The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi Ya'll this is Robin Venters formerly with Peavey (84'-2008) Now with Okc Music and Sound in Oklahoma City. A fellow has 2 dual 10 pedal steels he wants me to sell for him, one is an MSA 8 pedal 4 knee lever formica finish Dual 10, and the other is a lacquered Dekley 8-4 Dual 10 as well. In general is one of those more desirable assuming similar condition? they are in good if not excellent shape and he only has one case, one pack a seat and one volume pedal.. Thanks in advance for any guidance Robin V.

PS He said 8 pedal 4 lever I'll have pictures in a couple days .. the shop is 405-842-0303..

Both models are noted for being very solid, dependable, well-built guitars, and both are known for being rather heavy. MSA was around for a long time - so depends somewhat on vintage - things like what type of changer is in there? Neither are high-dollar instruments. Both are possibly made with die board, not rock maple. My understanding is that these are perfectly good guitars, but just even heavier than rock maple.

Never owned an MSA, but the D10 Dekley I spruced up and sold about a year ago was the best sounding guitar I ever owned.

Yes: heavy as sin.

Ok so the MSA is in white faux wood grained formica 8 pedals 4 knees ect. "SuperSustain" dual coil pickups, and the word "Classic" on a script Logo on the front. the Serial Number on the MSA is 26 3772.

The Dekley is lovely Natural Birds eye Maple with the finger boards being a very dark reddish brown wood that appears to be an 18-20 layer laminate. The pickups are single coil 20 magnet slug pole pieces, and even I as a non steeler can tell it has an excellent resonate tone off the cabinet itself. 8 pedals 5 knee levers it's set up is where the second pedal does the Sus 4 like what the 3rd one does on most. Is that the Jimmy Day set up? any how the Dekley's sn/ is 210-0084 what think ya'll so far?

The Dekley fingerboard deck is made from Pakawood, an extremely dense/ridgid composite material. Do a search on this site and you'll see lots of comments about it. I have a Dekley S-10 and find it has great tone and is very easy to work on. Not the lightest of instruments but extremely well built.

Bill

At this point, I think you could do a search of the for sale sections for each model (give the specifics on the MSA - "Classic" and you will get an idea on various prices, and more info. As I said above, both excellent guitars, both notoriously heavy, and neither goes for big bucks used. I'd guess if you search you will find them from $1500-2200 range here on the forum.

As for one being "more desirable", I'd say it's about a toss-up. MSA is still being made - although I think technically it is a different company than when the one you are talking about was made. Pretty much no parts will be interchangeable between it and current models. Dekley's have not been made for some time. But then, a lacquer body has a certain appeal, at least for me.

Having owned both, I'll offer that finding parts for the Dekley will be immensely more difficult. MSAs were extremely popular in the '70s and parts for them are still easily found, including some of which are remanufactured due to demand (and the number of guitars still kicking around).

Both will be heavy as sin, and I suppose that is some reason for lower values on both MSAs and Dekleys in the resale market. At many steel shows, I've never often heard positive words about MSAs - they, along with Carters, are surmised to have muddy or dark sound. Nobody ever seems to say these things on a public forum, but I've heard it several times. Yet, I would argue that my '77 MSA (with Lawrence 710s) that I've owned for a year now has a tone right on par with my Zumsteel. I like it so much, I'm considering split cases to start playing it out more.

Joe Alterio wrote:...MSAs - they, along with Carters, are surmised to have muddy or dark sound. Nobody ever seems to say these things on a public forum, but I've heard it several times. Yet, I would argue that my '77 MSA (with Lawrence 710s) that I've owned for a year now has a tone right on par with my Zumsteel.

The tone of my 1976 MSA D10 Classic (GeorgeL pickup on the E9th neck, SuperSustain on the C6th) is anything but "dark and muddy". I'm fortunate enough to have a Mullen G2 and a Zum Encore to compare it with, and it certainly holds its own in the tone department. They're all different, all good. There's a certain sound only old wood possesses, and the MSA has that sound in spades.

--Al Evans