MSA D-10 on eBay - Follow-up Report

Chuck Martin · From: Clifton, Virginia

The MSA D-10 Classic SS that I bought off of eBay for a grand total of $885 arrived today. The orginal topic was started by Sam Minnitti a couple of weeks back. It definitely was not a guitar that was ready to play out of the box and would have brought tears to a new player expecting to sit down and start picking. On the plus side its clean and looks to be all original. The jamaica brown finish is nearly perfect. The necks are birdseye maple which shows through the finish. I pulled out my MSA price list from 1978 and found out that this model came standard with only 2 knee levers (which is all that's on it right now) and sold for $1,995 with the case. One of the knee levers has been moved over to the left knee so there's one for each leg (how thoughtful

). I started working on it tonight and will be able to have it playable in a couple of days. Of course it will still only have the 2 knee levers for the time being; the raise and lower for strings 4 & 8. I'll try to post a picture later if anyone is interested. I need to check with Reece to find out when this guitar was made. Serial # is 2C6601.

[This message was edited by Chuck Martin on 08 April 2002 at 09:44 PM.]

Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

Here's my Classic SS with 8 & 8, it is serial number 2C7096. Evidently the records are not clear on mine, but it is probably around a 1977. It is a really nice guitar.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Sam Minnitti · From: New Rochelle, NY

Chuck,

Thanks for the follow-up report and enjoy your new guitar.

Sam

Chuck Martin · From: Clifton, Virginia

Darvin,

I know you did a lot of work on your SS. Can you tell me the easiest way to change the bell cranks? On the Classic you just take off the back panel but I don't see any easy way to do it on the SS. Any help or hints would be appreciated.

Al Marcus · From: Cedar Springs,MI USA (deceased)

Chuck- it is really a lot easier than the older MSA's/. There is a plate with two screws under each crossrods, you take that out on the crossrod that you wish to add bell cranks too, lift up the crossrod and slip the Bell crank on it, then put that plate down and screw in the two screws. If you are not adding bellcranks, there is no need to do this.
Incidently, all crossrods cover both necks.

I have had Sho-buds, and others that had 3 rods that would not pull both necks if you wanted it.
So if you wanted the C6 neck on the top neck, like Curly Chalker did, you couldn't do it.
I have a SS with 4 knee levers and it is in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition ......al

Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

Chuck,
Al answered your question before I got to it. One of these SS's with 8 knee levers is pretty full underneath. I took mine totally apart when I got it and polished the aluminum and the cabinet, then I made a layout drawing on Autocad to make sure everything would work the way I wanted it to. I had to make a few minor adjustments when it went back together, but everything works fine. It originally had 4 levers, and I made all the parts for the other 4 in my shop.

My SS has a Bill Lawrence L705 on the E9 neck and a BL L710 on the C6. I really like the sound of both of these.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

[This message was edited by Darvin Willhoite on 10 April 2002 at 11:29 AM.]

Reece Anderson · From: Keller Texas USA, R.I.P.

Chuck M....Welcome to the MSA family. According to MSA records, the SS Dbl.10 you recently purchased was originally sent to Smiley's Guitar House. If memory serves correct they were located in Oklahoma.

Records show it to be a green guitar, however, continued exposure over time to untra violet rays of the sun will turn it to brown, as it has one of my green guitars. If you remove the neck, you will see the original color.

It shows to have left the factory with 8 pedals and 2 knee levers. I would guess-ti-mate the production of your guitar to have been in early 1982.

If I can help you further, please let me know.

Chuck Martin · From: Clifton, Virginia

Al:

Thanks for your reply. That's what I thought but wasn't sure if I had to take both sides up. Someone took one of the bell cranks off of the 6th pedal and used it as a second string raise on the C6th.

Darvin:

The setup on this guitar when I got it was pretty bad. For now I'm just putting it back to its factory setup so I can play it. I moved the lone center knee back to the right (RKR) where it originally was. The 2 knees on the right is the exact same setup as an old S-10 MSA SS I learned on and traded to Reece about 7 years ago. Not sure where I can get the parts I need to add more knees and change the configuration. Oh, one more thing. You need to get a new photo with you smiling. I sure would be with a guitar like that.

Reece:

Thanks for your post. Sounds like it was near the end of the "old" MSA production line. The body is hard rock maple but the necks look like they're made from "birdseye" maple; is that possible? The guitar fooled me because I thought it was a brown guitar that had turned green and not a green guitar that had turned brown. The finish is still nice but the color mix is a little odd. The seller lived in Oklahoma so I'd guess it was either the first or second owner. Whoever had it drilled another set of holes in the front legs and moved the pedal rod connectors to the tops of the pedals to get more height underneath. The rods are standard length so he probably played with it tilted to get enough clearance. I switched everything back and it works great. I'll post a picture of it soon.

[This message was edited by Chuck Martin on 10 April 2002 at 03:56 PM.]

[This message was edited by Chuck Martin on 10 April 2002 at 03:58 PM.]

Tom Quinn · Posted 17 Apr 2002 12:46 pm

I had a single-neck version of that guitar in Tokyo. The pickup had been rewound to lower the ohmage, and it sounded really good. The mechanism was a little weak, but still a nice guitar...

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