Hi I've Been playing a Steve Morse for a while now and I am thinking about changing the Pick up configuration I have been Thinking about making it a HSS I like the rear Humbucker and the slanted forward pick up I was thinking about getting a 5 way switch and using my 2 singles and my rear humbucker . My question is would moving the forward single coil to the traditional forward straight position change the sound much. My other idea would be to make it a HSH and use my original front humbucker move my slanted pick up in the center and leave the rear. The reason I'm doing this is that the 2 way switch for the rear humbucker gets in the way and cramps my hand and having the pick guard less congested would make it more enjoy able to play . I almost never use the single coil next to the rear humbucker. Any advise you could give me would be appreciated
- Thread starter Fender74
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kestrou
Well-known member
I can't comment on "how it would sound" - but if you want to mess around with the pickup configuration, then by all means do so! 
I'm a big fan of the "add bridge" toggle - which so many seem to NOT like - so I've rewired a couple Y2Ds to add that.
Since you're headed the opposite direction, you might consider starting with the Y2D platform since it won't already have that toggle there. You'd still need to move the one pickup - and of course it has a maple cap on the body for a little extra brightness.
Or, have you actually tried a Y2D? If not, then get your mitts on once and see if maybe that fits the bill - even with the single coil back by the bridge and not slanted.
Food for thought...
Kevin
I'm a big fan of the "add bridge" toggle - which so many seem to NOT like - so I've rewired a couple Y2Ds to add that.
Since you're headed the opposite direction, you might consider starting with the Y2D platform since it won't already have that toggle there. You'd still need to move the one pickup - and of course it has a maple cap on the body for a little extra brightness.
Or, have you actually tried a Y2D? If not, then get your mitts on once and see if maybe that fits the bill - even with the single coil back by the bridge and not slanted.
Food for thought...
Kevin
I reversed the add bridge toggle so when its off its in the down position and when its up the add bridge is on. It works better for me as when I do make contact I don't have to worry about putting it "on" by accident. Actually, credit for that idea goes to Tommy Alderson, Steve's guitar tech mentioned that he does that for Steve.
To do a different pickup configuration you would need to get another custom pickguard made as well. It should work however if you were to change it to a more tradional HSS setup but if you have had your Morse for a while you may miss the added flexibility. That is why I bought mine, as I play a lot of different styles it is my main workhorse guitar
A little off topic but I decided to expand my voicings and pickup selections on my Morse guitar. I had a couple of the Duncan Triple Shot pickup rings laying around. They have 2 small switches and a circuit board that you wire the 4 conductors of your pickup to the board and then you can have the humbuckers in either Series, Parallel, North Coil Split, South Coil Split. As the Morse guitar doesn't require pickup rings I was able to take the switch part out of the ring and then routed holes to make them fit in the pickguard and the pickup height springs hold them in place. I now have a ton more options and its pretty easy to change up. As I was bored I remembered I had an old Stellar Tone tone control (the older 16 position one) so changed the stock tone control to that and am quite happy with the results. The only other thing I would like to do is be able to add the bridge single coil pickup to the neck humbucker. I could add a push pull for the switching function but need to figure out the wiring. Sorry for the off topic
To do a different pickup configuration you would need to get another custom pickguard made as well. It should work however if you were to change it to a more tradional HSS setup but if you have had your Morse for a while you may miss the added flexibility. That is why I bought mine, as I play a lot of different styles it is my main workhorse guitar
A little off topic but I decided to expand my voicings and pickup selections on my Morse guitar. I had a couple of the Duncan Triple Shot pickup rings laying around. They have 2 small switches and a circuit board that you wire the 4 conductors of your pickup to the board and then you can have the humbuckers in either Series, Parallel, North Coil Split, South Coil Split. As the Morse guitar doesn't require pickup rings I was able to take the switch part out of the ring and then routed holes to make them fit in the pickguard and the pickup height springs hold them in place. I now have a ton more options and its pretty easy to change up. As I was bored I remembered I had an old Stellar Tone tone control (the older 16 position one) so changed the stock tone control to that and am quite happy with the results. The only other thing I would like to do is be able to add the bridge single coil pickup to the neck humbucker. I could add a push pull for the switching function but need to figure out the wiring. Sorry for the off topic
