What were Dekleys made out of?

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

This is actually a response to the "what if" thread. Some builders are contracting their cabinets out to Mark Giles, who does very beautiful and elegant work. By contrast, the Dekley guitars were made out of some sort of processed wood and are very plain, but nevertheless highly functional.

I said in the other thread that the cabinets could be made in Mexico or Asia. Such cabinets would not be the kind of works or aft that Mark producers, but they could be mass produced out of the same material Dekley used to use.
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Bill Stroud · From: Dresden, Tennessee, USA * R.I.P.

I have a double 12 string that is made out of Birdseye Maple...

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

I think they called it 'Pakkawood'. Jim Smith can 'splain all about it, if he shows up here.

Ernie Pollock · From: Mt Savage, Md USA

Pakawood, or something like that, what Jim said. It was some kind of a resin I think, boy were they heavy guitars, they did play decent, just were too heavy. Lot of em still around. I think towards the end they were making the bodies out of maple and just the neck made out of that pacawood. That helped some, but it was just too late for dekley.

Ernie Pollock Crying or Very sad

Rick Schmidt · From: Prescott AZ, USA

My D12 Dekley 10+6 has to be one of the heaviest PSG's ever made, but cabinet drop is very little to none. It has it's own sound that I've grown to like alot, although it's alot darker than what is popular these days.

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Mike:I just got a Dekley S10 3+4,It looks like rosewood paka-wood?I think that the frame is aluminum underneath?it's really a great guitar mechanically,a very precise machine.I think that mine weighs about 42 Lbs.it's got a great keyhead design,great roller nuts,nice spacing,the pickup really surprised me,I can't really compare it to anything else.Nothing flimsy about it,the changer is a work of art.The fretboards are very easy to see,I play in a very dark club,and the people in my band don't like stage lights,like a family of moles.This guitar is so well thought out,it's a shame they went out of bizz.
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Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Oh yeah..My guess is that it's some sort of epoxy impregnated wood? and you know in Mexico that don't care about spraying harmful finishes"nitrocellulose" and all of that harmful good looking stuff.
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Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Like I said, there's no reason a company like Carter or Sierra can't contract the manufacture of cabinets made out of this material to a foreign manufacturer, either in Mexico or Asia. The cabinets could then be shipped here for further assembly.

BTW, my Millennium U-12 weighs less than half of a Dekley S-10

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Mike..I agree with you,I had a friend who worked in the Fender Custom shop as a "Master Builder"he built guitars for big shots,he told me that most of the parts on the Mexican Fenders were built in Corona Ca.and that all of the finishes were done in Ensenada because they could get around all of the environmental laws down there,and they work CHEAP! we could put Katy Lee Gifford to work,or at least little Cody.
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Fred Justice · From: Mesa, Arizona

Mike "Brilliant Idea", send some more of our job's out of the Country Rolling Eyes

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Jim Bob Sedgwick · From: Clinton, Missouri USA

Back on topic... Mike, Tommy Roots was with the Dekley company as touring professional demonstrator. He told me that the Pakka wood is wood that has been subjected to extreme pressure (packed, in other words). It is the same material that is in some knife handles, dishwasher safe, harder than a brick and heavy. IMO, Dekleys had a great sound, but as previously stated are extremely heavy. Smiley Roberts has one and can expand on my limited knowledge of these guitars.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Fred Bova · From: Connecticut, USA

I have a Dekley Pioneer, that was the KIT PSG they sold in the '70's, and the Body is Extruded Alum.

It looks like this when on it's face.

[____]

Brilliant Idea.

Mike Wheeler · From: Delaware, Ohio, USA

I have a Dekley S12U Slimline made of Pakkawood. The material IS rock hard and very heavy. Overall, it's mechanically similar to the MSAs...if fact many parts are interchangeable. Mine has imperceptible cabinet drop...I can't even see it on a tuner.

This material is a monster to machine, and drilling it is like drilling steel. Forget about using your router to widen the pickup hole! You'll have to take it to a machine shop...if they'll even accept the job. It eats bits for lunch!

BUT, as far as a stable body goes...it's amazing! Nothing damages it!...well, I guess you could if you really tried.

Of all the steels I've owned, this Dekley sounds the best to me. Tight low end, and sparkling highs and great string separation. And smooth?!?!?!?! Like butter!! I'm never letting this one go.

But, back on topic! I think the Pakkawood would be an excellent choice for a new line of steels....but I'd suggest less plys to save some weight. With the newer construction techniques available today, I tend to think a lightweight Pakkawood design could succeed. And I think it might sound more "woody" that many others. It would definitely make for a fabulous road guitar. IMHO
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Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Mike,I was curious about routing mine to put a Bill Lawrence XLR-16 in.Thanks for the info I'll just keep it the way it is,which is actually pretty good.Stu
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Mike Wheeler · From: Delaware, Ohio, USA

Yep, Stu. I wanted to do the same thing and opted not to...at least not till I can afford it! ha! Another option would be to have a PU, whatever one you choose, made to fit, if possible.
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ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

What DEKLEY's are made of...at least this one.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Boy, that undercarriage really does look a lot like that of an older MSA. I can see why the parts might be interchangable.

