Let’s do another Steve Morse inspired build!

[Hodgo]

Okay, somebody at Warmoth must like me because this body is 3lbs 12oz and has no real mineral streaking or green wood typical with poplar….

 

[teleme01]

My only gripe with warmoth is that they don't write down the weight on custom bodies.

 

[teleme01]

Question are you setting up for recessed wrap around or trapeze?

 

[Hodgo]

Question are you setting up for recessed wrap around or trapeze?

Using an Ernie Ball part that looks like this:

 

[Rick]

Very nice

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

this time I want to go for the full 3 or possibly even 4 pickup route.

Is it really a "Steve Morse Inspired" guitar if it only has 3 pickups?

 

[stratamania]

Is it really a "Steve Morse Inspired" guitar if it only has 3 pickups?

The Y2D only has three pickups, and sometimes only two.

 

[Hodgo]

Some observations for the pickguard I’ll need to make:

• The Warmoth recessed rout is nearly identical to the cutout on the EBMM
• There is enough space in the universal rout for the pickups without needing any more routing
• Same for the volume/tone, but I’ll need to rout out the locations for the switches.
• My guess is that the EBMM 22fret neck heel extends all the way down to the end of the fretboard, hence the deeper cut on the pickguard
• There is enough room with the way the pickup cutouts arrange to mount flat humbucker pickup rings over the top - of course there’s no real reason to do this, but it might look cool.
• The whole design needs to be stretched a little taller to fit better with a Tele

 

[stratamania]

• My guess is that the EBMM 22fret neck heel extends all the way down to the end of the fretboard.

I can confirm that this is the case. It is a full 22 fret neck and has no overhang.

This thread I am enjoying as you are doing a project I have had planned to do one of these days

 

[Flufene]

On the heels of my Velocity build which morphed into a quasi Y2D inspired guitar, I’ve decided I’d like another guitar with the DiMarzio Morse pickups, but this time I want to go for the full 3 or possibly even 4 pickup route.

So let’s start here:

Hybrid Tele® Replacement Guitar Body

Construction Solid
Core Wood Poplar
Control Cavity Top Rout
Multi Pickup Top Rout Universal
Jack Rout 7/8" (22mm) Side Jack Hole
Bridge Rout Type Hardtail
Bridge Rout TOM/STP (Angled Pocket)
Mounting Holes Standard 4-Bolt
Neck Pocket Shape Strat®
Body Contours Forearm Contour, Tummy Contour

I am having Warmoth omit both the stop tailpiece holes and forearm contours to mimic the Morse signature model.

The intention behind this build is to combine the construction and design of the Morse signature EBMM with the original Frankentele Steve played with the Dregs. I will be sourcing a CBS Strat neck with a wheel adjust truss rod and 12” radius, and will custom cut a pickguard.

Pickups will be Morse DiMarzios. For the third pickup in the bridge, I will either use a DP-117 OR maybe a Tele neck pickup like the DiMarzio Area T. The fourth pickup, slanted below the neck, I’m not so sure on. It was eliminated in the Y2D model, but let’s be honest - 4 pickups is just a sight to behold for us guitar nerds.

 

[Hodgo]

Some additional freehand routing to accommodate the extra controls. Even the tone pot needed extra space to fit.

One detail: because of the EBMM heel length, there is additional room to move the pickups towards the neck, but I am going to use the EBMM template to space the pickups and controls anyway for two reasons:

1. I feel that the controls spatial relationship to the bridge (where I index my right hand) is important to keep intact so that this guitar feels ergonomically similar to the modern Morse
2. While I think there will be a bit of an unsightly gap between the 21fret neck heel and the neck pickup, Morse makes a point to highlight in interviews that he kept his necks limited to 22 fret due to the location of the neck humbucker along the string length.

Now that everything fits, we can get started on finishing.

 

[stratamania]

Just curious, but why not use a 22 fret neck with an overhang?

 

[Hodgo]

Just curious, but why not use a 22 fret neck with an overhang?

Because Steve didn’t have one with the Dregs! And it would preclude using a veneer neck.

 

[Spud]

His modded Tele was cooler.........................

 

[Hodgo]

His modded Tele was cooler.........................

I agree wholeheartedly, it’s the Franky of 70s and 80s southern jazz fusion rock scene, or whatever the Dregs qualify as

I couldn’t bring myself to do a perfect clone, that’s not my thing. Besides, I figure whatever cool points I lose by doing it my way are negligible given how much of a nerd I already am.

Like @stratamania, this has been on my mind for a while, and figuring out the details of fusing the two designs back together has been fun. The retro futuristic pickguard on the Tele has grown on me since I started shellackin’

 

[bonesofwrath]

The pickguard on a tele reminds me of a Zion Powerglide.

 

[Hodgo]

The pickguard on a tele reminds me of a Zion Powerglide.

Had never seen one, but you’re right!



Another cool single cut design

 

[bonesofwrath]

That one's Bob Hartman's guitar - it's an odd duck - that's a Tele bridge pickup with a Floyd rose on a set neck tele. I played a number of Powerglides when I was a teenager with no money and the shop was in Greensboro.

 

[stratamania]

Because Steve didn’t have one with the Dregs! And it would preclude using a veneer neck.

Okay

Like @stratamania, this has been on my mind for a while, and figuring out the details of fusing the two designs back together has been fun. The retro futuristic pickguard on the Tele has grown on me since I started shellackin’

So a sort of mash up inspiration of the older Frankentele and the newer MM Morse, many ways to go in that theme.

 

[Hodgo]

Neck ordered. Keeping with the hybrid FrankenTele/MM approach, it’s spec’d to have the appearance of a CBS Strat neck as the original, but with the roasted birdseye maple, flatter radius, wheel adjust truss nut, and 10mm tuner holes from the MM Morse.

I’m really excited to try out this neck shape which is modeled after the FCS 66 Strat - .84-.96 and heavier in the shoulders, my expectation is that it will be somewhere between the Fender C and a Les Paul.

Full spec sheet:

CBS® Neck Custom Build

• Construction Type:
  2 Piece Constructed
• Orientation:
  Right for Right Handed Players
• Scale Length:
  25.5" Standard Fender
• Number of Frets:
  21
• Nut Width:
  1-5/8" (41.3mm)
• Nut Slot Style:
  1/8" Nut Slot (Standard Fender)
• Heel Width and Type:
  2-3/16" (55.55mm) Rounded Strat
• Truss Rod Type:
  Wheel Adjust @ Heel (Requires Neck Pocket Notch)
• Shaft Wood:
  Roasted Birdseye Maple 3A
• Fingerboard Wood:
  Indian Rosewood Dark
• Fingerboard Style:
  Veneer (Vintage Fender) 21 Fret Only
• Fingerboard Radius:
  12"
• Fingerboard Edge Style:
  Semi Rolled Fingerboard Edges
• Tuner Hole Size:
  10mm (Modern Style Keys)
• Top Inlay Type:
  1/4" Dots (Pearloid)
• Side Markers:
  Mother of Pearl 2mm
• Side Dot Location:
  50/50 Split (Veneer Style Finger Board Only)
• 12th Dot Spacing:
  Narrow (Modern Style Post 1964)
• Fret Size and Type:
  6150 Nickel Silver (Medium Jumbo)
• Skunk Stripe Option 2pc:
  None
• Back Profile Shape and Size:
  Fender Custom Shop- 66 Strat Oval C .84 .96
• Nut Installation:
  Install Slotted Bone Nut
• Finish:
  Raw (No Warranty)
• Fingerboard Finish:
  None (I Will Apply my Own)