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Topic: MSA Plywood Bodies? |
Larry Phleger
From:
DuBois, PA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 11:45 am |
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| Is it true that MSA used plywood to build bodies on some of their guitars? If so, which models used plywood, and how do they compare with the ones with solid wood bodies? |
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Michael Brebes
From:
Northridge CA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 12:54 pm
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I had a '76 MSA S10 and the sustain just wasn't there. I bought a solid wood MSA D10 and the natural sustain was incredible.
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Michael Brebes
Instrument/amp/ pickup repair
MSA D10 Classic/Rickenbacher B6/
Dickerson MOTS/Dobro D32 Hawaiian/
Goldtone Paul Beard Reso
Mesa Boogie Studio Pre/Hafler 3000
RP1/MPX100 |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 3:10 pm
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| Michael Brebes wrote: |
| I had a '76 MSA S10 and the sustain just wasn't there. I bought a solid wood MSA D10 and the natural sustain was incredible. |
exactly... I once took apart an MSA S10 mica.. All plywood under the mica... That was the deadest sounding wood I have ever seen on any instrument or even piece of furniture in my entire life.. When you hit that neck or body it sounded exactly like a wet saturated rolled up newspaper... I loved that old MSA but fought it for years and years... It simply would NOT sustain at all,,, Once I switched to the lacquer body MSA guitars it was a revelation. Big sustain and much better tone. there is a reason MSA made the switch to maple/lacquer bodies.... bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
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Billy Carr
From:
Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 3:38 pm psg
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| Only thing I liked about the plywood MSA's was the changer. |
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Larry Phleger
From:
DuBois, PA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 4:45 pm
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| Which models had the plywood bodies? Did all the Mica finished MSAs have plywood bodies, or only certain models? |
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Paul Sutherland
From:
Placerville, California
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 5:23 pm
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If the pickup is surrounded by wood or mica, then it's the old plywood body. If the pickup is surrounded by (sitting in) a big hunk of aluminum then it's the solid wood body.
I had one of the old plywood body guitars. It was well built and played flawlessly, but I was never happy with the tone.
_________________
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. |
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Johnny Cox
From:
Williamsom WVA, raised in Nashville TN, Lives in Hallettsville Texas
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 7:32 pm
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MSA used Finish as in Finland plywood for a time. It was plys of hardwoods not plywood that one would use to build a house with. During one large production run one of their suppliers sent the wrong wood and a string of dead guitars got out. That is what I was told by the folks that were there.
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Johnny "Dumplin" Cox
"YANKIN' STRINGS & STOMPIN' PEDALS" since 1967. |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 7:48 pm
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I had a '75 Classic that sustained as well as any guitar I've owned. It had single coil pickups that really sounded good, to my ears anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW7o6GHl9ps
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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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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 28 Feb 2019 8:16 pm
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I can buy that .. I had a white mica Classic a late one bought new right around the time MSA started using maple bodies, that had quite good sustain, and a much more bright vibrant "alive" sound than the rosewood mica one I disassembled... Still like the maple bodies better, but not every Mica MSA was "dead"... however too many of them were... bob
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 1:56 am
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A long time ago I had an MSA Semi-classic,Made from plywood,Before that I had a Sho-Bud 6139 which was incredible sounding the MSA was the worst sounding guitar that I've ever owned,Dead sounding...soured me on MSA guitars until a few years ago when I got to see and hear David Wright.
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Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Ron Hogan
From:
Nashville, TN, usa
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 5:24 am
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I know that GFI uses maple die board for their guitars. Maple plywood.
CLICK |
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Dale Rottacker
From:
Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 5:52 am
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Back in the 80’s Tom Bradshaw sent me a White Driftwood Mica MSA to try out... It didn’t take me long to know I was not a Fan... BUT, I’m ecstatic with the changes they’ve made with these NEW Legends... These newly designed MSA’s are truly works of art, and arguably the most innovative, fully featured guitars available today... No, I am not a rep for MSA, though I am a HUGE (I really need to lose some weight) Fan... I’ve bought 2 of these beauty’s in the last year and a half or so, and am ordering a 3rd... In my wildest dreams I NEVER dreamt that I would love a guitar this much, but the Tone and Sustain, and the simply beautiful ascetics, just give me chills like I’ve not had in 45 years of playing... And I haven’t even begun to talk about the features and the Secret Sauce they have to be putting in these NEW MSA’s.
