Some of my herd out to grass!

[Jif]

Thanks Ken for your informative reply and Bob for the vids, really enjoyed listening to them again, love the way you use vibrato Ken

Well, I've been listening to them side by side for a while now trying to discern any differences in the overall tone and can't really put my finger on any major difference which leads me to the conclusion that tone is largely in the hands as many have already pointed out on this forum. The sound of the Sho Bud is perhaps a little thinner and ringy, the Show Pro a bit more mellow but still crystal clear up the top end. Single coil vs dual coil I guess.

When I bought the MSA I bought two pickups, a Wallace True Tone and a Tonealigner retro wound by Bob Hoffner, the Tonealigner being a dual coil with adjustable pole pieces. I mainly use the Tonealigner as I find it seems to work best for me with the MSA, very balanced over the whole range. My Carter has a Truetone and it sounds great but I can't seem to replicate the same tone with tbe MSA/Truetone combination, so I guess some combinations of guitar/pickup work better than others right enuff.

It was Malcolm who suggested the Tonealigner to me, I was originally thinking about a Telonics pickup but Malcolm talked me out of it

Glad he did, the Tonealigner works really well for me, took a few weeks of tuning the pole pieces, David Wright gave me a bit of guidance on how to do this when we were in Dallas. Quite fancy trying a Lawrence in the MSA though, maybe an Xmas present for next year

[Ken Byng]

..........It was Malcolm who suggested the Tonealigner to me, I was originally thinking about a Telonics pickup but Malcolm talked me out of it ...............

In actual fact Geoff, the Telonics 409 pickup is based on the Tonealigner, and I reckon that it is as close as you can get to it. If you do go for a Lawrence in your MSA, my personal recommendation would be the 710. Great pickup in any lacquer guitar.

[Jif]

Aha

Aye well in any case I'm pleased with the Bob Hoffner Tonealigner, he has a good reputation in the world of retro pickups, I'd come across his work previously on a pickup engineering forum where he is a bit of a guru and is often asked for his advice.

Thanks for the recommendation on the Lawrence Ken, I'll file that away for later.

Keep the pictures coming, enjoying looking at them

[hickenjr]

Just casually bumping this post because Ken Byng's collection is beast.

[Ken Byng]

I'll put the MSA out to grass tomorrow.




Here's one that I'll always regret selling. A collector's item. We've all done it. The birdseye maple veneer is incredible.

[bradsteel]

Thanks Steven, what a great thread this is - I must have missed it!

Ken, you have some bloody serious guitars mate. Not to mention the pro recording/ amplification gear you have!

[Jif]

Nice to revisit this thread, enjoyed viewing your herd again Ken and listening to the clips. Also reminded me of what xmas may have in store for me this year.

Funny looking at the clips from Gartcosh, it seems like an age since this was on the go, I think everyone must miss it, I certainly do. Hopefully it will get going at some point again but the future still feels very uncertain at the moment. All things must pass though.

I've concluded that I'm never going to have the time or real inclination to play C6 to my satisfaction, so I'm going to strip down the MSA and rebuild it as Ext E9. Haven't totally decided on the copedent etc yet but I have been looking at various ideas and will conclude on something fairly soon. I have been corresponding with Calum who has been sharing some of his ideas with me, also looking at various threads on the US forum to get some ideas.

In any case I'll start a topic here once I get going and document it as I go along. Of course peeps are welcome to make suggestions for useful changes, even if I don't use them it would make for interesting discussion.

[Danny Mitchell]

Of course peeps are welcome to make suggestions for useful changes, even if I don't use them it would make for interesting discussion.

Hi Geoff,
Here's a common sense tuppence worth from Tom Bradshaw, although it's probably too late for the aged muscle memory of auld yins (I'm being inclusive here)....
......And, I quote, 'I strongly recommend that the identified D and F knee levers (as shown in the Illustration) be positioned on the right knee, with the E and G levers positioned on the left knee. Why? Because the D and F knee levers are the two most-used levers and the left leg has plenty to do without also being responsible for the frequent knee movements required of the D and F levers. Their placement on the right knee results in a more equitable distribution of each knee’s responsibilities.'

Makes perfect sense to me and, I think if I had read this before ordering my guitar, I probably would've made the jump from the Emmons setup.

Anyhoo, Looking forward to following and watching-
Geoff's Transitioning
Man, that's gotta hurt!

Oops, just realised we've hijacked Ken's thread apologies, Ken.

[Jif]

At the risk of further hijacking Ken's thread, my E raise and lower levers are already on my right leg, raise on RKL and lower on RKR. This was because it makes sense to have the E lower on RKR on a Uni as it free's up the left foot to access the B6 pedals which are over the right side of the pedals, the E raise was on the RKL on my Carter and I got used to it being there and retained it on the MSA.

So I'll keep them there when I rebuild, all of my levers will stay pretty much as they are already with a few minor additions, as will ABC but I'll switch over my current 0 pedal to pedal 4 as I have other plans for the 0 pedal. I'll also retain pedal 8 which is a B6 change which raises strings 5 & 6 a tone and reposition on pedal 5 or 6, as I like the change combined with the E lower, think this corresponds to pedal 7 on a C6 neck?

I'll post any further info in a new topic once I get around to starting the work. Yes, it's going to be a lot of work but I'm quite looking forward to getting started, even more so to getting it finished! The worst thing will be not able to play steel for a while