| Author |
Topic: MSA re-mica degree of difficulty or ballpark price ? |
Dustin Rigsby
From:
Parts Unknown, Ohio
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 4:43 am |
|
How hard is it to re-mica an MSA classic ? About how much would it cost me to have it done ?
_________________
D.S. Rigsby |
|
|
 |
Roy Glaze
From:
Blessing, Texas
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 7:52 am
|
|
Dustin, I think the actual re-mica-ing the guitar is not hard. I recently did a total rebuild on my '73 Classic. I even built a new hardwood cabinet. Had to totally disassemble ALL of the hardware. The old mica comes off pretty easy with a heat gun. Then just a matter of cleaning up the wood to reglue the new mica and routing the edges. That's the easy part. Putting all of the hardware and mechanics back on and get all adjusted properly is the bear. If you've never done much mechanical work on the underside, I would advise getting help from someone who has done that before. Took me a while to get everything back like I liked it. The red one below is the rebuild
_________________
'73 MSA Classic D-10 Left handed
‘72 Sho-Bud D-10 Professional Left Handed |
|
|
|
Jim Palenscar
From:
Oceanside, Calif, USA
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 8:31 am
|
|
| Just a note about this- try to keep the old mica in one piece so that you can use it as a template to drill the new holes for the keyhead, neck, changer, etc. as you really want to drill them out from the top instead of the bottom to keep the new mica from chipping. |
|
|
|
David Higginbotham
From:
Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 8:58 am
|
|
Both Jim & Roy gave excellent advice! It is a meticulous job and time consuming but it's worth the experience. Try removing the old mica in whole pieces with the heat gun as they make perfect templates for the new mica. Make sure they fit properly with tape before applying glue. Take MANY photos from all angles to insure you have a reference to put all of the parts back together properly.
Roy, beautiful job and I love those aluminum necks!!! But....uh....you put the guitar back together backwards!  |
|
|
|
Dustin Rigsby
From:
Parts Unknown, Ohio
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 2:25 pm
|
|
| Roy Glaze wrote: |
Dustin, I think the actual re-mica-ing the guitar is not hard. I recently did a total rebuild on my '73 Classic. I even built a new hardwood cabinet. Had to totally disassemble ALL of the hardware. The old mica comes off pretty easy with a heat gun. Then just a matter of cleaning up the wood to reglue the new mica and routing the edges. That's the easy part. Putting all of the hardware and mechanics back on and get all adjusted properly is the bear. If you've never done much mechanical work on the underside, I would advise getting help from someone who has done that before. Took me a while to get everything back like I liked it. The red one below is the rebuild
|
Roy, that's exactly what I had in mind for mine ! Where'd you get the aluminum necks, what's the price tag on those ? Did it make a change in tonality ?
_________________
D.S. Rigsby |
|
|
|
Roy Glaze
From:
Blessing, Texas
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 3:33 pm
|
|
Dustin, I got the aluminum necks by a lucky accident. I posted a bunch of pics on my Facebook page when I started my rebuild and lucky me a steel player friend mentioned that he had the 2 aluminum necks that he got from someone. ( I'll have to ask him where) he was intending to do a rebuild on his old MSA for years, but didn't . He sold the guitar and bought a Mullen. Anyway, he sold the necks to me for a very reasonable price since he didn't need them. Only thing I know is that they were aftermarket, not MSA made necks. I'm not sure what the fretboard symbol are.
About the tone. I haven't played it enough yet to give a good answer to that. I was told that you have to get used to them. They sound kinda harsh at first.
Roy
_________________
'73 MSA Classic D-10 Left handed
‘72 Sho-Bud D-10 Professional Left Handed |
|
|
|
Dustin Rigsby
From:
Parts Unknown, Ohio
|
Posted 28 Feb 2016 7:19 pm Aluminum Necks & Fret Markers
|
|
Those fret markers look like the ones that Chet Wilcox uses. I've owned two Wilcox guitars, and the last one had that style of marker. I wonder if the necks were sourced from Chet as well ? Hmmmm.... I have a Telonics pickup on e-9, which can be adjusted. If I proceed with these plans, a Telonics 34 will be going in on the C6th neck. The Telonics stuff is a little high dollar, but is well worth it. Dave Beatty and crew do extensive research on their product line. One of my steel player friends turned me onto those pickups and I gotta tell you I've never been more pleased with the sound of a pickup.
_________________
D.S. Rigsby |
|
|
|
Charley Bond
From:
Inola, OK, USA
|
Posted 29 Feb 2016 11:47 am mica MSA
|
|
I had a MSA Mica U-12. The mica was coming up & some of the white trim was already gone.
One of my Buddies & I went to a wood store, bought a piece of super birds eye maple, took it home & made another cabinet.
I took my time moving the parts over & Voila.. a great steel guitar was re-born & it was beautiful.
I will see if I can find some pics |
|
|
|
