2 years ago I bought a Fessenden S12U. It was such a truly great axe that I thought I'd never want to have any other. Well....about 3 weeks ago, in the process of trying to make a little extra money, I bought a Dekley S12U at a real good price with the intention of selling it for a little, much needed, profit. Once I got it, without even plugging it in, I did a complete cleanup and lube job, adjusted the copedant and polished it, and tuned it...all without ever plugging it in. I honestly thought it would be a so-so sounding kind of guitar that would have a rather sterile sound...and was it ever HEAVY!! NO ONE could have ever convinced me that this Dekley could be anything other that a "nice" guitar.

A couple days later, I decided I better try it out, in case a buyer would ask how it sounded. Well, this was when it had it's first "conversation" with me!! Whoa!!!! I have never felt so intimately connected to an instrument in my life! I was rather shocked!! After 15 minutes I stopped, wondering what the he!! was going on. Over the next several days of playing, I began to realize this was for real...and man, was I ever ellated. My wife even noticed it!!

My point is that those who say to try MANY guitars 'til you find THE right one are EXACTLY RIGHT. So, now the Fessy is sold, and me and the Dekley are having regular pow-wows. My wife, who never particularly liked how any steel sounded, said she LIKED listening to this one. "It just sounds so pretty." she said. I'm telling you, this guitar is something special!!!

I was playing it just before writing this, and it seemed effortless. There's nothing about this guitar, physically, that sets it apart from the rest....except this almost spooky interaction. It inspires a confidence I've never known before, like it's helping me play. Maybe this is like the "magic" that Emmons players talk about.

I finally found THE right steel for me...and it wasn't even "modern" or new or top-of-the-line!! And it happened by accident!!

So, keep looking for THE one that's just right FOR YOU...when you find it, believe me, you'll know!

(geesh that got wordy!?!?!?....sorry, guys.)

[This message was edited by Mike Wheeler on 01 November 2006 at 12:32 PM.]

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Not to change the subject, but I will, I was thinking, would those carbon fiber guitar bodys break easy?? How hard is that stuff? I have seen only one of those guitars [in person] and it was a real beauty, but I worry about that carbon fiber?

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Ernie, you want to know how strong carbon fiber is? Well, not only is it used in most all high-performance tennis racquets, golf clubs, and fishing rods made today, it's also the stuff that the wings on the Stealth Fighter and the new Joint-Strike Fighter airplane are made of. Even the new Chevrolet Corvettes have rear springs made from carbon-fiber!

For guitars, it's ideal. It's far stronger than wood or aluminum, won't crack or split, won't shrink or swell, it's impervious to moisture, totally resistant to rot, fungus, or insects, and it never corrodes, fades, warps, or rusts.

Recently I tried somebody else's MSA classic D-10 on a completely other amp, and was very surprised that I wasn't sounding all that different.

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Klaus Caprani

MCI RangeXpander S-10 3x4
www.klauscaprani.com

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The body of the MSA Millennium is hand-laminated, vacuum-formed and computer-monitored in a female mold with high-tech woven and unidirectional carbon-fiber prepregs and a foam core…

…When the body is molded, these points are not part of the core material and resin flows within the mold into these predetermined compression points.

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The “compression points” are simply their way of referring to where the body attaches to the changer, keyhead and end plates. I don’t completely understand the process, but it sounds like there are layers of carbon fibers embedded in a resin – something like the way fiberglass is constructed. There is also some kind of "foam core," which I had mistakenly remembered as a honeycomb. Together it all seems to add up to a 1 ¼” thickness. The aprons and pedal bar cover are so thin they are flexible. But they are only for looks. The body itself is thick and very rigid.