[Schneidas]

Hi guys,

ok, the obvious answer is Steve Morse bridge. But I suspect this is not what I want.

Background story: dual humbucking Alder Strat (fixed bridge) with maple/Rosewood neck.
It had a FRED in the bridge and a PAF in the neck with 3x500k controls.

I got the Steve Morse neck pretty cheap from a friend who did not like it and as I had never played one, just tried it in the neck spot for fun. To my surprise I quite enjoy the darkish low output tone. And the flutey singing quality it has. So I decided to keep it and need a matching bridge pickup.
The FRED in the bridge is voiced totally different. The attack is much sharper and the overall tonality is too much of a contrast - so out it goes and I need something different.

Now the Steve Morse bridge is a super bright pickup from what I read - not sure I want that.
Probably need something in the bridge spot that is closer to the slightly darker tonality of the SM Neck and will complement it nicely.

What would you recommend?

[darkbluemurder]

I have the set and heard the same things in the neck pickup as you did. In contrast to that the Morse bridge is bright but that is in relation to its high output. If you want something darker there are a lot of options - Breed bridge comes to mind, AT-1 if you do not want something quite as dark, or Tone Zone if you want similar output compared to the Morse bridge.

Cheers Stephan

[Schneidas]

Hi Stephan,

Breed bridge could work.

Question, let's assume I were to go with a SM Bridge - could the brightness of the Steve Morse Bridge Model be tamed by changing the pots to 250k (volume and tone) for the bridge and keep a singe volume (500k) and no tone for the neck?
I have a feeling this might be a feasible option - but it's more of a gut feeling (and my gut has been wrong plenty of times)

[darkbluemurder]

Yes, changing to 250k would defintively make the tone more mellow. However, different pickups react differently to that treatment. Some produce a fat tone (e.g. the Air Norton in the bridge), others just become dull so you have to experiment.

As far as I know Steve Morse uses 250k pots in his guitars - that makes sense given the fact that the original guitar was a telecaster.  I have not tried 250k pots with my Steve Morse Bridge as I like how it sounds in the guitar with 500k pots.

Cheers Stephan

[Schneidas]

Cool! I guess I'll just experiment and see if my plan works

[corypheus]

Steve Morse also played a Super Dee on the bridge in an alder guitar before, and Morse bridge is, afaik, based on the Super Dee itself, so that's definitely a choice right there - and not a pickup that I'd call bright, either.

[darkbluemurder]

They are certainly comparable in output. In most guitars I tried the SD it was rather dark  (except in one very bright guitar where I had to decrease the load from 500k to about 380k to get it where I wanted it to be) but I have no comparison of these pickups in the same guitar. The SM bridge to me is rather bright for a high output pickup but the guitar it is in certainly contributes to that.

Cheers Stephan

[buddroyce]

A Transition bridge maybe?

[Schneidas]

Many thanks for all the suggestions!

Just to report back that for my taste and style - the ticket was the Breed Neck model (DP165).
I'm running the neck Steve Morse with a 500k volume and disconnected tone pot and it has become a lot brighter without losing the singing quality.
The Breed neck with 500k and connected 500k tone pot blends in superbly, output- and tone-wise!
In fact, the DP165 is the best bridge pickup I ever had in this superstrat by itself... couldn't stop playing this for the past 3 days now. Looks like the DP165 is a hidden gem.

[darkbluemurder]

Cool, thanks for sharing.

Interestingly I used the Steve Morse bridge (in the bridge) with the Breed neck (in the neck) at one time, and that is a good combination as well. Now I have a Duncan Full Shred neck which I like even better but I may switch to the DP-240 mini humbucker as the neck is still not quite as tight as I would like it to be.

Cheers Stephan