Literally, it's made of poplar (ha!) with a bolt-on maple neck, 22-fret rosewood fretboard, fixed bridge, and locking tuners. Two things stand out... first is the trademark blueburst finish, which almost takes on a greenish tint at times given the natural yellowish tint of poplar. Second is the pickup configuration: the Morse model has two humbuckers, two single coils, 2 knobs, and 3 switches. Most interesting, though, is how it's wired up in such a seemingly illogical manner... the 3-way blade switches between the bridge humbucker, the neck humbucker, and the bridge single coil (in that order); the 2-way toggle adds the bridge humbucker to whatever's selected on the 3-way blade; and the 3-way toggle adds the neck single coil to the mix (or solos the neck single coil). It sounds good and provides a lot of versatility, but requires way too much thought to keep track of "what switch does what" and "what position each switch is in."
So aside from needing a PhD to operate it, the Morse lives up to the typical high quality I've seen from Music Man guitars... flawless finish, tight tolerances, good stability (thanks to the 5-bolt neck). The neck is smooth (I'll admit I could use a bit more "meat" on the neck, but apparently Steve and I differ in opinion), and the body is well-balanced. Again, the tonal versatility is killer... the humbuckers are relatively hot and compress easily (great for soloing), the single coils provide a nice amount of twang. If only it could actually make me sound/play like Steve Morse...
Here's a demo clip of the guitar running through a Mesa/Boogie Electra Dyne head... I think I manage to use maybe 2 of the 11 different pickup combinations here...
"This Way for Good" by Conundrum:
And, of course, gotta have a couple of pictures of the guitar, too... check out that sweet blueburst finish...
As always, I'll have more guitar & amp reviews coming soon...
--B
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