Steve Morsifying a Silhouette Special?

[Carl M]

I just played a Music Man guitar for the first time in my life. (I have played my StingRay bass for years though.) The guitar is the 2009 Silhouette Special I just bought online, They are rare around here, so I couldn't try one first.

It was when Steve Morse joined Deep Purple I got interested in Music Man guitars. I really liked how he sounded on the album and on stage. But I assumed that it was all in his fingers because he played what seemed to be a typical super strat. Anyway, over the years I learned more and more about Music Man guitars guitars, but I never bought one. Probably because I never got the opportunity to try one and I thought that I already owned what I thought was similar guitars. But last week I saw this ad, a 2009 Silhouette Special at a fair price and I decided to find out if Music Man guitars are as special as they seem to be.

I am blown away. The neck feels incurably good and it sounds fantastic. I always thought that Steve Morse tone was in his fingers, but to my surprise I get something very similar to his bridge pickup tone with my Silhouette Special. But the single coil neck pick obviously don’t sound anything like his neck pickup tone. Then I started thinking that perhaps I should replace the neck single coil with a humbucker and move the single coil to similar positions as in the Steve Morse Signature model.

I don’t intend to replace any of the pickups, just add the neck version of the bridge pickup and get a new pickguard and some switches. Then I need to find a place that can custom route a suitable pick guard.

Has anyone here tried to Steve Morsify a Silhouette?

The other alternative is of course to just convert it to a HSH to see if I get something similar to SM’s neck HB tone. That’s more straight forward, but since I already have two single coils in the guitar, I am tempted to use both of them in a SM configuration. Since this is a keeper I don’t care about the resale value and I am prepared to have the body routed to fit a four pickup configuration.

Any ideas?

 

[GWDavis28]

Congrats let's seee it. I believe your going to have to route the body to add that extra pickup, it's not routed like a swimming pool under the pcik guard,

What version of Silo Special did you get HSS or SSS?

You can check the serinal number info out here:

Serial Number Database

www.music-man.com

Glenn |B)

 

[Carl M]

Congrats let's seee it. I believe your going to have to route the body to add that extra pickup, it's not routed like a swimming pool under the pcik guard,

What version of Silo Special did you get HSS or SSS?

You can check the serinal number info out here:

Serial Number Database

www.music-man.com

Glenn |B)

Thanks. It's a HSS. Yes, I understand that some routing will be required. I'll come back with an image later.

 

[beej]

Steve's neck pickup is an odd one. For that sound, your best bet is to pick up the SM neck pickup.

That said ... before you start diving in to everything, have you thought about picking up a Morse model? Might be your easiest way there

 

[nervous]

The 'regular' silhouette is already available in an HSH configuration. 24 fret neck though. So that seems to offer a couple ready made possibilities.

1) Test the compatibility if the 'S' PG to the 'SS' that you have, and if that fits just get a preloaded S assembly. That still requires some touting though.

2) Sell the 'SS' and purchase an 'S'. You already tested and like the model, and they are plentiful. And if all fails to meet your expectations you would have an unmolested guitar to resell unaffected by major modifying and that associated devaluation.

Silhouette

Ernie Ball Music Man's first production guitar! The body is dramatic in styling, compact in size, and made from premium quality alder beveled and contoured for balance and comfort. The combination of two DiMarzio virtual PAF humbuckers and custom wound DiMarzio single coil pickup yield a variety...

www.music-man.com

 

[Carl M]

Steve's neck pickup is an odd one. For that sound, your best bet is to pick up the SM neck pickup.

I am really happy with my Silhouette and I was just so surprised that I could create that singing focused Steve Morse bridge pickup with it and want to have a matching neck pickup sound which the stock single coil doesn't get me and then I start thinking about either do a full Steve Morse pickguard mod or just add a suitable neck pickup to get something similar to his neck humbucker then which he tend to use when he is playing on the higher frets. I'll probably for the matching neck pickup, rather than the SM.

I am not trying to copy SM, I just liked the bridge tone I discovered when playing faster than I normally do and instead of just adding a matching neck pickup I thought that perhaps I could use the existing single coils and add a humbucker and do a SM pickup configuration.

But it seems a bit complicated, so I will probably start with adding a DiMarzio Virtual PAF in the neck position if I can source one, otherwise I will try to find something similar. To do that I need to find a HSH SS pickguard. Another alternative would be to try a single coil shape humbucker to see if that wound get me close enough.

 

[Carl M]

The 'regular' silhouette is already available in an HSH configuration. 24 fret neck though. So that seems to offer a couple ready made possibilities.

1) Test the compatibility if the 'S' PG to the 'SS' that you have, and if that fits just get a preloaded S assembly. That still requires some touting though.

2) Sell the 'SS' and purchase an 'S'. You already tested and like the model, and they are plentiful. And if all fails to meet your expectations you would have an unmolested guitar to resell unaffected by major modifying and that associated devaluation.

