MSA Classic - a couple help requests from a beginner

[Ian McKeown]

Hi all,

A few questions about my MSA Classic from a relative beginner as I put new strings on and generally try to learn more about it.

1. Can anyone give me a birth date from the serial number 1C5489?

2. The tuning posts all have a little back and forth wiggle to them with strings off. If I should tighten up the nuts that secure them, would anyone happen to know what size wrench is needed?

Thanks!
Ian

[Donny Hinson]

Probably made very early in 1977. David Wright should be able to give you an exact date.

A 3/8" wrench will work on the nuts, but I would advise you NOT to tighten them unless the nuts are visibly loose! (They strip out very easily.) Tightening them will probably not eliminate all the "slop" you're worried about, and that slop goes away anyway when the string is tightened. My advice - add a drop of oil to the tuner posts and leave them alone. Also, the screw that holds on the tuner button needs to be barely tightened. Being too loose will cause excess wear and tuning irregularities, and being too tight will make the tuners very hard to turn.

The old adage "Don't fix it if it ain't broke" applies especially to pedal steels.

[Ian McKeown]

Thanks for the reply, greatly appreciated. The nuts themselves are all tight (to my fingers), and the pegs are equally wobbly (and only slightly) so it may not something that needs addressing. I won't touch them. A couple of the tuning heads were slightly loose and I snugged them up just until they weren't anymore. Thanks again!

[Nathan Pocock]

Some tuners are built that way. Its really nothing to worry about, if I remember right the Klusons on my Gibson LP were that way from the factory.

[Bobby D. Jones]

Some of the bars, Between the flats and the counter bore for the nut, Was out of specs. The bar was to thin for the key body. Some have a washer, Between the nut and the key head frame, So the key would tighten in the hole.

When I replaced the keys on a MSA Classic S10, 2 of the keys had washers under the nut part of the keys. So the keys would tighten up proper.