Steve Morse Original Guitar

[PugNinjas]

Hey Folks,

While going through my closet for a little bit of spring cleaning I came across the August 1982 issue of Guitar Player featuring Steve Morse on the cover. There is a pretty cool page within the article that pictures his old tele/strat beast and his comments and descriptions on the guitar as well. I don't know if anyone is interested but I will glady email a scan of the article to whomever wants it.

Rich
PugNinjas

 

[fogman]

post the pic!

 

[kbaim]

Also, for anyone interested in reading about Steve, there's an entire section on his website www.stevemorse.com that has a number of interviews arranged chronologically.

 

[PugNinjas]

Fogman,
I tried but the image was too large, I will reduce it tomorrow and try again.

PugNinjas

 

[slukather]

Hey folks, heres the article that Rich email to me.

Thanks Rich.

Here's the artticle.

My Rock And Roll Guitar
By Steve Morse

Basically, my guitar is a rock and roll guitar that has a combination of single- and double-coil pickups in as many places as you can fit them, which is the only thing that's really unique about it. I'd like to emphasize that, with a little work, any guitar can be suitable for playing any kind of music.

I've had my old Fender Stratocaster neck for about 15 years. It has original stock tuners and a rosewood fingerboard. I like rosewood because it doesn't feel greasy or slippery or sticky; it feels real good. I discovered in high-volume situations that it's possible to have the strings completely damped and still be getting feedback above the neck, so I added a little piece of foam underneath the strings between the nut and the tuning pegs. That keeps the strings-especially the G-from feeding back. The frets are high and fat like Gibson Jumbos, only they are from a different manufacturer. It's been refretted five times, and I may have to replace the neck because of that! It's mounted by four screws onto a Telecaster body (#214319), a real standard switcheroo which anybody can do.

Coming down from the neck to the bridge, I have a Gibson humbucking pickup, a stock Fender Strat pickup, a cylindrical Fender Telecaster rhythm pickup which looks like a little steel bar, and a DiMarzio-modified Fender humbucking pickup that was custom-made. The fifth pickup is a hex pickup made by 360 Systems for their Slavedriver. I use this for tuning all the time, since it's a separate, complete send that I can have on without having my guitar sound. I also use it in "Cruise Control" sometimes.

In almost every solo I change the pickup selection while I'm playing. The general rule I follow is: The lower I'm playing pitch-wise, the more trebly pickup I use. The higher I go, the more bassy of a pickup. This uses the amplifier to its best advantage. So I start playing low with the lead pickup on. By the time I get near the middle of the range-say the 12th fret on the D string-I'm using both humbucking pickups, the lead and bass position. Then when I get up on the B or E string anywhere past the 12th fret, I'm definitely going to be using the bass humbucking pickup only. That gives it the most even sound.

The bridge is a Gibson tune-o-matic. Because it's thin, it enables me to have the room to put in all those pickups in. If I had it to do over, I would get one of the newer generations of bridges, but it was done when that was the only adjustable you could buy. The trapeze tailpiece is from a pawnshop; it's for a 12-string guitar. I had it screwed down to the wood instead of letting it swing free. This gets a lot of pressure across the saddles of the bridge so they don't slip out of the notches. I have a ground wire attached to the trapeze and keep extra picks under the tailpiece.

On a Telecaster you have the stock 3-position switch, as well as one volume and one tone, which is all I need. I have two extra toggle switches in order to give me more combinations. The one closest to my fingers is an on-off switch that adds in the lead position pickup to the humbucking or Tele rhythm pickup. The small toggle bypasses everything and turns on the Strat pickup only. No matter what you have set up, it will go to the Strat. I use this for weird rhythm stuff.

I use LaBella strings, which have been more consistent than any other strings I've been using. I've only broken one LaBella string, which I feel has something to do with the quality. They are gauged .010 to .040. I don't change them too often because I don't like to spend the whole set tuning up. After four to six shows I'll definitely change them. I have pretty medium action-not too high, not too low.

