From: Fedor de Lange 
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 12:43:18 GMT
Subject: Morse

Dutch magazine 'Music Maker' has an interview with Steve Morse. The greater part isn't very interesting, as we've read it in previous interviews (how he got involved, how there characters are, etc) But there is some technical information, which I tought might be interesting. Some excerpts:

- - "Ian never uses a double bass drum, but on Hey Cisco it was necessary. It was great from the first time on, but he wasn't satisfied. He did the part over and over again, and every time I tought it was great. The same enthousiasm you will hear live on stage."

- - "...it (Steve's guitar) only has a volume- and a tone control, the rest I do with the switch. There's no electronica in it, I don't really believe in those active systems for guitar. It's all based on the old Fender technology.
It started when I put a Strat-neck on my Telecaster. The Telecaster is a piece of massive wood. You can easily add elements to it. So I took a chisel, and created space for other elements. First I added some Gibson humbuckers. When Fender came with humbuckers, I put in those as well. The sound was great, but I was bothered with a lot of feedback. After a lot of trying, I developed a new humbucker with DiMarzio, which creates the same sound without feedback."

- - "My Music Man model is my most important guitar. On Purpendicular I use some other things as well. On "The Aviator" I use a Music Man mini-guitar. It has the size of a mandoline, and does sound like that when it's combined with an ordinary guitar. It has six strings, but it's all a quint higher. It's heavy at the top, 'cause it has the same machine heads attached.
Then I play a Landola, I don't know how to write it, but it's from Finland, and sold by Peavey. It's an acoustic guitar with one element.
On "A touch away" I play a twelve-string Steinberger. It's made of synthetic material. It's the only twelve string that doesn't drive me crazy when I'm tuning it. All the others are out of tune again in no time. It does sound acoustic because of the help of a compressor and a delay. I own nice twelve strings, but it's impossible to use them on stage."

- - "For the recording with Deep Purple I used another amp than usual, the Peavey 5150, known as the Eddie van Halen model. It has a lot of high and a lot of low, and keeps sounding bright and crisp. That is important when you play with an organ. With DP the sound must be able to cut through the organ, otherwise it would become a mess. I don't really use any effects. The delay is my effect! I used all kinds of Lexicons. Now I finally get used to them, it appears they are no longer fabricated. Now I use an old Lexicon PCM41 and a Digitech GSP21, which is very reliable. I'm also trying a new Lexicon delay, the PCM80. Sometimes live, I use a delay from the PCM42, which is in my rack. It has a small memory, so you can sustain something while playing something else on top of that."

Cheers,
Fedor

[ DP home | Morse home ]