1978 MSA 'Classic' D-12
I forget who I sold this guitar to.

MSA never built a guitar that looked like this! The powder coating and white gloss paint (to the cabinet) establishes this guitar as a one-of-a-kind.

Here is what I did it:

• Disassembled, cleaned, re-lubricated and eventually put it back together.
• All moving parts were polished.
• All worn parts were replaced (although I don't think any were, since the guitar had hardly been played).
• All the knee levers were specially made for the instrument (laminated aluminum and black plastic) to provide the contrasting black and silver theme of the whole guitar.
• The guitar came with aluminum pull rods. I replaced them with stainless steel.
• All the nylon bearings for the cross shafts, as well as the tuning nuts were replaced with new ones.
• The changer-end endplate was slotted for accepting all the pull rods (this was a friction-reducing milling procedure that the old MSA firm did to their final model, the Vintage XL). It eliminates drag caused by the changer's pulling tubes (that actuate the changer).
• I had the original pickups rewound by Danny Shields a few months before he passed away. Danny was the second original 'S' in MSA. Danny lived in Oregon at the time, and was known throughout the steel guitar world for his skills as a craftsman and for his pickup building and rewinding talent. I had him match the tonal output of the early 1970's Emmons pickups with his windings on the original MSA Super Sustain pickups that I wanted to re-install in this guitar. He did it! Great sound.
• The maple body and necks were stripped of all paint and re-painted by a professional painter.
• The end plates, pickup block and supports, nut block, and tuning key blocks were powder coated black. Powder coating is an electric-applied, baked-on paint that is similar to porcelain. It is very durable, resisting abrasion or scratching, but can be polished if needed. The black and white contrasting colors give the instrument a very striking appearance.
• Since the decal on the MSA was eliminated when the paint was stripped from the guitar's cabinet, I replaced the nameplate with a logo I was using at the time: B&B. Not that it matters, but that logo referenced my last name (Bradshaw) and my married daughter's last name (Burnham). She and I restored many guitars from 1992 to l996, including this one. The secondary name plate with the word 'Shadow' on it was selected to identify the fact that the it was a restored instrument (concluding that its previous condition was a shadow of what it had become... cute, huh?). The head of an Arabian horse finishes off the right side of that nameplate... my daughter was into Arabian horses at the time.
• Looking at a picture of the guitar's underside, you will notice the red velvet as the background color under all the hardware. This has sort of become a trademark of most all the guitar I have restored.

Because of my pride, vanity, arrogance and goofiness in restoring steels, in the past 10 years I have placed a plaque on each guitar's underside that identifies its brand and the year I restored it. I have placed such plaques on dozens of pedal steels I've restored. When an owner decides of sell one of my restored steels, I have seen their ads that reference the fact that I restored the guitar. I guess they feel the guitar is worth more because of my efforts. I hope they are right.

Take notice of the guitar's case. It is the Sierra 'Wheel-Ezz' and is a terrific case. It is made of molded plastic and trimmed with a distinctive aluminum extrusion. Besides the regular carrying handle, it has wheels and an end handle for pulling (or pushing). The guitar slips into the case like a glove, being fitted with blocks, suspending the guitar at each end plate. This prevents the painted cabinet from coming into contact with any surface that could rub against the finish. Since the case and powder-coated legs are black, it is hard to see how the legs clip into the case's lid. Look closely and you can see the white plastic leg clips used. Another picture shows the empty case with the positioning of the plastic clips. They do not mar the powder-coated finish on the legs. A special leg sheath was made to hold the pedal rods. The pedal bar (with pedals) has a special holding bracket that grips it in place. The lid of the case also has its own interior cover. It is hinged to separate the legs, pedal rods and pedal bar from the guitar's case. When it is lowered into place, it is held with a Velcro patch. With a case lid that contains an inner lid, everything is held in place securely.

Every aspect of this guitar performed perfectly when finished. It currently has a C6th and E9th tunings on it. IF YOU BOUGHT THIS FROM ME, PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL AND REMIND ME OF WHO YOU ARE!