MSA new 10-6 guitar coming 2020!

[Ben Godard]

MSA is building a new guitar in 2020 called the ten- six. 10 string in front and 6 string on back ie dobro. Furthermore it is engineered to fishman pickups on the back neck for a more dobroish sound

Here’s a link
https://youtu.be/wYwkgEhGdr0

[Travis Toy]

Yep. My design, or I guess I should say it was my idea. Sonny had to actually design it. Haha. I have had a lapsteel with standard electric pickups and piezo pickups in the bridge since 2011-2012. I have used it as a dobro plugged into the Jerry Douglas Fishman Aura pedal ever since then. The audio on the video is me playing that setup. That’s what the back neck of the new guitar will sound like. Gonna be awesome, and make life easier for guys who carry all of those instruments to gigs. Now they can all be on one instrument.

-t

[Ben Godard]

Awesome!! I’ve got a feeling this is gonna be great thing. I am gonna have to invest in getting one. I’ve always wanted a guitar with E9 on front and dobro on back. I’m sure many steel players like myself have occasionally dropped the C6 tuning and replaced only 6 strings and play it like a dobro through a match-bro, boss GE-7, or similar pedal

Looking forward to having one of these. Please put more videos out on it as it unfolds!!!!

[Travis Toy]

Awesome!! I’ve got a feeling this is gonna be great thing. I am gonna have to invest in getting one. I’ve always wanted a guitar with E9 on front and dobro on back. I’m sure many steel players like myself have occasionally dropped the C6 tuning and replaced only 6 strings and play it like a dobro through a match-bro, boss GE-7, or similar pedal

Looking forward to having one of these. Please put more videos out on it as it unfolds!!!!

Will do. I’m sure there will be no shortage of posts, videos, etc, when we get it done. It’s for sure a problem solver for a lot of guys, including myself. To a guy like me who plays a lot of actual good sounding dobros very regularly, I’ve never been able to stomach the MatchBro, EQ pedal, etc approach. None of them sound even remotely like a dobro to me. They’re missing all of the real characteristics. Very uninspiring to play. This is definitely not that.

-t

[Roger Rettig]

MSA's guitars are currently very much on my radar; if I were to buy a new steel now I'm pretty well convinced it'd be an MSA. This announcement could be the clincher!

[Ken Byng]

That is really authentic Travis. The timbre is so close to a resonator guitar, that you would be hard pushed to differentiate it in a mix with other instruments and vocals. Even on its own it sounds great, as does the Show Pro Cat Can. I think that MSA and Show Pro are the top two manufacturers currently, and I'm proud to own both.

[K Maul]

I’d be interested in seeing that lap steel and how the piezo pickup is installed. Can you blend the pickups or is it strictly either/or? Years ago I had a GFI with a half pad which I removed and installed a dobro neck using an old Teisco microphonic pickup. It had a very dobro-ish sound but also sounded great with overdrive. Never should’ve turned that loose!

[Erv Niehaus]

Years ago, I remember seeing pictures of steelers putting one of those Duane Marrs "Cat Can" guitars in place of the back neck on their pedal steel.

[Dustin Rigsby]

Could be a real game changer for guys whose regular gig doesn’t call for c6th. Reso and lap is very prominent in modern music. It could open up more opportunities for gigs as well as recruiting a younger generation of steel player. I like the possibilities. 👍

[Travis Toy]

That is really authentic Travis. The timbre is so close to a resonator guitar, that you would be hard pushed to differentiate it in a mix with other instruments and vocals. Even on its own it sounds great, as does the Show Pro Cat Can. I think that MSA and Show Pro are the top two manufacturers currently, and I'm proud to own both.

Hey Ken. Yeah, the thing about this is that it IS an image/sample of a dobro. If you’re not familiar with Fishman Aura technology, you can research those products and understand better what’s happening with this guitar.

-t

[Ken Byng]

Travis - thanks for the clarification. That reproduction is as good as any top grade microphone could reproduce. I’ve just had a look at the Fishman Aura web site. Think I’ll pull the trigger and fit out my Hudson pedal resonator. I’ve steered clear of the alternate graphic equaliser boxes as they don’t reproduce the tones of a resonator at all. The best options I’ve tried up to now is the Schatten bug type pickup, but it feeds back at fairly low volume.

[Travis Toy]

Travis - thanks for the clarification. That reproduction is as good as any top grade microphone could reproduce. I’ve just had a look at the Fishman Aura web site. Think I’ll pull the trigger and fit out my Hudson pedal resonator. I’ve steered clear of the alternate graphic equaliser boxes as they don’t reproduce the tones of a resonator at all. The best options I’ve tried up to now is the Schatten bug type pickup, but it feeds back at fairly low volume.

