New mods on my two SUB1 guitars (long post)
Okay, guys, here's the deal. I came to my EBMM stable backwards - I actually got two different Morses (sig and Y2D) BEFORE I got my SUB's (long story documented elsewhere).
I got the Red SUB1 earlier last year. Someone had put the little rhinestone thing over some sort of a mark before I got it.
The Black SUB1 was actually the second black one that I got, with the intention of modifying; got the first, but then got the second because it had the compensated nut (sorry, forgot to take a 'before' picture).
The whole point of getting the SUB's was to have a MM guitar that I could bang around without as much concern on outdoor gigs and such. After playing the Red SUB1 for a whole season, I realized that there was a LOT of potential here, and that there could be a few mods to make it even more versatile than it already was, and make it my, well, beat-up-able Morse substitute.
After reading a lot here about different mods, I started formulating my gameplan.
First objective: sand the black finish off the neck. I love the way the necks on my Morses feel. After reading how JackFFR1846, Kaloyan, GoKart Mozart, GuitarER, and DaPatrooch sanded the necks of their SUBs, I decided to do the same, sanding the black off the back and sides of the headstock as well, to match my Morse Sig with matching headstock. I would have posted all the 'process' steps, but it would really just look like what Jack et al. did. Suffice to say, after removing the tuners and serial number label (hint for those who want to do the same: use a blowdryer to heat the label and soften the adhesive for easier removal, carefully lifting with a razor blade; do the same before reapplying) I masked, sanded incrementally from 100/220/320/400/600, then went the Birchwood Casey Tru-oil and then Gunstock Wax route, including the headstock. As you might expect, the necks aren't as beautifully figured as my Morse's, but they're pretty cool as they are. I did the guitars one at a time over the Xmas break - each took less than an hour to sand, so by the end of the day, each neck was done.
Outcome and evaluation: I'm very pleased with the way they turned out. I admit that I may be fooling myself, but I love the way these necks feel.
Second objective: take advantage of the pickups. It's well-documented here that the stock pickups were split-able/tap-able, so I started thinking about what I'd want the guitar to be able to do. I knew I wanted to start by having the standard Morse options of Neck, Neck+Bridge, and Bridge settings, but was curious about other non-standard options.
I suppose I should say that by this point, I had obtained a pair of Morse Signature pickups and a multi-pole lever switch, and used another guitar to experiment with, as far as finding ways to wire the two pickups for various options. I realized that I didn't use the single coil sounds as much on my Morses (pos 2 and 3), so I wanted to figure out other options that might be interesting.
I'm a big fan of Michael Landau's, and one of his sounds I love is that glassy, str*t-ish pos 2 or 4 sound. So I wired my experiment guitar so that I could get a neck humbucker plus the neck-side coil of bridge pickup, as well as the opposing bridge humbucker plus the bridge-side coil of neck pickup. The first was what I was after; to my surprise, the second was a lot like the first. So that meant that I got what I wanted, and also a slot that could be made different. At this point, the thought also occurred that I could use a push-pull pot on the tone control to split/tap both of the humbuckers to get some of those str*t single-coil sounds.
I also had decided that I wanted the vol/tone/lever locations positioned like the Morse sig (a bit different from the Silo Spec). So I ordered two pickguards from Pickguard Heaven (Kenny from PGH was a great help on the phone). After a little bit of research, I found that the most the most cost-effective way to get what I wanted was to start with the SUB1 HH layout, delete the normal control layout, and add the vol/tone/lever layout from the Morse Sig (only added $10 to the cost of the material for the pg). I had them orient the Morse control layout based on the location of the bridge pickup on the SUB1 HH template.
Of course, the pickguards arrived right in the middle of a very busy time, so I wasn't able to work on both guitars at the same time, so I chose to work on the Red SUB1 first (I figured the Black one was the 'better' one because of the nut, and so wanted to suss out the mistakes on the Red one first). I pretty much knew what to expect in all but one spot, which was where I decided to experiment with using one of the tapped single coils out of phase. I got this idea from watching the Game Changer videos. Got a pickguard in flat black, which matched the original color. I did have to enlarge the control cavity slightly in order to fit the lever switch (five minutes with the router). On the multi-pole lever, went with
neck HB,
neck plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck HB plus bridge HB,
bridge HB plus bridge-side coil of neck HB OUT OF PHASE,
bridge HB.
add to this the push/pull tone pot which would ground the outside coils of both humbuckers, so that when pulled, I got
bridge-side coil of neck HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB out of phase plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck-side coil of bridge HB.
