The Steel Guitar Forum

New to the forums, so let me apologize in advance if I've posted in the wrong place. This seemed like the most logical place to do it.

It was a real pleasure meeting and talking to Jim at North County Pedal Steels in Oceanisde, CA yesterday, as I was trying to decide on which steel to buy. I'm very excited to own a 70s MSA Classic. Jim thought it was a '74-75...I'm hoping I haven't started too late in life but excited to begin learning to play steel! Thanks for the help Jim...had to share a photo
[/img]

You got a gem there. Loaded well, sound great and a true work horse. Regret ever selling mine.

Great guitar, welcome to the club!

Congratulations and welcome to the insanity.

Your MSA is a great guitar that will serve you well for decades. I played one that is basically the same model, (except mine had 12 strings,) for 25 years.

There's a reason why my signature says my guitars are magnificent, stupendous and awesome. After you've played for a while, you will say the same thing.

Nice! I have a 1974 S12 and I love it. Enjoy the journey, you won't regret it.

Matt, I started at age 68 and have decided to live long enough to learn how to play it. LOL Congrats, you won't regret it.

My first one was identical to that, #1C2196. Back on Jan 2, 1984 I made the mistake of trusting a dealer to take it from Mpls. when he was making the move to Nashville to sell it for me. I never got paid for it so I consider it stolen.

Geo

Wow ! Jim set you up for life ! What is your copedant?

Matt you’ll never forget your first... years from now you’ll think about this guitar and get the same feeling then as you had when you first bought her and sat down to play her... Congratulations, and Welcome

One nice guitar. I have a close relative of it. Mine is Drift wood White with black trim, 4X4 SN 1C2921. I played mine in bands for 5 years. Never had a problem with it on stage, Break a string once in a while. I made 2 additions to the guitar. Under the guitar I added a switch so I could either play through the guitars on board volume and tone control, or flip the switch and by pass the guitar controls and go straight to volume pedal and amp. The other was a back pad. It is the width of the little offset with a place carved out so my bar and Do-Bro bar end to end. It is attached with Ind. Grade Velcro so it can be removed to put the guitar in case. No holes in guitar. Good Luck and Happy Journey in the steel guitar world. Here is a picture of the pad. If interested send me an E-Mail for specs.

Thank you everybody for the kind words about the guitar! Glad to be apart of such a knowledgeable community. There have got to be at least...5 or 6 pedal steel players in Orange County, CA now!

Norman Watson wrote:Matt, I started at age 68 and have decided to live long enough to learn how to play it. LOL Congrats, you won't regret it.

That's encouraging Norman! Such a unique sounding instrument. Now that I have the steel, I'm dealing with the frustration of not being able to mimic certain sounds or songs that I hear due to inability. I'm being reminded of the patience and practice it takes to learn a new instrument.

Richard Alderson wrote:Wow ! Jim set you up for life ! What is your copedant?

Richard, forgive me if this doesn't make sense...I'm still learning all of the vocabulary that comes with steel playing. It is E9 with Emmons set up. It has 5 pedals and 3 levers. The LKR lever has been moved to the RKL lever and there is only one lever on the left. Jim at North County Pedal Steels said that the 5th pedal performs the function that the missing knee lever would have. As far as the 4th pedal over...well I've just ignored that so far. It's only been a few days with the guitar.

Does anyone know what may have been the reasoning for altering/building the lever set up to 3 and moving the LKR lever function to the 5th pedal?

Matt Ireland wrote:
Does anyone know what may have been the reasoning for altering/building the lever set up to 3 and moving the LKR lever function to the 5th pedal?

The reason is that the previous owner simply liked it that way.

There is no reasoning for this sort of thing. It's purely a matter of personal preference. It's as subjective as the choice of color, or preference for one kind of food over another.

Mike Perlowin wrote:

Matt Ireland wrote:
Does anyone know what may have been the reasoning for altering/building the lever set up to 3 and moving the LKR lever function to the 5th pedal?

The reason is that the previous owner simply liked it that way.

There is no reasoning for this sort of thing. It's purely a matter of personal preference. It's as subjective as the choice of color, or preference for one kind of food over another.

Thanks for the reply Mike...I made the mistake of searching the forums for a standard naming scheme of pedals and levers the other day. Although it sounds like the A, B, C pedals are somewhat standardized, it seems the PSG world is highly varied and based on preference.

P.S. I just saw your e-mail about your concert and responded Mike. Wish I could make it but I a little over an hour away from where you're at.

Matt Welcome to the Unknown. When Buddy Emmons and Jimmy Day split 2 pedals into 3, Buddy set his up A,B,C. The story is Buddy wanted to borrow Jimmy's guitar at times. So Jimmy went home and set his up C,B,A, Sort of as a joke. And it went down hill from there. It seems people tinker with steels and add what they want to them, And in the arrangement they want. You will just have to progress and set it up the way you want it. If you do not like the missing lever on a pedal. You may want to change it. Good Luck and Happy Steelin.

Welcome! As you know well by now, you have an excellent resource in Jim Palenscar. I have no doubt that he set up this guitar to play like new.

Oh, and I bet you can get the manufacture date by contacting Kyle Bennett of the new MSA company.

(In case you didn't know the history, the original MSA went out of business in 1983... but then was reformed into a new company, I think in the early 2000's. Both companies were created by the late Maurice Anderson, one of the greatest men ever to place picks on his fingers.)

Bobby D. Jones wrote:Matt Welcome to the Unknown. When Buddy Emmons and Jimmy Day split 2 pedals into 3, Buddy set his up A,B,C. The story is Buddy wanted to borrow Jimmy's guitar at times. So Jimmy went home and set his up C,B,A, Sort of as a joke. And it went down hill from there. It seems people tinker with steels and add what they want to them, And in the arrangement they want. You will just have to progress and set it up the way you want it. If you do not like the missing lever on a pedal. You may want to change it. Good Luck and Happy Steelin.

I'd read (somewhere) that when the first one of them hit on the idea of splitting them and adding the C pedal, he shared it in a phone call, and didn't specify whether they started from the end of the guitar, or from closest to the player.