Ken, just be aware that the Aura stuff really wants to see a piezo signal as an input. It does not work nearly as well with other types of input signals.

-t

[Per Berner]

Totally convincing, I would never have guessed that it wasn't a real acoustic resonator guitar!

[Ken Byng]

Here's a close up of the the Jerry Douglas model that Travis referred to. A really cool looking box. Could well be the answer to my problem of a pretty good piezo transducer made by Schatten that I fitted to my pedal resonator. The downside is where the useable output of the Schatten is limited.



However, there is a figurehead box called the Fishman Aura Spectrum (see below). In my studio I have some acoustic steel and nylon strung guitars, resonators and banjo, that are fitted with piezo transducers. The Aura Spectrum would be a more useable option as a high fidelity D.I. box for all of my acoustic instruments. The 'bluegrass' setting is ideal for resonator guitars according to the Fishman web site.

[Travis Toy]

Here's a close up of the the Jerry Douglas model that Travis referred to. A really cool looking box. Could well be the answer to my problem of a pretty good piezo transducer made by Schatten that I fitted to my pedal resonator. The downside is where the useable output of the Schatten is limited.



However, there is a figurehead box called the Fishman Aura Spectrum (see below). In my studio I have some acoustic steel and nylon strung guitars, resonators and banjo, that are fitted with piezo transducers. The Aura Spectrum would be a more useable option as a high fidelity D.I. box for all of my acoustic instruments. The 'bluegrass' setting is ideal for resonator guitars according to the Fishman web site.

The Spectrum is a nice unit, it does have resonator images in it, and you can download more from user sharing, etc. That being said, the ones in Jerry’s pedal, to me, are a good bit better. There’s a licensing deal with Jerry, where the only place you can get those images are in his pedal. They’re not available on the Spectrum, or any other Aura product. Just an FYI. Like I said, the ones available are likely certainly good enough for a lot of people, but what you hear in the video is one of Jerry’s images. If you need more solutions than just dobro however, the Spectrum is probably the smarter buy. It IS nice, and has considerably more features (tuner, feedback elimination, etc) than Jerry’s model.

-t

[Jeff Heard]

Travis, are you using the Fishman spider pickup on your lap steel or a regular guitar under-saddle piezo?
Thanks!

[Travis Toy]

Travis, are you using the Fishman spider pickup on your lap steel or a regular guitar under-saddle piezo?
Thanks!

On my original lap steel, I had a custom bridge made that has an under the saddle type application. On the new MSA, it is individual saddle pieces, each with their own piezo element.

-t

[Brooks Montgomery]

How long until we can see some photos ?

[Travis Toy]

How long until we can see some photos ?

Body is being built as we speak. Not too much longer.

-t

[K Maul]

I have both the Spectrum and the JD pedal. I am primarily a dobro player so I use them both a lot. The Spectrum images are good and I find myself using that one in most cases because it is one pedal that does many things well. The JD pedal needs a preamp,etc altho the images are a bit better.

[Ron Funk]

Travis -

I recall a YouTube video a few years ago of Nashville Player with such a setup - perhaps backing up female artist like Martina McBride?

(Couldn't find that video today)

Will Dobro neck be equipped with Pedals ala Peda-Bro?

That would be the cat's meow.

Thanks for sharing of your info

[Bruce Bouton]

Sounds amazing ! Hopefully string tension and spacing will be like a dobro. Will it have seperate outputs to run into DI's or separate amps? Also can it be used as a lapsteel , which might mean two outputs. It would be cool to have the option of a couple pedals on it. Great idea !

[Travis Toy]

Sounds amazing ! Hopefully string tension and spacing will be like a dobro. Will it have seperate outputs to run into DI's or separate amps? Also can it be used as a lapsteel , which might mean two outputs. It would be cool to have the option of a couple pedals on it. Great idea !

Hey Bruce! Yes, it’s a Gibson (dobro) scale length, and the spacing will be in that frame of mind as well. I will definitely have multiple output options (jacks) happening.

-t

[Travis Toy]

Travis -

I recall a YouTube video a few years ago of Nashville Player with such a setup - perhaps backing up female artist like Martina McBride?

(Couldn't find that video today)

Will Dobro neck be equipped with Pedals ala Peda-Bro?

That would be the cat's meow.

Thanks for sharing of your info

No pedals on the 6 string neck.

-t

[Ron Funk]

Any update available?

Dallas?