Picked up a used Kline S12U 8x6:

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Dec 2013 6:55 am

Walked into a local vintage/used music store looking for a 12" speaker cover...
Found an 80's Kline S12U in the "Other Instruments" room, with the Dobro's and Lap Steels and Mando's and Banjos, n' stuff.
Good price, on consignment.
Pretty close to my setup, plus some other stuff.
I usually go with 7x5, this is 8x6.
Their typical Return policy is 24 hour cash back or 7-day store credit.
I was able to negotiate 100% cash back if returned before closing on Sat, which is good cuz I have Wed-Sat off this week.

RKL2 lowers string-7 G# to F# and string-2 D#-C#.
Interesting.
It also has a lever lock for B6th.

It came with the original double ended tuning wrenches (looks like there are 4).

So?... Anything to check for on a Kline???
Any known tuning Instabilities or parts that wear out that I should be aware of?

It is a maroon/brown single wood body, Keyless.
It's really small and looks cool.
It is pretty grimy and needs a major cleaning of all metal parts, and new strings.
The laquer had something dripped across the decks and there is a goo-ee speckled line across the decks on both sides of the neck (I thought maybe there was a pad there, but it is on both sides of the neck). I hope that can be buffed out or cleaned up somehow.
The case looks brand new (wish they'd kept it in the case all those years, but it appears to have been left set-up in the garage(?) for many years).

I found some paperwork from 1988 in the case and the two names I see related to this steel are Ed Beirly (possibly the person who helped make the sale?), and Dave Miller (appears to be the original buyer/owner).
Maybe he bought it used from Ed. It appears to have been sent back to Kline for a Copedant change, new fretboard, and new Stop-screws.
There is no logo on the front.

Will post pics later in the week.

Anyone gigging with a Kline S12U?

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 17 Dec 2013 7:31 am

Pete are you joking about this? "Any known tuning Instabilities or parts that wear out that I should be aware of?"
I have owned four Klines and still have three I use and one is my U-12 here in China. They are as solid as as any guitar can be, hold their tuning and made of Kryptonite. Enjoy your new steel, stevet

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Dec 2013 7:58 am

Thanks, Steve!
That is the type of feedback I was hoping for.

Tony Glassman · Post by **Tony Glassman** » 17 Dec 2013 8:01 am

Sweet find..........this is just the kinda thing that gives hope to all musicians who are driven to glean, used guitar stores, pawn shops and garage sales.

Joshua Gibson · Post by **Joshua Gibson** » 17 Dec 2013 8:05 am

Congrats Pete, where did You manage to score that

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 17 Dec 2013 8:28 am

Pete Burak wrote: It is pretty grimy and needs a major cleaning of all metal parts,

Klines are great! It probably works fine anyway. Maybe some day you can clean it and change the copedent. You may need to make or find some parts.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Dec 2013 8:31 am

Earnest Bovine wrote:
Pete Burak wrote: It is pretty grimy and needs a major cleaning of all metal parts,
Klines are great! It probably works fine anyway. Maybe some day you can clean it and change the copedent. You may need to make or find some parts.

It does seem to work fine as far as I could tell just dinking around with it at the store.
I will give it the once over tomorrow (wed), wipe it down, new strings, etc.
I have rehearsals with two different bands on Wed and thurs night, so I will have a chance to test fire this Steel right away.

The Pedals and Levers are setup extremely close to my regular pedal/lever setup.
I was amazed as I first checked the function of each pedal/lever. Very little tweaking will be requiered.
P0 (to the left of the A-pedal) is G# to G lowers.
RKL2 lowers string-7 G# to F# and string-2 D#-C#.
The rest is pretty much Newman S12U setup that I use.
I only need to add a raise to P5 to raise the high F# to G (not a show stopper at all).

Joshua Gibson wrote:Congrats Pete, where did You manage to score that

At my fave used/vintage shop, Old Town Music, on SE 7th and Ankeny.
Their primary market is vintage guitars and amps.
I always stop in when I'm in the area.
I had a 6-8pm happy-hour gig at The Laurelthirst yesterday and was driving right past the place.

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 17 Dec 2013 8:47 am

I've had a lacquer body Kline S12U for awhile now. One of the most solid guitars I've owned. Plays like a dream and stays in tune. As far as tone I still prefer my vintage guitars.

Here is some info on the Kline:
http://julianwinston.com/music/the_kline_guitar.php

Good score Pete!

Bob Littleton · Post by **Bob Littleton** » 17 Dec 2013 10:37 am

Hi Pete,
I've had a Kline U-12 since 1986 and must agree that they are great guitars. Looking forward to hearing you play a Kline. I've worked on mine a bit and am always amazed by the thoughtful design.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Dec 2013 11:17 am

Bob, Thanks for chiming in. Being so close-by, maybe we can get together so I can pick your brain a bit about Kline related stuff.
Thx,
Pete

Ivan Posa · Post by **Ivan Posa** » 17 Dec 2013 12:25 pm

Great guitars, very well built with great tone. Only drawback is they are a bear to make tuning changes on.

Paddy Long · Post by **Paddy Long** » 17 Dec 2013 12:58 pm

Hey Pete - I played Winnie Winston's Kline a few times out here in NZ and it was an impressive axe ..he never had any problems with it so I doubt you will either - have fun mate

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 17 Dec 2013 2:40 pm

i sold it to dave milller of portland oregon on 8/22/88
it was originally an extended e13 so dave must have made the copedant change
it did not have a decal but was otherwise in excellent shape when i sold it in order to buy my whitney
i think bj cole plays a kline u12

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 17 Dec 2013 2:52 pm

Thanks for the info, ebb.
Yes the paper in the case said it was sent to Kline for a copedant change.
I do not know of a Dave Miller from Portland but will check with the shop to see who the current seller was.

