The Steel Guitar Forum

bOb,

Millennium is now available in 7 solid colors which are Vestal White, Royal Blue, Jade Mist Green, Vivid Red (my favorite), Claret (burgandy), Sable Brown and Super Jet Black (as shown on our website). Millennium is also available in clear which exposes the Carbon Twill Fibers. The Twill Fiber is available in Black/Gray (standard), Red/Black, Orange/Black, Blue/Black, Purple/Black and Green/Black. Millennium's clear topcoat finish is aircraft two-part epoxy. VERY DURABLE!

If I may add a word of encouragement to those getting ready to order, & knowing that chrome legs, & pedal bar have been established; I had the honor of communicating with Reece a few months ago about the visual details of this instrument. Folks, the combined combination of legs, pedal bar, & body are almost endless (witnessing Kyle's post above mine. You're pretty much limited to your imagination, NOT somebody elses. And the body details, you can go from even plainer than the pics above to as elaborate as you want; colors, pin stripes, designs, name, patterns, fretboard symbols other than chess pieces, you name it. To give you an example, I asked about a burgundy color with a basket weave look to it, but with the "Millenium" badge (right side facing gtr.) removed, chrome legs, maybe something different like a champagne, or a lite gold, brass look? NO PROBLEM!! (Personally, I think the big "Millenium" under the gtr. looks WAY COOL! So if & when, I'll do that.) But to those getting ready to order, allow me to encourage you to take advantage of being able to get it THE WAY YOU WANT IT.
This is truly a CUSTOM instrument. I'm as anxious as the rest of you to hear this bad boy, but to those moving ahead to purchase, do enjoy the opportunity to personalize your new MSA.
Way to go, Reece, Jerry, Kyle!!<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Rex Thomas on 14 June 2002 at 11:12 AM.]</p></FONT>

Maybe we could throw in an 8-track tape player with those chrome legs...

WHAT!!? No reel to reel!?

Prices are now posted at http://www.msapedalsteels.com/html/pricing.html
Ouch!
They admit it's expensive, but say it's worth it.

90 day deliverly.

No doubt they are expensive, but they are less than I was expecting. I'm sure they are worth every penny, especially since nobody else builds anything comparable!! I guess the next thing we'll be waiting on is the financing plan!!

Not to detract from this obviously well thought out gorgeous instrument but .... 6 grand! I'm curious if this will be the actual retail or if it will be discounted like Emmons prices. As much as I think it looks great, I would have a very hard time justifying spending twice the cost of a similar more conventional steel, ie. Emmons, Carter, Fessendon et. al.



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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

I am not impressed.
Is the sound superior to the famous push/pull
or the Lloyd Green Sho-Bud??
I was expecting an exciting new design. Maybe keyless?? Something different?? Looks much the same as the original MSA.
The price is a JOKE!!
If we can play ..we can pay a lot less.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Roy Thomson on 14 June 2002 at 07:17 PM.]</p></FONT>

A friend of mine emailed me about my above post. I would like to clear something up. I am in no way disparaging this new guitar. I was simply "thinking out loud" and really do have a valid question. For example, a Emmons D10 lists at $6500 but is retailed at one half of that price. I was curious if perhaps we are looking at a similar marketing situation. Musical instruments are heavily discounted off of list on a routine basis.... so much so, that we have seen a new term "street price" creep into our everyday lexicon. I guess I'm just curious as to the actual "street price".

My first steel was a S12 Extended E9 MSA. I loved it, and wish I still had it. I wish Reece, Kyle, and all involved with this venture only the best Regardless of the price, I still want to do a hands on evaluation!

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Steve Stallings
Bremond, Texas

It looks beautiful to me. The price seems more than fair when I think of the expense they must have gone through in R&D alone. I am playing a Franklin and a JCH at the moment and they are both priced in the same ballpark. There is no "street" pricing with those builders.

Congrats Kyle and Reece !

Bob

Sure would be great if the site had
some mp3 audio samples with various pickups.
At least we could get a rough idea of
how it sounds. Whaddaya think?

YES on the MP3's.

I'd like to hear it too!

Of course this looks like a gorgeous guitar, but I can´t help but think, I expected something different. This is a material and production method for the cabinet that is something absolutely new, that has never been done before. And from what I´ve read so far, it seems it works. The next step into the future, if you like. On the other hand, the basic design, as well as the overall appearance of the guitar, is quite conventional. It basically has the all-pull changer with nylon tuners that has been around for many years and the keyhead which dates back even further, practically to day one of the Spanish guitar. Looking at that combination, one could easily think, the logical conclusion would be that the two aforementioned features are the ultimate achievements in steel guitar design that just cannot be improved any further. Which I am sure is not the case. Of course, I have no doubts that the craftsmanship is superb and many details are very well thought about. It´s just about the concepts - I kind of expected an instrument like that would also feature a radically new changer design, maybe something like Excel and Anapeg, only better, or possibly changers on both ends or whatever.
If you look at this axe from a distance - like on stage in a large venue - it could easily be mistaken for some older steel. I´m not saying it´s not nice - it has kind of a classic look. Just a guess - MAYBE Reece considered the fact that the majority of steel players is somewhat traditional in taste and would not favor an instrument that looks too radically different. (I am no exception). But still, if I had that kind of money, and wanted to blow it on a steel guitar, I´d probably buy two or three more ShoBuds just because they are more like ME.

Sorry for ramblin´.

Joe H.

I like the Black pedal bar and Black legs all made from carbon fibre. Which makes it a lot easier on the back. I think it looks "Lean and Mean".

