The Steel Guitar Forum

Reece, I'm curious regarding your new MSA with the carbon fiber necks. Are they subject to expansion or contraction due to rapid temperature changes? Our band did a one-hour gig starting at 11 a.m. My D-10 with aluminum necks dropped from 440 to 435 within 20 minutes. Unfortunately, I couldn't stop to re-tune all strings so I compensated by moving the bar slightly higher up the neck. Tom

Tom......Thank you for the question concerning the new MSA Millennium relative to neck expansion and contraction and detuning. Your question is quite involved, however I’m delighted to have the opportunity to respond, and I will be as brief as possible.

The new Millennium body is made of totally integrated composite material (carbon fiber) which is unbelievably strong and lightweight, and virtually does not react to prolonged extreme temperatures, rapid temperature variances, nor does it recognize moisture.

Not that one would, but one could submerge the entire MSA guitar (not the player) in ice water up to string level and it would have no effect on the tuning, structural integrity or appearance.

Although we are all well aware that aluminum is quite sensitive to temperature variances we are also aware that an aluminum neck contributes to tone and sustain qualities.

MSA conducted extensive design and research over a several month period directed toward tone and sustain. Early on in our experiments it became apparent a combination of aluminum necks, fully integrated composite body and variable core design, produced tone and sustain qualities which are truly remarkable.

After making our tone/sound combination conclusions, we then focused our attention on canceling the inherent expansion and contraction characteristics of the aluminum necks. We achieved our goal by designing a “floating” neck This simply means the neck is firmly anchored only at one end (the changer end) while the other end has space and freedom to expand or contract inside the roller bridge. The roller bridge is not attached to the neck, but to the carbon fiber cabinet. The end result is that the cabinet being composite material does not noticeably expand or contract and the aluminum necks can expand of contract at will without resulting in detuning.

Reece, thank you for the detailed explanation of the carbon fiber MSA. I'm anxious to see and try one when they are made available. The floating bridge concept is hard to imagine. Looks like the string tension would be too much to keep it at a constant level. (Drawing mental pictures). Here's wishing lots of success. Tom

Tom, Reece mentioned a floating neck, not a floating bridge.

As far as I know, all guitars with aluminum necks, with the exception of the very first push-pull Emmons, mount the bridge and nut directly to the body. They don't touch the neck at all, because of the known temperature expansion and contraction of aluminum.

Jim, I definately drew a wrong picture. In your opinion which neck is more critical to temperature changes...the aluminum or wood?

Aluminum changes size dramatically with temperature, while wood is much more stable, it does move somewhat with temperature and more with humidity changes. Aluminum necks somehow add pleasing tonal quality to a steel guitar, but I'm not sure the reason is fully understood or been explained. One possible reason is the bell-like quality of thin aluminum.

When I was with Dekley, we used Pakkawood necks to combine the woodgrain of wood with the stability of resin. Our changers and nuts were butted firmly against the necks, and I would put my Dekley up against any guitar for lack of detuning with temperature changes.

Reece, did you prototype any guitars with carbon fiber necks? Some time back you told about the aluminum neck that Jim Palenscar and others collaborated on for your MSA and told of the improvement in tone. I also remember back when the first MSA was in business about the blindfold tests performed where no one could tell the difference between the sound of an MSA and any other guitar. Care to expound on why you notice the difference with aluminum necks now but didn't then?

Tom W....Thank you again for the questions and I hope they have been answered to your satisfaction.

Jim S....The sound experiments conducted 25 years ago concerning metal necks on wood bodies really have little relevance to what we are doing at MSA today. Our use of composite material totally changes the entire perspective.

The sound resonating characteristics inherent to the totally integrated composite cabinet allows the aluminum neck to receive far more excitation than from a wood cabinet and in a more predictable and consistent manner.

The secret to the new MSA sound is certainly rooted in the use of the integrated composite cabinet, rather than the metal neck. The sound is further enhanced by the core design, pickup choice and finally, the metal necks. The chromed metal necks do allow us to machine the 3D fretboards which give the guitar a beautiful brand-new look, appeal and feel.