Silhouette

Ernie Ball Music Man's first production guitar! The body is dramatic in styling, compact in size, and made from premium quality alder beveled and contoured for balance and comfort. The combination of two DiMarzio virtual PAF humbuckers and custom wound DiMarzio single coil pickup yield a variety...

www.music-man.com

1. I don't think that an S pg with fit an SS because of the difference in number of frets. But I will check.

2. I like my SS and it's staying. I believe that there is space routed for a HB in the neck position if I can find a suitable pick guard.

 

[Carl M]

That said ... before you start diving in to everything, have you thought about picking up a Morse model? Might be your easiest way there

Frankly, the aesthetics of the SM doesn't really work for me. I have seen a white one once which looked OK, but I missed out on it. Unfortunately blue guitars with black pickguards aren't for me, so I will stick to my all black SS. I will find a way to fit a neck humbucker, but until then I am enjoying it as it is. I should have bought an EBMM guitar a long time ago... This guitar is insanely inspiring to play.

 

[nervous]

1. I don't think that an S pg with fit an SS because of the difference in number of frets. But I will check.

2. I like my SS and it's staying. I believe that there is space routed for a HB in the neck position if I can find a suitable pickguard.

I think you're correct and that was addressed here previously:

Question - Silhouette pickguards

I just bought a used EBMM Silhouette and love it. I would like to try some other pickup combinations and have a couple of question i need help with. 1) I have access to a used Silhouette Special pickguard. My guitar is the Silhouette model with a hardtail. Are the pickguards...

forums.ernieball.com

Also, it looks like EBMM sources their PG through Pickguard Planet so it's possible they may already have a Silo Special file in your HSH form from a previous order.

On the positive side my 2001 was a HSS but the body was routed to accommodate the neck humbucker in the HH setup. I never got a full cavity picture but I think this is the neck route. That should alleviate the need for any body routing. Not 100% sure.

 

[Carl M]

I think you're correct and that was addressed here previously:

Question - Silhouette pickguards

I just bought a used EBMM Silhouette and love it. I would like to try some other pickup combinations and have a couple of question i need help with. 1) I have access to a used Silhouette Special pickguard. My guitar is the Silhouette model with a hardtail. Are the pickguards...

forums.ernieball.com

Also, it looks like EBMM sources their PG through Pickguard Planet so it's possible they may already have a Silo Special file in your HSH form from a previous order.

On the positive side my 2001 was a HSS but the body was routed to accommodate the neck humbucker in the HH setup. I never got a full cavity picture but I think this is the neck route. That should alleviate the need for any body routing. Not 100% sure.

View attachment 44541

Thanks. Thinking about it, I am leaning towards going down the HSH route. Then I won't need to route the body and all I need to do is to source a HSH pickguard and suitable humbucker.

 

[banjoplayer]

congrats
I´d start with a H-S-H too. I would highly recommend a Steve Morse Neck Pickup. It´s rather unique. Completely different for example than the AXIS/reflex-neck pickup I have in my relfex.
I have a Lester type guitar with very good german PAF-style-pickups. This neck PU has a similar character like the Morse Neck PU, although with less power. Just to give you some context.

 

[Carl M]

congrats
I´d start with a H-S-H too. I would highly recommend a Steve Morse Neck Pickup. It´s rather unique. Completely different for example than the AXIS/reflex-neck pickup I have in my relfex.
I have a Lester type guitar with very good german PAF-style-pickups. This neck PU has a similar character like the Morse Neck PU, although with less power. Just to give you some context.

Thanks, The Steve Morse neck pickup seems to be really hot and it will probably not work well in combination with the stock pickups, so will I look something which will match the stock bridge pickup, which is a DiMarzio Virtual PAF. But unfortunately it's now discontinued (although it seems like DiMarzio are still building them från EBMM who still use them in the SS), but I suppose that DiMarzio has something similar. I have little experience of DiMarzio's current range, but I suppose that some sort of DiMarzio PAF would be a good match.

 

[banjoplayer]

Thanks, The Steve Morse neck pickup seems to be really hot and it will probably not work well in combination with the stock pickups, so will I look something which will match the stock bridge pickup, which is a DiMarzio Virtual PAF. But unfortunately it's now discontinued (although it seems like DiMarzio are still building them från EBMM who still use them in the SS), but I suppose that DiMarzio has something similar. I have little experience of DiMarzio's current range, but I suppose that some sort of DiMarzio PAF would be a good match.