Here’s a list of some of the features worth looking at.
https://msapedalsteels.com/guitar-features
_________________
Dale Rottacker, Steelinatune™
https://www.youtube.com/@steelinatune
*2021 MSA Legend, "Jolly Rancher" D10 10x9
*2021 Rittenberry, "The Concord" D10 9x9
*1977 Blue Sho-Bud Pro 3 Custom 8x6
https://msapedalsteels.com
http://rittenberrysteelguitars.com
https://www.telonics.com/index.php
https://www.p2pamps.com
https://www.quilterlabs.com |
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Stu Schulman
From:
Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 7:18 am
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My GFI sounds much Better than my MSA did!
_________________
Steeltronics Z-pickup,Desert Rose S-10 4+5,Desert Rose Keyless S-10 3+5... Mullen G2 S-10 3+5,Telonics 206 pickups,Telonics volume pedal.,Blanton SD -10,Emmons GS_10...Zirctone bar,Bill Groner Bar...any amp that isn't broken.Steel Seat.Com seats...Licking paint chips off of Chinese Toys since 1952. |
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Darvin Willhoite
From:
Roxton, Tx. USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 7:41 am
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I never cared for the sound of the Supersustain pickups, I think they should have been called Lowsustain. The old single coils had a totally different sound. I assume the single coils were made by Danny Shields. He may have made the Supersustain pickups too, I don't know. I've put Alumitone pickups in a few older MSA's and I think that really opened them up.
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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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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 12:58 pm
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| I remember a music store in Kansas City, Mo that was an MSA dealer but discontinued selling them when the plywood models hit the dealers. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 5:31 pm The ply-board MSA sound, raw and customized
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I've posted these before, but here's a couple of clips done on my (early, first year of production) 'mica MSA Classic. Both were done with a pot-pedal, and the first recording is done going right into the mixing console. This is more or less the "natural" sound of the MSA, recorded almost flat through a direct box:
https://instaud.io/3mKp
This second clip was recorded live at a club date using a cassette recorder. This is the sound I generally preferred for live work, and this is the same guitar, going directly into a BF Twin Reverb with the mids scooped:
https://instaud.io/3mKl |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 7:19 pm
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https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/004590.html
This thread from the old forum has some comments from Gene Fields himself. [scroll down a dozen posts] Although it doesn't directly address the original question concerning MSA, there is a comment or two. |
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Bob Carlucci
From:
Candor, New York, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 8:15 pm Re: The ply-board MSA sound, raw and customized
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| Donny Hinson wrote: |
I've posted these before, but here's a couple of clips done on my (early, first year of production) 'mica MSA Classic. Both were done with a pot-pedal, and the first recording is done going right into the mixing console. This is more or less the "natural" sound of the MSA, recorded almost flat through a direct box:
https://instaud.io/3mKp
This second clip was recorded live at a club date using a cassette recorder. This is the sound I generally preferred for live work, and this is the same guitar, going directly into a BF Twin Reverb with the mids scooped:
https://instaud.io/3mKl |
Wow, Nice donny...Nothing wrong with that sound at all.. Sounds like a good, well played , resonant,country pedal steel guitar..
_________________
I'm over the hill and hittin'rocks on the way down!
no gear list for me.. you don't have the time...... |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 1 Mar 2019 9:22 pm
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I had a '74 black plywood-body MSA Classic D10 with the original supersustain pickups, pure Chalker. The only thing wrong with that guitar to me was its weight - it was close to 100 pounds in the case. Mechanics were solid as a rock, and I think the tone and sustain were OK, any issues were operator, not guitar (I hadn't been playing long). Had I kept it, I would have shifted the ABC pedals to 2-3-4 and put Franklin change on pedal 1, and replaced the pickups with single-coils wound no higher than 17.5K Ohms, at least on E9. But I've done that with other steels too. One of Jim Cohen's students wound up with that guitar when I was in Philly for a guitar show. It was mint, I have pictures somewhere around here.
| Darvin Willhoite wrote: |
| I had a '75 Classic that sustained as well as any guitar I've owned. It had single coil pickups that really sounded good, to my ears anyway. |
| Donny Hinson wrote: |
| I've posted these before, but here's a couple of clips done on my (early, first year of production) 'mica MSA Classic. ... |
Yeah, those sound good to me. I've heard plenty of good players sound just fine on old MSAs like these.
Here's a young Paul Franklin playing an old MSA Classic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYXoJsRq0m8
Now, let's acknowledge right away that Paul could play anything and sound great. But I don't find anything lacking in his sound here. This is not to say there aren't significant differences between guitars. But like many, I think it's more about the player than the equipment. |
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