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Topic: MSA Micro 1977 |
Bas Kapitein
From:
Holland
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Posted 19 Sep 2010 6:22 am |
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When I was in the US in 1977 gathering information for our new Dutch steel guitar magazine, Tom Bradshaw, who was my first stop, advised me to stop in Dallas before I went on to Nashville. So I did. Maurice and Jerry Anderson were not at all surprised that someone from Amsterdam walked into their factory without making an appointment. They showed real hospitality, made room in their work schedules to show me the factory in great detail. I remember Maurice was really proud to show the pick-up winding machine, he claimed it was the first in the business to keep a constant pressure.
They were vaguely thinking about a European tour to promote the steel guitar so my timing was really right, and within the following year they actually came over.
Here are some pictures I took of the building process. Although Maurice was the “face” of the company, his brother Jerry and Bud Carter ran the factory. They also made parts for NASA and that was obvious. How else could a steel guitar factory afford that quality of machinery?
I am sorry that Jerry is not in one of the pictures and that the only one of Bud Carter is blurred, but I did not want to leave it out because of the mayor role Bud played in the history of steel guitar. If you own a 1977 MSA, changes are that it (or parts of it) is here in the making. (The older guitars on one picture were trade-ins)
Bas
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Terry Winter
From:
Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 19 Sep 2010 7:55 am
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These pictures and those of the Sho Bud store are so interesting. Thanks so much for posting these MSA's. Have a real soft spot for them and the company.
Terry |
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Bas Kapitein
From:
Holland
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Posted 19 Sep 2010 8:34 am
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Terry
This is funny, because the first real live MSA that I saw was one month earlier in 1977 in Saskatoon.
There was this streetparade with a country rock band on the bed of a truck. The steel player had a brown formica MSA, could that have been you?
Bas |
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Terry Winter
From:
Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted 19 Sep 2010 12:19 pm
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Bas, No that wasn't me but at one point I did have a beautiful brown lacquer MSA Single 10 on a double body.
In 1977 I would have only been a few years in on learning Steel....so I wouldn't have been playing in public.javascript:emoticon(' ')
Terry |
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Tracy Sheehan
From:
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Posted 19 Sep 2010 1:29 pm Memories
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| The pictures bring back memories.It was before 1977 i worked for Reece making the end plates on a milling machine. I had worked before in Ca.as a machinist but coulden't stay off the road for long playing steel and fiddle. Tracy |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 19 Sep 2010 3:16 pm
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OK, Kyle, which one of those young fellers is you? 
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Darvin Willhoite
MSA Millennium, Legend, and Studio Pro, Reese's restored Universal Direction guitar, a restored MSA Classic SS, several amps, new and old, and a Kemper Powerhead that I am really liking. Also a Zum D10, a Mullen RP, and a restored Rose S10, named the "Blue Bird". Also, I have acquired and restored the plexiglass D10 MSA Classic that was built as a demo in the early '70s. I also have a '74 lacquer P/P, with wood necks, and a showroom condition Sho-Bud Super Pro. |
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Reece Anderson
From:
Keller Texas USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 20 Sep 2010 1:39 am
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| Bas....thank you so much for sharing pictures of the old MSA factory. I have just sent you a private email...... |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 20 Sep 2010 3:59 am
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Bas
Another fantastic set of photos. MSA were putting out a lot of guitars at that time. Reece is one of the most hospitable people you can ever meet.
Its great to see young Reece in those pictures. That's around the time when I first met him.
(ps Did you visit the Emmons factory too on your trip)?
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Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E, |
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Ian Sutton
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 20 Sep 2010 6:47 am
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Thanks for sharing the photos.
I do love my '77 MSA Classic S-10. It's a bit hefty, perhaps the parts are machined from spent Uranium? But it's ok, I'm still young. |
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