The Morse Bridge PU is high output, the neck PU not really...as said, it sounds unique, rather dark sounding, but that´s what makes Steve singing lead tones uo the fretboard
I don´t know if it´s discontinued.... some german dealers still stock them

DiMarzio DP205BK Steve Morse Neck

DiMarzio DP205BK Steve Morse Neck Humbucker Tonabnehmer, Medium Power Output, 4 adrig, Keramik Magnete, Position Neck, Finish Schwarz

www.thomann.de

DiMarzio Humbucker DP 205F creme Steve Morse « Pickup E-Gitarre

Larry diMarzio's Superdistortion Humbucker war damals in den 70ern der erste Replacement - Pickup, der einem breiten Markt zugänglich gemacht wurde. Mit fast..

www.musik-produktiv.de

 

[Carl M]

The Morse Bridge PU is high output, the neck PU not really...as said, it sounds unique, rather dark sounding, but that´s what makes Steve singing lead tones uo the fretboard
I don´t know if it´s discontinued.... some german dealers still stock them

DiMarzio DP205BK Steve Morse Neck

DiMarzio DP205BK Steve Morse Neck Humbucker Tonabnehmer, Medium Power Output, 4 adrig, Keramik Magnete, Position Neck, Finish Schwarz

www.thomann.de

DiMarzio Humbucker DP 205F creme Steve Morse « Pickup E-Gitarre

Larry diMarzio's Superdistortion Humbucker war damals in den 70ern der erste Replacement - Pickup, der einem breiten Markt zugänglich gemacht wurde. Mit fast..

www.musik-produktiv.de

No, the SM isn't discontinued but Virtual PAF which EBMM use in my SS is discontinued by DiMarzio but EBMM still use them for SS.

The SM neck measures 21 kohm which means that it seriously overwound, but DiMarzio on only rate the output to a moderate 250, so it seems like one could work well with a Virtual PAF. Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[banjoplayer]

Now I get IT ;-) thanks
Good luck! Let us know If it worked out for you!

 

[DrKev]

The Virtual PAF Bridge is very low output, 230 mV on DiMarzio's output rating (whatever that means). That's about half the output of the Morse bridge pickup and lower than the Morse neck humbucker. I think it's quite bright as a humbucker and that's really it's super power. The Morse neck pickup will be very dark and bassy and loud in comparison.

 

[Carl M]

The Virtual PAF Bridge is very low output, 230 mV on DiMarzio's output rating (whatever that means). That's about half the output of the Morse bridge pickup and lower than the Morse neck humbucker. I think it's quite bright as a humbucker and that's really it's super power. The Morse neck pickup will be very dark and bassy and loud in comparison.

I have tried and owned tons of pickups over the years, but I have very little experience from DiMarzio. I had a 70's PAF decades ago, I have had a 36th which was good and a Norton which I also liked.

Since I really like this guitar the way it is apart from that I miss having a neck humbucker, I got the idea that I should keep all the pickups and reorganize them like in a Steve Morse Signature and then sacrifice one of the five pickup switch settings for the new neck humbucker alone. I don't need all the SS's single coil settings and this way I could keep it similar to what it is but have the addition of the neck humbucker and I also like the way it looks with 2xHB and 2xSC.

I will probably do this one day, but if I can start off with just a new pickguard and a new neck humbucker, then it would be an easier way forward to get what I need most, which is bridge humbucker alone and neck humbucker alone and a few single coil alternatives.

I was fascinated by the Steve Morse tones I accidentally squeezed out of it the first time I plugged it into my amp. I really like SM's playing, but it's not the way I play, however the fast neck inspired me to play much faster than I normally do and I was surprised about the wonderful SM-esque tones. I didn't expect that. Then I switched to the neck SC and it wasn't really what I needed. It's a great modern, expensive strat tone, but I would have more use for a neck version of my bridge humbucker sound.

It was interesting to hear that the Virtual PAF is considered to be bright and I suppose that a bright humbucker is needed when 250k pots a used and since I want to keep as much as possible as it is, the 250k pots will likely stay. So I probably need a bright and low gain neck humbucker to make it work with the other pickups and the stock pots.

If I can't find a suitable HSH pickguard, then perhaps a DiMarzio Pro Track rail pickup would be a quick and easy neck PAF-ish solution, while hunting for a custom made four pickup guard to do the full 2HB+2SC conversion?

 

[DrKev]

If I can't find a suitable HSH pickguard, then perhaps a DiMarzio Pro Truck rail pickup would be quick and easy neck PAF-ish solution, while hunting for a custom made four pickup guard to do the full 2HB+2SC conversion?

The Pro-track is a good choice, but note that they recommend a 500k volume pot for it. I've been thinking about this too (for my Cutlass) and I think I'd try the Satch Track first as it's less bass heavy and not as loud.

 

[Carl M]

The Pro-track is a good choice, but note that they recommend a 500k volume pot for it. I've been thinking about this too (for my Cutlass) and I think I'd try the Satch Track first as it's less bass heavy and not as loud.

Using a 250k pot for a pickup which works best with a 500k pot will make it sound muddy and shut in. Perhaps a matching Virtual PAF Neck is the only sensible way forward. (Satch Track black looks like an interesting alternative, but it seems to be sold out in EU.)