Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
|
Posted 15 Aug 2019 1:32 pm |
|
Mine is an early Millennium. Two gripes I had are as follows: The dovetail on the pickup and base is too shallow (a deeper dovetail would make insertion easier). The pickups can be lowered so much that they won't slide out. When I set them as low as I like, I have to raise them if I want to remove them.
I don't know if they ever fixed these issues - I suppose it's possible. I had zero follow-up when I bought the guitar, and I had several other issues which I had to deal with on my own. I guess I expected too much? |
|
Douglas Schuch
From:
Valencia, Philippines
|
Posted 15 Aug 2019 3:21 pm
|
|
I've had some issues with my two Millies with the pickup system - possibly because of where I was living? Until 9 months ago I was living on St John - a relatively small island in the tropics. I think, even in the middle of the island, there is a certain amount of salt in the air from the sea. The pickup carrier is aluminum. The problem I had was small amounts of aluminum oxide that would build up between the micarta base the pickup is mounted on and the aluminum carrier, and then the pickups would not slide out. Twice I have destroyed the basestrying to remove them when stuck.
I should give a disclaimer on the second time - it was following hurricane Irma - a major Cat 5 hurricane. I decided to split my gear up, leaving one guitar and some gear at my house in the middle of the island, and bringing the other with me to the villa I was sheltering at. This second guitar was inside a SKB trap case. Since this house had stood up to Hurricane Marilyn back in the 90's, I left the guitar in the case up in the main floor, but sought shelter in the cement "bunker-like" apartment below. Well, the house got destroyed -roof and all walls torn off, blown down, or peeled open. And while the cases prevented any direct damage, the SKB case, sitting on it's side, allowed the standing water on the floor to get into the joint of the top and bottom of the case, and the fabric that lined the case wicked the moisture all over. It was several days before I could get back to my house, which was relatively undamaged, and pull all the gear out and dry it off. And by then, the two parts of the slide-out system were frozen together.
Solutions: since then I have been spraying the pickup carrier and base with a DRY lubricant - a teflon spray seems like a good choice for this. This both seems to seal the alloy well enough to avoid the oxidation buildup, and facilitates easy removal. I try to slide them in and out each time I change strings to insure they are not slowly becoming stuck.
I have also had problems with the little springs that are built into the pickup bases that push the two contact pins out one one of the pickups I had. MSA repaired that one at no charge to me, even though I bought the guitar used.
As for the issues Donny Hinson mentions - I don't think the design has changed. The dovetail has to be rather low or else you can not get the pickup very low beneath the strings. I find you can pull upward at a slight angle (the adjusting bolts for the carrier will stick up a little) and then slide the pickup in or out. The design is limited by the height of the modern pickup and the thickness of a typical neck. To allow more clearance, one would have to make the necks thicker. Or, the little door that opens to let the pickup slide in and out would have to go completely through the neck - I assume this was not done as the neck structure is stronger with that web of aluminum connecting the two sides of the door.
So the system is not perfect - it's great when it all works, but there are lots of little parts that an make it all a bit finicky. I've never heard of anyone else having the corrosion problem, so I assume that is due to living in the tropics, where houses are not climate-controlled (AC is rare - houses stay open to the environment year round). I would suggest the DRY lube spray to anyone, though, as a precaution.
I am a bit surprised more builders have not at least done a compromise - just having a simple micro-plug system for pickups would make changing pickups easier - no soldering required. This would not allow quick, fast changes without touching the strings, but would be an improvement of the current system, which makes pickup changes. And there could be other ways to design a simple pickup change system. For most people, being able to change pickups by loosening strings would be adequate, as most players (even of MSA's) choose a pickup and then never change again. So a micro plug and a system dropped in from above would suit. Actually, double-sided tape would probably be adequate - so anyone could retrofit this type of system by just adding a tiny plug into their pickup wiring.
_________________
Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental! |
|