Yes, there are two identical positions here, but I didn't come up with a quick and easy alternative (read: I was too excited about getting it done to figure out other options).
Outcome and evaluation: the out-of-phase experiment garnered a couple of interesting sounds, but when all was said and done, the considerably lower output level negated the novelty of the sounds. Other than that, mission accomplished.
So on to the Black SUB1. I received this guitar with a black pearl pickguard, in addition to the original aluminum-ish one. While the pearl was a nice contrast on the all-black guitar, I thought that I wanted something different to compliment what was to be the natural wood neck. After perusing Pickguard Heaven's materials lists, I decided on their Baltic Amber.
In wiring the switching, I did everything the same as on the Red SUB1, but instead of using the out-of-phase approach for the one position, I decided to wire the bridge humbucker in parallel instead of series. I figured I'd get that thinner single-coil-ish sound, but with less output drop. Basically a brighter color than what was there otherwise. So this gave me
neck HB,
neck plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck HB plus bridge HB,
bridge HB in parallel,
bridge HB (in series).
add to this the push/pull tone pot which would ground the outside coils of both humbuckers, so that when engaged, I got
bridge-side coil of neck HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck-side coil of bridge HB.
So yes, now two redundancies, but still, I get three usable single-coil settings (neck single, neck single plus bridge single, bridge single).
Outcome and evaluation: I like this setup well enough that the next time I have to change strings on the Red SUB1, I'll redo the wiring this way. The only other thing I am considering is using the push-pull to put both humbuckers into parallel, rather than grounding one coil.
So that's it - almost NGD x2. I love the way the necks feel; the new switching scheme gives me some nice options; I'm really digging the Baltic Amber on Black with the maple neck. Here they are together (though the light isn't as good)...
Oh, and to make matters sweeter, I managed to find a pair of MM hard-shell (skb) cases locally through Craigslist - a nice Xmas present to myself!
Thanks for checking these out!
Best from Craig
Okay, guys, here's the deal. I came to my EBMM stable backwards - I actually got two different Morses (sig and Y2D) BEFORE I got my SUB's (long story documented elsewhere).
I got the Red SUB1 earlier last year. Someone had put the little rhinestone thing over some sort of a mark before I got it.
The Black SUB1 was actually the second black one that I got, with the intention of modifying; got the first, but then got the second because it had the compensated nut (sorry, forgot to take a 'before' picture).
The whole point of getting the SUB's was to have a MM guitar that I could bang around without as much concern on outdoor gigs and such. After playing the Red SUB1 for a whole season, I realized that there was a LOT of potential here, and that there could be a few mods to make it even more versatile than it already was, and make it my, well, beat-up-able Morse substitute.
After reading a lot here about different mods, I started formulating my gameplan.
First objective: sand the black finish off the neck. I love the way the necks on my Morses feel. After reading how JackFFR1846, Kaloyan, GoKart Mozart, GuitarER, and DaPatrooch sanded the necks of their SUBs, I decided to do the same, sanding the black off the back and sides of the headstock as well, to match my Morse Sig with matching headstock. I would have posted all the 'process' steps, but it would really just look like what Jack et al. did. Suffice to say, after removing the tuners and serial number label (hint for those who want to do the same: use a blowdryer to heat the label and soften the adhesive for easier removal, carefully lifting with a razor blade; do the same before reapplying) I masked, sanded incrementally from 100/220/320/400/600, then went the Birchwood Casey Tru-oil and then Gunstock Wax route, including the headstock. As you might expect, the necks aren't as beautifully figured as my Morse's, but they're pretty cool as they are. I did the guitars one at a time over the Xmas break - each took less than an hour to sand, so by the end of the day, each neck was done.
Outcome and evaluation: I'm very pleased with the way they turned out. I admit that I may be fooling myself, but I love the way these necks feel.
Second objective: take advantage of the pickups. It's well-documented here that the stock pickups were split-able/tap-able, so I started thinking about what I'd want the guitar to be able to do. I knew I wanted to start by having the standard Morse options of Neck, Neck+Bridge, and Bridge settings, but was curious about other non-standard options.
