For the past 25 years, Ernie
Ball/Music Man has been building the Steve Morse model. Despite it’s good
looks, great playability and numerous tonal options, this guitar is still
somewhat of a rarity. There are two simple reasons for this. For starters, it’s
not a Fender or a Gibson. So many people are afraid to step away from the
industry standards. Jimi Hendrix played a Strat and Jimmy Page played a Les
Paul. It’s that simple. People are afraid to try new things and are very
comfortable with what they already know.
Second, the Steve Morse model has
four pickups and three separate pickup selector switches. Over my 25-plus years
of playing, the most players use only one pickup all of the time and almost
never touch even their volume knob other than to turn the guitar off between
songs to keep it from feeding back. So I issue a challenge to all my fellow
guitar players. Step away from your comfort zone a live a little bit.
Experience new horizons. And the Music Man Steve Morse model is the perfect
guitar to break you away from your comfort zone.
First, it’s really not that
different from what many players are used to. The guitar is based on Morse’s
old Franekentele. Although it resembles a Strat at first glance thanks to the
double cutaway body, the guitar is pure Telecaster. It has the big thick slab
body with no arm or belly contours that all Tele players are comfortable with.
The body is built out of poplar. For anyone unfamiliar with poplar, it’s very
similar to alder: very balanced with an equal mix of lows, mids and highs. My
own personal Steve Morse guitar is finished in the attractive blue burst color,
just like Morse’s personal number one.
Let’s talk about the four pickups
and three switches. This is what initially drew me to the guitar in the first
place. I remember seeing pictures of Steve Morse in guitar magazines years ago
and thought it looked really cool, not to mention different. And different it
is indeed; and when I say different I mean different tones.
The pickup layout from neck to
bridge is humbucker, angled single coil, single coil and humbucker. The
three-way Fender-style blade switch is wired a little weird. All the way back
is the bridge humbucker, the middle is the neck humbucker and all the way
forward is the angled single coil.
The three-way switch located at
the back of the pickguard controls the single coil next to the bridge pickup.
When the switch is down the pickup is off; when it’s in the middle, the pickup
is added to whatever pickup you’re on; and when the switch is up it’s only the
single coil. Steve Morse says that he likes to use the bridge single/humbucker
combination for his country style picking and the bridge single for times when
he needs a volume drop that still has a lot of top end.
The two-way switch located closer
to the neck pickup controls the bridge humbucker. When it’s up, it’s off. When
it’s switched down it adds the bridge humbucker to any pickup combination you
happen to be on.
I know this all sounds confusing.
But it’s not really that bad. After about 20 minutes of playing I had it
figured out. After a short while, the multiple pickup combinations are perfect
for those who hate relying on channel or pedal switching to go from clean to
dirty. Just set your guitar for a nice crunchy sound when the guitar’s volume
pot is cranked, then switch away and adjust your volume and tone pots to taste.
When adding a single coil to the
neck or bridge humbucker, you’ll be surprised how you can clean up the sound
yet still have a lot of high end sizzle and a decent amount of crunch. For me,
one of the nicest features is being able to go from an overdriven humbucker
rhythm sound to a straight single coil with added distortion or fuzz. Sometimes
when driven too hard, humbuckers can become too muddy with added distortion
devices. But the Dimarzio single coils still cut through nicely when pushed
hard.
The guitar’s neck took me longer
to get used to than the unorthodox pickup and switching set up. The neck is a
thinner, modern-style carve. I was used to baseball bat necks prior to owning
this guitar. But after numerous trips up and down the fret board, I soon became
accustom to it. The natural oil/wax finish on the guitar’s neck is great. It
gives the feeling of a vintage, well-worn neck. It’s a comfortable feeling from
day one, unless you really dig the cold, smooth feeling of a new neck.
The Music Man Steve Morse model is
a very well built guitar. I’m very impressed with the body’s finish quality.
After numerous four-hour bar room gigs and countless hours of practice, the
finish still looks he same as the day it showed up on my doorstep. The
durability, playability and tonal combinations make it the perfect working
man’s guitar — especially if you don’t want to bother with bringing multiple
axes to a gig.
This guitar’s only cons are if you
don’t like Fender-style guitars with bolt-on necks and 25½-inch scale lengths.
Although, the 12-inch fret board radius makes big bends easy.
With a street price of less than
$1500, the Ernie Ball/Music Man Steve Morse model is within most players reach.
That’s not bad for an USA manufactured guitar. Remember, you get a whole lot of
tones for one price.