Burt Foster of Campus Music in Atlanta works on my guitar. He made the pickguard. Mark Mytrowitz handles my guitar on and off the stage, but I carry it with me all the time. When we fly, I put it in an Anvil case and ship it through baggage; it's never been hurt. If something happens to it, I can fix anything with parts from a hardware store or Radio Shack. Soldering is the main thing that's going to go wrong. If there's a total failure I have another guitar, a Fender Lead I with an extra single-coil pickup in the bass position. I do use it already on one song where the E is tuned down to D, which saves me having to mess with that. I hate to change tuning on my guitar, and I also hate to change guitars.

I have a copy of my guitar, which stays at home. If the worst happened and my main instrument got ripped off, I could have the copy here by the next day. It's pretty much identical-the guys in the band can't tell when I'm using it-but it doesn't feel the same. I also have a miniature copy of my guitar made by Dave Petschulat of the Pickin' Parlor in Nashville. It works, and has just about the same pickup combinations. It's tuned the same as a standard guitar at the 5th fret. This guitar appears on the liner photo of Industry Standard. My classical was handmade by John Shaw, an excellent craftsman who lives in Miami.




Scott.

 

[slukather]

I might also ad, to whoever thought Eddie Van Halen was the first to modify his guitars, WRONG!!!! the honor goes to Steve Morse, or unless there was someone before him.

Scott.

 

[SteveB]

I might also ad, to whoever thought Eddie Van Halen was the first to modify his guitars, WRONG!!!! the honor goes to Steve Morse, or unless there was someone before him.

Scott.

I remember Jimi Hendrix modifying his guitar with some lighter fluid...

 

[mesavox]

Brian May modified his guitars... he either built them, or smashed them because nobody else could build a copy that was worth two cents. lol

 

[jongitarz]

I remember Jimi Hendrix modifying his guitar with some lighter fluid...

Somewhere I have a pic of me standing on the spot where Jimi burned his guitar in 1967...I will look for it and post if i can find it

 

[jongitarz]

Here it is...

 

[mbgreene]

Somewhere I have a pic of me standing on the spot where Jimi burned his guitar in 1967...I will look for it and post if i can find it

Hey Jon, if that's you in 1967, what do you look like now?






Great piece of history though, I'm guessing they keep that part of the staging untouched when its stored or refinished in other sections?

 

[SteveB]

Jon,

That's really cool that you had your pic taken at that spot!

I'm a little disappointed that you weren't re-enacting the scene...

..especially with a nice, F#n^d#r guitar!

 

[jongitarz]

That was 2 years ago. I was the guitar tech for The Karen Tyler Band at the Monterey Blues Festival. I will be there with them again in June.

The burn mark is still there, and someone scratched Jimi Hendrix 1967 next to the burn mark. I was/am a huge Hendrix fan, so that was a really cool thing for me.

 

[kbaim]

Here it is...

"Wait! Where are you all going? I just started playing!"

 

[tommyindelaware]

The burn mark is still there, and someone scratched Jimi Hendrix 1967 next to the burn mark. I was/am a huge Hendrix fan, so that was a really cool thing for me.

GOD !!! me too.....

mabey you could get a good clear shot of that burn mark ????

 

[jongitarz]

I will try in June Tommy. If you look closely you can see the "H" in that pic...But I will try and get a better pic without that ugly old man getting in the way

 

[tommyindelaware]

hey.........i use old photo's of myself these days !!!!

 

[koogie2k]

Must have been nice standing in "the spot" where Hendrix was.....very cool!

 

[SteveB]

Jon,

The only poster I've ever owned was a nearly life-sized Jimi Hendrix poster.. him playing that white Strat with the bandana on his head and that cool grin on his face. It remained on the wall in my bedroom until the day I moved into my own house. Then it went on the wall in my game room. At some point that room was remodeled, and I'm just realizing that my Jimi poster isn't there anymore.. hey!

Anyway, I love Hendrix. When I first started playing when I was about 12, I used to break strings left & right trying to play the lead from "Bold As Love".

 

[jongitarz]

They're all bold as love...Just ask the Axis ...HMM...Do you think Jimi knew??