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Topic: Going through my old MSA, a couple of questions |
Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2018 2:18 pm |
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I'm trying to put my old MSA into better shape, mostly just for the experience, and I've run into a few peculiarities. It reminds me of a '68 Chevy pickup I had long ago, that had been owned by one or several "shade-tree mechanics".
First, what would cause deep grooving on the cylindrical spacer between tuning nut and changer finger? The groove seems to have been made by the hole in the end plate. I just turned it around for now, figuring I could get another forty years out of it.  One other spacer won't come out through the end plate, but seems otherwise fine, so I'm presently leaving it alone.
Second, how tight do the bell cranks, etc. need to be on the cross shafts? I've come across a couple on which someone seems to have used Loctite, maybe, at some point in the past.
It seems to me like the pull can't be much greater than 10-15 pounds (string tension is no more than 30), and the clamping force created by just tightening the allen screw in the bell crank would be pretty high.
The same question goes for the grub screws in the ends of the brass barrels that hold the pull rods in the bell cranks. They're a 5/64" allen screw, and it doesn't seem like using a socket with a breaker bar to tighten them would be all that great an idea.
Always wondering....
--Al Evans
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2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Gerald Smith
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2018 12:48 pm Aluminum spacer
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| The groves are worn because the pull rods are not pulling straight, the best solution is take the end plate off and mill the holes out from bottom to top,this will leave a slot instead of the holes,the later classic ss and the vintage xl had slots which eliminates binding, you can take the pull rods out and drill the holes a little larger and try to align the pull rod as straight as possible, if you need a picture,I have a vintage xl with the slots I could you, hope this helps. |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2018 2:47 pm Re: Aluminum spacer
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| Gerald Smith wrote: |
| The groves are worn because the pull rods are not pulling straight, the best solution is take the end plate off and mill the holes out from bottom to top,this will leave a slot instead of the holes,the later classic ss and the vintage xl had slots which eliminates binding, you can take the pull rods out and drill the holes a little larger and try to align the pull rod as straight as possible, if you need a picture,I have a vintage xl with the slots I could you, hope this helps. |
That makes sense, thanks! I'll probably just leave it the way it is for now. I don't want to do enough disassembly to remove the end plate my first time out.
--Al Evans
_________________
2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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Ian Worley
From:
Sacramento, CA
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Posted 25 Aug 2018 7:47 pm
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You can replace the spacers, McMaster-Carr has stuff in the correct size - https://www.mcmaster.com/#92510a095/=1ebgcag. Plenty of other sources out there too.
As Gerald suggested, adjust the bell cranks side-to-side as required to make sure all the rods are pulling as straight as possible, perpendicular to the changer axle. Should be good for another 40 years. |
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Bobby D. Jones
From:
West Virginia, USA
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Posted 26 Aug 2018 6:18 pm Going through my old MSA, a couple of questions
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The Pull Rods should run straight through the Bell cranks, Especially the 4 and 8 strings, And other strings that require multi pulls. If someone did not run the rods through the bell cranks and then bent to rods to go into the changer could be your problem. Throws the end of the pull rod out of alignment. And would cause problems with the sleeves and tuner nut catching and fowling.
I have a MSA S10 and a D10 they are stored, But if you need pictures bad enough, I will try to get them out and take pictures for you.
Good Luck on getting the old work horse back playing. |
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Al Evans
From:
Austin, Texas, USA
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Posted 27 Aug 2018 4:49 pm
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| Ian Worley wrote: |
As Gerald suggested, adjust the bell cranks side-to-side as required to make sure all the rods are pulling as straight as possible, perpendicular to the changer axle. Should be good for another 40 years. |
Thanks! As it happens, the pull rod spacer in question is on the 6th string, and is pulling straight as can be. But lots of things could have happened in 40+ years!
Today I took off LPR. It had one bell crank of a totally different sort -- something else with a 3/8" shaft and similar construction with little barrels in the bell crank holes. The places where the bell cranks were tightened onto the cross shaft had been coated with some kind of white stuff, which seemed a lot like lithium grease. The cap screws were really tight. <shrug>
By the way, the guitar played fine before I started working on it, though there were a few things I wanted to improve.
--Al Evans
_________________
2018 MSA Legend, 2018 ZumSteel Encore, 2015 Mullen G2, G&L S-500, G&L ASAT, G&L LB-100, Godin A4 Fretless, Kinscherff High Noon |
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