Steve-You may be right about the pricing. Emmons has a list price of say 6300. and a Picker's price much lower. So I hope that is the way MSA will price theirs....al

Reece,
Are the strings hooked on at a higher point on the changer?. It looks that way and if they are are...good bye broken 3rd strings.

It looks great, and i'm going to stick my neck out and say....look out, here comes MSA.

Bob.

<SMALL>The price is a JOKE!!</SMALL>

I haven't seen or played the guitar, I looked at the website and the undercarriage is stainless steel, that's a long way from pot metal, it's more expensive to purchase as raw stock and it's a lot more difficult to manufacture with, which means higher labor costs. The rest of the guitar looks like there was a lot of attention to detail. The price doesn't surprise me.

I have a friend who wants to make a product for the steel guitar and he and I were talking about it and the business end of making it happen. He flat out said that as a whole, we have a reputation of being pretty cheap and that this discourages entrepreneurs from wanting to get involved with us.

Roy Thompson and Joe Henry,

If you guys are not impressed with the new MSA, you're difinitely in the minority.

The colored legs and pedal bar may look a little "forboding" in black, but I'll bet they look real sharp in other colors.

I hope the pricing sceme works similarly to the Emmons pricing too.

Also hope Bobbe Seymour sells them.

Can we expect to see pictures of several color options on the MSA site soon?

The new MSA really looks impressive!

Hope to get to try one soon, without going all the way to Dallas.

Regards,
HH

Two comments:

1. The price. I won't argue about paying top dollar for quality, but I wonder what kind average (sustainable... <font size=1>no pun intended</font>) annual sales MSA is predicting in their business plan. Even optimistically - assuming that the new steel is a big hit - it won't appeal to all high-end buyers/players. So I'm wondering what kind of market MSA is targeting or realistically expecting to catpure in this very competetive, niche market.

2. I raised a question in another thread about MSA's deposit requirements for building a guitar, and what their delivery policy/schedule is expected to be. Again, good, bad, right, or wrong, there is a history here that I believe will affect how customers will view any potential purchase.

I'd be interested to hear Reece's thoughts in these areas.

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<font size=2>'66 Emmons D-10 (8x6), Franklin D-10 (8x5), Fessenden (Giles) D-10 lacquer (8x6), '36 EH-150, ~'49 Rick Bakelite, <u>Tube</u> amps</font>
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steve Feldman on 16 June 2002 at 08:29 AM.]</p></FONT>

Well it really seems hard to judge this guitar until we hear it. I know people who have worked with carbon graphite composite and it's very very expensive and difficult to work with. It also has some very musical sonic characteristics quite unlike wood and metal. The advantage is that it's EXTREMELY rigid and light. It's likely that this new MSA will have a completely unique tone to it. It may be revolutionary... We'll have to wait and hear. Also, it may be worth an extra 2 grand for some guys just to protect their spines when lifting and flipping the thing. I understand it weighs about half that of a normal steel.

Brad Sarno
'66 Emmons S-10/'71 Emmons D-10/Twin/BW

I have read a few comments about the black legs ... however, this is not a first. GFI put out a dbl 10, Keyless, that has black legs and black pedal bar AND black pedal rods. I happen to like it very much and really care if anyone else does. I'll tell you later if black is hard to sell. regards,fred p.s. it also uses a black goodrich pedal for that "extra" good tone.

I meant to say "don't care" in above post. regards, fred

Something that has not been talked about not does the website address is choices. What colors? any wood tones or wood grain patterns? The black guitar looks sharp but what else is available?


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D 10 Thomas with 8&6, '61'D-10 Sho-Bud 8&4
S12 Knight 4&4
Nashville 400 and Profex II
81' Fender Twin JBL's
Asleep at the Steel

I'm probably what you'd call a "high end buyer", but this guitar doesn't have me drooling yet. Here's why:

The style is very traditional. That's not a distinct disadvantage, but if I spend $6k on a pedal steel, I don't want it to look a whole lot like the next guy's $3K guitar.

The rod pullers look like Sierra's, with the inherent limitation of having only 4 leverage points. (The text says that they are available with 2, 3, 4 or 5 slots, but all of the ones in the picture have 4.) I like Sierra guitars, but I've always felt that the rod puller leverage limitation makes them hard to set up correctly.

The price is higher than anything on the market. You could buy two Carters and have money left over. This wouldn't be as much of a problem for me if it looked more distinctive.

I have no way of knowing how it will sound. The page about tone on the web site makes a big deal about "consistency" of tone. Consistency is important to the manufacturer more than to the player. All I want is a great sounding instrument. The whole line could sound consistently bad, for all I know. MSA should publish a promotional CD to put those fears to rest.

Does the extremely rigid carbon fibre body really solve the so-called cabinet drop problem? Someone hook up a meter and test it. Many people believe that most "cabinet drop" is in the changer axle.

There is no keyless option. Does this mean that the guitar needs return compensators to deal with hysteresis?

I play hard. Somehow I doubt that a 30 pound pedal steel is going to stay put when I slam those knee levers.

The MSA Millenium has a few nice features, but I'm really in a "wait and see" mode when it comes to tone and playability. I'm sorry that I won't make it to St. Louis this year to see these guitars in person. Maybe someone will bring one back to California and let me play around on it.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/b0b.gif" width="64" height="64">Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (F Diatonic) Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6)

This looks to me like the coolest horn to come down the pike in years boys-I hope there is one at Scotty's show to check out-Hey Reece-wanna swap your old triple Bigsby for one of these?