Dallas show

[Mark]

Yes, I agree Ken, waiting time at US Immigration is a bit of a pain... especially after a 10 hour plus flight. Yep, Mike Johnson was awesome... King of the Road... spot on! I'm glad you like your PRE-1000 Billy. Dave, the deal on the PRE-1000 (£1498.00) we've put together for the BSS Newsletter is pretty good. The US price for the PRE-1000 is $1850.00 and if you purchased the unit in the US you would have to add purchase tax of around 6% to that. If you assumed an exchange rate of $1.50 to the pound you would get a figure of around £1300.00. Once Customs have applied their import charges you would get a figure near £1600.00.

Mark

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

We were lucky when We went thru' immigration, only about a twenty minute wait.I have waited over two hours in the past.
I think air travel always has the risk of picking something up due to the number of passengers in a confined space,our friends from further north have brought home heavy colds and emty wallets
Billy

[Ken Byng]

I was diagnosed as having Norovirus, but have got over it now. Norovirus is common on cruises and in airports, in fact anywhere that large groups of people congregate as Billy said.

Pricing is always a delicate subject. You can always negotiate a deal with any company at Dallas, after all they are experiencing a downturn in their economy as indeed we are. they won't turn down an offer of 5 - 10% off retail if you have the dollars in your hand. Some will give considerably more discount. Want a steel guitar seat? Just wave the cash in front of the manufacturer for a great deal.

Telonics steel guitar products are very high quality,but low volume items. Their R&D costs alone must be very high. They are not going to sell many hundreds of thousands of pre-amps for instance. The market of steel guitar players is not a massive one worldwide, let alone in the UK. I was very impressed by their team when I met them, very quiet and unassuming - not in your face high pressure sales. I was sorry to miss the second day seminar in the Telonics room as it was right up my street, but there was just too much great playing going on in the main hall.

I still feel that in terms of actual sound reproduction, the Lawrence 705 and 710 pickups have the edge in terms of fullness of tone, but that is only a personal opinion. It's funny that certain pickups are in flavour for a short period. The Alumitone is a classic example. A case of players continually chasing the sound.

Mike Johnson's Show Pro with 710's in it just had a big clean tone. Likewise David Wright's MSA Legend with a 710 had that full bodied tone that I like to hear. Ditto Paul Franklin's 710 equipped black guitar that he played at Dallas. The Lawrence p/u's retail at around 50% of the Telonics pickups, and therein lies the problem.

The one product at the show that has very little in the way of direct competition is the Peterson tuner. They have a great product, and one of its biggest commercial benefits is that the tuners can be used for a host of instruments, not just steel guitar. Their after sales service is just incredible.

Sorry to waffle on, overall I thought the Dallas show was first class from a number of perspectives. It is a shame they can't produce a DVD of the shows, they would be incredible.

[Dave Nutt]

Ken, Thanks for taking the time to let us 'stay at homes' know a bit more about Dallas and its offerings, all very informative.
I hope you managed a good deal with your ShoPro purchase.

[Tony Smart]

I'll second that. - Keep going with all the tidbits of info Ken.
Always interesting and informative.

[Malcolm]

Ken is right tone is a very personal thing, I first heard Alumitone when John Fabian had an experimental model fitted in onre of his Carters at Dallas about three years ago, I compared it to two similar guitars fitted with George l and Bill Larwrence, and to my ears it sounded better.I got one at Dallas for my Millenium (fitted with Truetone) and so far it sounds ok, but will have to gig with it to be sure.At the moment I am undecided whether I prefer it to Truetone, watch this space.

[Ken Byng]

Malcolm
You raise an interesting point. Why don't all steel manufacturers have the 'slot in' pickup facility that MSA offer, and started off by Chuck Wright years ago. There are different circumstances where a humbucker would be a preferred option over a single coil and vice versa. Likewise, I always thought that the changeable roller caps that sit on ZB changers was a brilliant idea. No other manufacturers feel the same way, but it would be an easy solution to the perenial problem of grooved changer rollers.

[Malcolm]

Ken, I also wondered the same thing, it is extemely handy just to slide pickups in and out, the main disadvantage is price the Mica type block used by MSA is about $100 above the cost of the actual pickup, I personally don't know how this can be justified, but am afraid till it becomes the "universal" way of fitting we are stuck with this cost.