I am pretty unfamilier with these. Can anyone give me some details of how these measure up against a Sho-Bud or Emmons ( sound, quaility, etc). I think the company is now out of production also, so how about replacement parts.
Thanks,
Lefty
Sho-Bud LDG
Dekley Steel Guitar
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
-
Joerg Hennig
- Posts: 1046
- Joined: 17 May 2001 12:01 am
- Location: Bavaria, Germany
Hi Lefty,
I have an S-12 Dekley that I found more or less by chance; I was looking for a replacement for my push/pull Emmons that unfortunately had been so badly abused that fixing it would have taken much longer than getting used to another guitar.
The sound- well this is very subjective, it´s not exactly the same as a ShoBud or Emmons, naturally, because it is a different design- metal cabinet with wooden neck(s).
I suggest to try one to decide if you like it or not. Remember, the overall sound lies not only in the guitar, but mostly in your hands and- last but not least- in the amplification.
Dekleys are known to be very solid (and heavy). If the guitar is kept well, there shouldn´t be a lot of mechanical problems.
Spare parts - tough luck. They are out of production since the mid eighties, and because they are so solid, they don´t usually get scrapped. It´s not a bad idea to become good friends with some hardware store guys and metalmechanics, just in case... But then, you probably won´t need a lot.
The guitar stays in tune very well. What I don´t like so much (I don´t know if this applies to all of them, though) is that lowers require quite a lot of knee lever travel and are sometimes a bit hard to tune, and that it is quite time-consuming to make changes to the setup due to the design of the bellcranks.
I´ve heard several times that there are certain similarities between Dekley and MSA. I guess our fellow forumite Jim Smith can give you further information, he was actually involved in the production of Dekley guitars and has given me some good advice, too.
Best of luck, Joe H.
I have an S-12 Dekley that I found more or less by chance; I was looking for a replacement for my push/pull Emmons that unfortunately had been so badly abused that fixing it would have taken much longer than getting used to another guitar.
The sound- well this is very subjective, it´s not exactly the same as a ShoBud or Emmons, naturally, because it is a different design- metal cabinet with wooden neck(s).
I suggest to try one to decide if you like it or not. Remember, the overall sound lies not only in the guitar, but mostly in your hands and- last but not least- in the amplification.
Dekleys are known to be very solid (and heavy). If the guitar is kept well, there shouldn´t be a lot of mechanical problems.
Spare parts - tough luck. They are out of production since the mid eighties, and because they are so solid, they don´t usually get scrapped. It´s not a bad idea to become good friends with some hardware store guys and metalmechanics, just in case... But then, you probably won´t need a lot.
The guitar stays in tune very well. What I don´t like so much (I don´t know if this applies to all of them, though) is that lowers require quite a lot of knee lever travel and are sometimes a bit hard to tune, and that it is quite time-consuming to make changes to the setup due to the design of the bellcranks.
I´ve heard several times that there are certain similarities between Dekley and MSA. I guess our fellow forumite Jim Smith can give you further information, he was actually involved in the production of Dekley guitars and has given me some good advice, too.
Best of luck, Joe H.
Try E-mailing jimsmith94@home.com he built most of them and was in charge of production. And he still plays one,as does Smiley Roberts,Jim Roule and many more.
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CJC
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CJC
Thanks Joe and Casey.
I wish I could try one out, but there are not too many lefies around. Particularly around Atlanta. Thanks for the detailed info. I guess the sound is slightly more metallic than my Sho-Bud, but I know like you said, sound is so subjetive. The construction should be my main concern.
Thanks,
Lefty
I wish I could try one out, but there are not too many lefies around. Particularly around Atlanta. Thanks for the detailed info. I guess the sound is slightly more metallic than my Sho-Bud, but I know like you said, sound is so subjetive. The construction should be my main concern.
Thanks,
Lefty