Mike Wheeler · From: Delaware, Ohio, USA

Yep, Mike, they really are very similar. Same diameter cross shafts, same size brass rod-to-puller bushings, etc. The biggest difference is that the Dekley Slimline's cross shafts have a channel cut in them...MSA's are solid round. And the pull fingers are much thicker compared to the MSA's...at least in mine.

Now, the one pictured doesn't look like my Slimline, so I don't know what's up there. Maybe Jim Smith could shed some light on this aspect.
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Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Jim Gurley told me in 80 or 81 that the wood for the tops of the guitars was placed in a vacuum chamber, evacuated to nearly maximum attainable vacuum reading, then an epoxy solution was introduced into the vacuum chamber and allowed to fill the minute cavities in the grain formerly occupied by air. When maximum saturation was achieved, the wood was removed and literally compressed under 400 tons pressure between two heating platens until the resin cured. The thickness of the 'wood' actually was reduced by about 50%. Density would have been increased by the same percentage. The stuff can be drilled, tapped, surface-ground, buffed, and about anything else one would want to do with it.
PRR

Stu Schulman · From: Ulster Park New Yawk (deceased)

Paul,does that mean that it can be routed a little bit to put in a Bill Lawrence pickup?which is slighly larger than the Dekley pickup or is it too hard to route?I'm a little confused and not too bright.Mike the string spacing at the nut is wider than the old MSA's it's easier to get in between the strings for me.
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Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

Stu - Yes, it can be routed. Use some kind of a guide to keep the router from wandering off into left field. I would recommend using only carbide-tipped router tools with this stuff as it will eat up carbon steel or even HSS (high speed steel) tools in a heartbeat at that very high RPM. Epoxy is extremely abrasive as are most thermosetting materials such as phenolics and melamines. A router should give you a nice clean edge and keep the material from flaking off at the top surface. If it looks like it's showing a tendency to flake, stop there and clamp a piece of hard maple or similar hardwood to the top, reset your depth adding the thickness of that piece. BE CAREFUL!! A router-gone-wild can mess up a perfectly good guitar body in the blink of an eye. Always try to 'climb-cut' rather than 'plow-cut' a composite material. . .that is, move the tool the way the cutter is rotating rather than 'plowing' against the direction of rotation. Hope this helps.
PRR

Paul Redmond · From: Illinois, USA

FWIW over the years I've heard some Dekley players and even a couple of steel repairmen I know say that Dekley's had an inherent cabinet drop/detuning problem and they blamed it on the way that the changer is more or less 'suspended' in the cabinet and a flawed cabinet design. I totally disagree. If you look at the keyhead setup on these guitars, there's your answer. Two little skinny pieces of aluminum held in place with a couple of screws. This inadequacy allows the keyhead to 'lift' during raises which detunes the surrounding strings. They also tend to deform in an 'S' shape. Add to that the 'bend' of the tuner shafts themselves, and you have a formula for detuning problems. I don't want to beat the keyless drum and get that debate going again, but my guess is that if someone took the time to build either a more rigid, one-piece keyhead and hold it down to the cabinet with more screws, OR make/install a good keyless tuner, these guitars would be some of the most accurate instruments ever built. They certainly never lacked for frame rigidity. . .Dekley frames are built like a Mack truck!! As I've stated in other posts, most detuning problems have little or nothing to do with the respective cabinet designs. The poorly-designed keyhead is usually the culprit because of the reasons stated above. I almost bought a Dekley back then and had I known then what I know now, I would have. They have a terrific sound and play well IMO. One of the last 'warm' guitars made.
PRR

Mike Wheeler · From: Delaware, Ohio, USA

Stu, and Paul, thanks a million for the info. I totally agree about the keyless tuner. For me, this guitar fits me like a glove and, yes it has a "warm" sound, but it's also punchy and has a very nice "bite". It responds extremely well to slight picking technique changes giving me a wide variety of tonal options, without touching any controls. It's easy to sound like crap, too, if I don't pay close attention to what I'm doing. ha!

Sure would be great if someone could design a keyless tuner that would directly retrofit a keyed guitar...no routing, would mount on top of the cabinet in the same space as the old keyhead. I'd buy one in a heartbeat! hmmmmm........
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ed packard · From: Show Low AZ

Mike...check with Tom Baker at Sierra...their keyless tuner does not need cabinet routing, and takes up less space than the keyheads do. It also does not bend the strings around sharp corners.

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