The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi everyone,
After perusing the forum for weeks I have finally joined. This is the greatest thing since the steel guitar. It is so cool to be able to talk to the graet players and manufacturers and fellow enthusiasts. First a little about myself. My name is Bernie Hedges (I have to figure out how to change my user name to Bernie from Bernard.) I live in Roseville,CA just outside Sacramento. I'm originally an east coaster from Delaware. I'm a young 61 and have been playing guitar since I was 19. I have played guitar in tons of bands when I was younger and about 15 years ago I decided to buy a Pedal Steel after years of listening to how amazing it sounds. I did a little research and bought a used S-12 MSA Classic that I believe was made in the 70's sometime. I was addicted immediately and learned from the "Bible" (Winnie Winston's wonderful book). When I moved to California the steel stayed in Delaware for about 7 years. I pulled it out of the closet about 6 months ago and started playing again and now I'm actually looking for a gigging band. When I got my PSG it came with 3 knees and 7 pedals. There was actually hardware for a 4th knee but no lever. I immediatedly pulled off the last 4 pedals and the bottom 2 strings and set it to standard E9. I bought 2 of Scottie's books(Anthology and the Deluxe Method) and am basically self taught. I currently have it set up to extended E9ugh adding a G# and E so I can get down to a regular guitar. Enough about me for now. I won't ask all 1 million questions at one time but I have a couple for Reece Anderson, or another MSA expert. I would like to know a little about my guitar, serial number 1C3799 , Where can I get parts - in particular pull rods, the little parts with the allen screws that hold the rods in place, knee levers. That's enough for now. I do know that it was made right since there is a label that says "Final assembly made and certified correct by Bud Carter". When I saw that, after I knew who Bud was, all I could do was say WOW!. You'll be hearing much more from me later.

Bernie

Welcome Bernie from Alabama,You have great taste in steels,love those MSA'S. DYKBC.

Bernard,

You have one of the best pedal steel guitars ever built! They are still modern, even today.

Welcome to the community.

Hi Bernie, Welcome to the forum! This is a great place to meet and share stories & steel guitar information with players from all over the world. Some real nice people here !! Look forward to hearing from ya.... cheers.

PS One of the first guitars I played was MSA

Bernard,

Try these two sites. Tom and Wayne are both supporters of our site, as well as being stalwarts in PSG for many years:

http://www.songwriter.com/bradshaw/index.php

http://www.mts.net/~linkon/

I have purchased from Wayne, but not from Tom, yet. A phone call is the way to start.

Steve

Thanks for the replies already. I'm glad to hear so many good opinions about my MSA. I've never played anything else so too me it's the best there is. I changed the pickup to a George L E-66 about a year after I bought it since the original one was noisy. At that time the Goerge L was the one everyone was touting and it sounds great. I had to route out the cavity a little to make it fit. I play through a 70's Twin Reverb (master volume type), 100 watts with 2 K-120 JBL's. I removed the changer when I did it and cleaned it with some solvent. It ruined most of the little teflon washers that go in between the changers. I need to know where I can get those . Als I think I got the roller nuts mixed up and need to know how to tell which ones go where.
Thanks,
Always more coming
Bernie

I have an MSA Classic S-12 with five pedals and four knees that I bought new in 1974. Its legs are getting a little shaky after a zillion gigs, but it still works like a charm. It is absolutely stock, with the original pre-super sustain pickup, and it sounds and works just fine. Looks exactly like yours. But you should put all the pedals and the last two strings back on!!!

Hi Barry,
My original pickup sounded great when I first bought iut but it got noisy so I replaced it. If you take a look at the pictures I did put the last 2 strrings on and intend to put the fourth knee and the other four ppedals on. I'm just not sure what copedant I waqntr. I'm using extended E9 now which is great for rock as well as country. Don't think I'm ready for the Universal move yet. I was thinking of putting a Franklin pedal on.

Bernie......Please excuse my delayed response. We have been attending the Texas Steel Guitar Association which ended for us about 2 hours ago.

Thank you for being part of the MSA family. Serial number 1C3799 shows to be a rosewood single 12 which left the factory with 5 pedals and 4 knee levers. It was originally shipped to CMI in Chicago who was our world wide distributor at the time. They of course sold it to a music store, but our tracking ends there. Your guitar was born on November 11th 1974.

For the parts you need contact Jim Palenscar at 760-654-2120 or Wayne Link at 204-895.9602. I'm sure one of them will have what you need.

Welcome to the forum, and if I can ever help you please let me know.

Hi Reece,
Thanks for responding. It's really cool to be able to speak directly to the designer of these guitars. I bought the guitar used in Philadelphia about 15 years ago for $650.00. I thought that was a steal and I didn't know squat at that point. It had 7 pedals and 3 knees. Actually 4 but the lever itself was missing. I will eventually put all that stuff back on but I'm not sure yet what notes I want to change. I have never heard you play so yesterday I b ought "Universal Direction" through the forum. I'm looking forward to hearing it.

...I think I got the roller nuts mixed up and need to know how to tell which ones go where.

All the rollers are the same. When your guitar was made, neither MSA, nor anyone else that I know of, was using guaged rollers. Also, should anyone else be removing changers, it's wise (since you've already got it out of the guitar) to disassemble it completely for cleaning. That way, you won't have to replace plastic parts which may be damaged by solvents.

Also, I am not a fan of "flushing" changers while they're in the guitar, as no amount of flushing or cleaning will remove all the dirt and metal particles. If you're going to do it, take the time to do it right.

Hi Donny,
Thanks for the response. When I cleaned my changer it was out of the guitar and completely diassembled. I can't remember what solvent I used, nothing strong just something to take any gunk off but I didn't think the solvent would hurt the little teflon washers that go between each changer. Live and learn. I don't think it's hurting anything since it works fine but it's causing a spacing problem between strings. I lubed it with some 30 weight motor oil when I put it back in. Does that sound RIGHT to you? As for your statement about the gauged rollers, they are definitely not the same. Each of my rollers has a different size groove. That seems like gauged to me. The thick strings were pretty easy to figure out but the lighter gauge ones were not. Of course I wasn't meticulous enough to arrange the rollers in order or this wouldn't have happened. Sorry if I wasn't completely clear about the changer but I appreciate your comments.