One interesting thing is it has E-raise/lowers on LKL/LKR (standard Emmons), but also has a lever that Lowers E's on RKR along with D# to C#, and that lever has a Lock.
I usually lower E's on RKR, so I'm good to go.
I can now use the LKR hardware as spare parts for other possible changes.
Cool.
I will probably remove the LKR as I can already tell it kinda hinders my B6th pedal playing.
I won't change anything until I spend more time with it though.

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 17 Dec 2013 4:16 pm

Pete ,
Congrats on your lucky find !!......The Kline pedal steel is as solid as they come ...They are a bit different on the underside from your typical steel ....Parts are not as easy to come by as other steels either but don't let that deture you from this steel ....These little buggers stay in tune and play GREAT once they are set up to your liking ..... I've described the underside of my Kline as " Controlled Chaos " ....There's parts going in every whch direction , but it plays and sounds GREAT !!.....Good Luck with it .....Sincerely, Jim

Bruce Derr · Post by **Bruce Derr** » 17 Dec 2013 6:15 pm

I bought my Kline s-12 new in 1978 and although I recently started using an s-10 I will never sell it. It is almost like a family member. Very solid and stable design. Great pickup too.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 17 Dec 2013 6:31 pm

I had a Kline D10 for a while. Best guitar I ever had.

Jon Jaffe · Post by **Jon Jaffe** » 17 Dec 2013 7:18 pm

I still gig with a Kline. 1983 U12 7&5. Here is a screen shot from 1984 and a picture from 2013. I have a lacquer one set up at home. I take this one out of the case, play for a set and then fine tune. I have owned other guitars in the interim, but none compare.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 18 Dec 2013 8:46 am

OK so I ran into a slight minor issue...
I discovered that the legs are miss-matched.
At the part you turn to tighten the legs after setting the length (typically called the clutch I think), two of the legs have a straight-line pattern, and two of them have a cross-hatched X-pattern.
Of the 4 legs, one of the cross-hatched legs is a half-inch shorter than the rest, and has a different style threaded insert (the part that screws into the endplate).
Only the cross-hatched legs collapse far enough to snug up to the top/bottom of the pedal rack, so I assume they were meant to go on the front, but then the left side of the steel is a half inch higher than the right.
The two legs with the straight line pattern on the clutch have a carefully hand drawn circle on them (black marker) which I haven't figured out what that is for yet, maybe they are supposed to be the front legs, but the pedals are really high then.
I will try to contact the seller today to see if there are other legs that go with this steel.

So far I gave it a good wipe down and I went through it with a tuner and dialed in all the pedals and levers just to get a general feel of things and play it a bit. The strings sound pretty dead but they aren't as corroded as I initially thought. The rollers at the nut are pretty well caked up with sticky dusty stuff.

I wonder what the deal is with the miss-matched legs?

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 18 Dec 2013 12:51 pm

I've been looking for a score like that. You're a fortunate man Pete.
Someday I'll own one.

Pete Burak · Post by **Pete Burak** » 19 Dec 2013 10:20 am

OK so I finally had a chance to play it through my primary rig...

This Kline sounds Great!!!

Wood body and neck.
Nice woody tone.
I think it is the original pickup, although it is mounted with only two screws now??? The plastic top of the pickup is slightly cracked just behind the 12th pole piece.
Maybe the last owner tried a different pickup at one time, then put this one back on???
I'll get some pics up soon.

The thing with the legs is still baffling me a bit.
I think the last owner may have ordered a set of 1" longer legs and rods, and I'm thinking the most recent seller (last owners wife) may still have the original length legs rods, so I am going to try to find out today.
I'm thinking I currently have 3 of the longer legs and one of the shorter legs. I put the two even length ones on the front, and the mismatched on the back, adjusted to be the same length.
The pedals seem to be at the right angle/distance form the ground this way (I tried it a few other ways and they were either waaay too high, or hitting the floor when pressed).
Either that or I'm doing something wrong and haven't figured it out yet?!?!

This Steel stands a full inch or more higher than my other steels.

Any other Kline owners have black marker near the bottom of two legs?... What is that for?

From the floor, just in front of the pedal rack, to the top of the front deck, (not the neck), measures thirty and one-quarter inches.
What does your Kline measure?

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 19 Dec 2013 10:32 am

My Kline seems a little high as well. Two screws for the pickup is common. My only complaint about the Kline is that the pickup height cannot be adjusted.

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 19 Dec 2013 1:19 pm

A friend of mine bought a new S12 Kline in about 1976 or so. He found the pickup cavity to be much shallower than standard and it would not accommodate the majority of aftermarket pickups. He wound up routing out the cavity to fit a George L in there.

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 19 Dec 2013 1:34 pm

I thought about milling the cavity down a little bit as well. I like the pickup but feel I want to lower it to sweeten mine up a bit.

steve takacs · Post by **steve takacs** » 19 Dec 2013 3:52 pm

Does anybody know is Joe Kline is still making parts to Kline steels, where he now resides and how to get in touch with him? I'm sure a number of Kline owners would like to know. Thx, stevet

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Picked up a used Kline S12U 8x6:

Picked up a used Kline S12U 8x6:

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Re: Picked up a used Kline S12U 8x6:

Joe Kline and Kline parts