 'n forth with Steve Blutcher at Dimarzio (great that he responds so quickly) about options. He recommended against the Red Velvet- it's too far from the bridge to have the right characteristics. His pick was the Area 58. It's quite bright and noiseless to boot.

I'm going to play with some different pickups in there at some point and see. I'm doing a lot more single coil work than I used to and I need something noise-free. The split bridge is great, though.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Hey Butch-

I'm still thinking about replacing this pickup as well. I had a long back 'n forth with Steve Blutcher at Dimarzio (great that he responds so quickly) about options. He recommended against the Red Velvet- it's too far from the bridge to have the right characteristics. His pick was the Area 58. It's quite bright and noiseless to boot.

I'm going to play with some different pickups in there at some point and see. I'm doing a lot more single coil work than I used to and I need something noise-free. The split bridge is great, though.

Steve's a great guy and always takes time, over the phone, to field all my stupid questions. Talking to him is what made me reinstall my Morse humbuckers. Having said that, I was really afraid you were going to say that about the Red Velvet. I can see Steve's point about advising against it for the reasons he did.

Good luck with the Area 58 and please let us know of your results.

 

[beej]

Replaced the singles with Area 67 neck / 58 bridge

Thought I'd follow-up on an old thread. I've been playing with different singles in my Morse for a while trying to get some different sounds.

I tried a number of different pickups, traditional and noiseless. The best traditional singles I tried were the Suhr Fletcher-Landau pickups. Really rich, chimey pickups. However they didn't get along that well with the Silent Circuit I'd installed, and as this is my main gigging guitar noise considerations won out.

In the end I went with a Dimarzio Area 58 in the bridge and Area 67 in the neck spot.

I tried John Czajkowski's suggestion of a 61 bridge / 58 neck, but I found I liked the added brightness of the 58 in the bridge (a little more "spanky", like the old single that was in there but brighter), and the 67 is a high peak design, nice and glassy. (Tommy: it's similar the Lollar Blonde in that spot).

So I'm really happy with these and they're silent. Important to note that they don't really sound that different, the sound of that bridge spot is relatively similar and has more to do with the characteristics of the wood and distance from the bridge than anything else. But the neck p'up was a big improvement, I really never got on that well with the old neck single.

So there you have it.