I suppose I should say that by this point, I had obtained a pair of Morse Signature pickups and a multi-pole lever switch, and used another guitar to experiment with, as far as finding ways to wire the two pickups for various options. I realized that I didn't use the single coil sounds as much on my Morses (pos 2 and 3), so I wanted to figure out other options that might be interesting.
I'm a big fan of Michael Landau's, and one of his sounds I love is that glassy, str*t-ish pos 2 or 4 sound. So I wired my experiment guitar so that I could get a neck humbucker plus the neck-side coil of bridge pickup, as well as the opposing bridge humbucker plus the bridge-side coil of neck pickup. The first was what I was after; to my surprise, the second was a lot like the first. So that meant that I got what I wanted, and also a slot that could be made different. At this point, the thought also occurred that I could use a push-pull pot on the tone control to split/tap both of the humbuckers to get some of those str*t single-coil sounds.
I also had decided that I wanted the vol/tone/lever locations positioned like the Morse sig (a bit different from the Silo Spec). So I ordered two pickguards from Pickguard Heaven (Kenny from PGH was a great help on the phone). After a little bit of research, I found that the most the most cost-effective way to get what I wanted was to start with the SUB1 HH layout, delete the normal control layout, and add the vol/tone/lever layout from the Morse Sig (only added $10 to the cost of the material for the pg). I had them orient the Morse control layout based on the location of the bridge pickup on the SUB1 HH template.
Of course, the pickguards arrived right in the middle of a very busy time, so I wasn't able to work on both guitars at the same time, so I chose to work on the Red SUB1 first (I figured the Black one was the 'better' one because of the nut, and so wanted to suss out the mistakes on the Red one first). I pretty much knew what to expect in all but one spot, which was where I decided to experiment with using one of the tapped single coils out of phase. I got this idea from watching the Game Changer videos. Got a pickguard in flat black, which matched the original color. I did have to enlarge the control cavity slightly in order to fit the lever switch (five minutes with the router). On the multi-pole lever, went with
neck HB,
neck plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck HB plus bridge HB,
bridge HB plus bridge-side coil of neck HB OUT OF PHASE,
bridge HB.
add to this the push/pull tone pot which would ground the outside coils of both humbuckers, so that when pulled, I got
bridge-side coil of neck HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB out of phase plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck-side coil of bridge HB.
Yes, there are two identical positions here, but I didn't come up with a quick and easy alternative (read: I was too excited about getting it done to figure out other options).
Outcome and evaluation: the out-of-phase experiment garnered a couple of interesting sounds, but when all was said and done, the considerably lower output level negated the novelty of the sounds. Other than that, mission accomplished.
So on to the Black SUB1. I received this guitar with a black pearl pickguard, in addition to the original aluminum-ish one. While the pearl was a nice contrast on the all-black guitar, I thought that I wanted something different to compliment what was to be the natural wood neck. After perusing Pickguard Heaven's materials lists, I decided on their Baltic Amber.
In wiring the switching, I did everything the same as on the Red SUB1, but instead of using the out-of-phase approach for the one position, I decided to wire the bridge humbucker in parallel instead of series. I figured I'd get that thinner single-coil-ish sound, but with less output drop. Basically a brighter color than what was there otherwise. So this gave me
neck HB,
neck plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck HB plus bridge HB,
bridge HB in parallel,
bridge HB (in series).
add to this the push/pull tone pot which would ground the outside coils of both humbuckers, so that when engaged, I got
bridge-side coil of neck HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
bridge-side coil of neck HB plus neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck-side coil of bridge HB,
neck-side coil of bridge HB.
So yes, now two redundancies, but still, I get three usable single-coil settings (neck single, neck single plus bridge single, bridge single).
Outcome and evaluation: I like this setup well enough that the next time I have to change strings on the Red SUB1, I'll redo the wiring this way. The only other thing I am considering is using the push-pull to put both humbuckers into parallel, rather than grounding one coil.
So that's it - almost NGD x2. I love the way the necks feel; the new switching scheme gives me some nice options; I'm really digging the Baltic Amber on Black with the maple neck. Here they are together (though the light isn't as good)...
Oh, and to make matters sweeter, I managed to find a pair of MM hard-shell (skb) cases locally through Craigslist - a nice Xmas present to myself!
Thanks for checking these out!
Best from Craig
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