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Post by Stevie on Sept 16, 2010 20:56:52 GMT
Michael,
A neodymium magnet doesn't stick to it and that will find a 3/8" diameter steel threaded insert through about 3/4" of tufnol! The "Michael Messer" and "Blues" stamp(s) are very even and gentle, rather like a brand or a very carefull press tool job- not a hammer effort. The black paint is not damaged at all but you can tell that the serial number was knocked in.
I really made up my mind that I wanted a Blues, but now I'm just happy (very) with what I do have. The cover plate stripped differently from the body. the copper plating shows through the nickel just as years of wear would do. Coupled with the less than stellar nickel plating, it has a wonderful and entirely unintentional mojo patina. Robin was going to rustle me up a replacement cover plate, but I wouldn't change it now (except for a chicken foot maybe)
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Post by andys on Sept 17, 2010 8:12:14 GMT
I really made up my mind that I wanted a Blues, but now I'm just happy (very) with what I do have. The cover plate stripped differently from the body. the copper plating shows through the nickel just as years of wear would do. Coupled with the less than stellar nickel plating, it has a wonderful and entirely unintentional mojo patina. Robin was going to rustle me up a replacement cover plate, but I wouldn't change it now (except for a chicken foot maybe) My coverplate did the same when I stripped it, it ended up rougher feeling and more aged looking, but I like it too. Ken, I'm pretty sure that our guitars didnt get mixed up. Mine has a serial number pretty early on, mine was in the 2nd batch and I think was the first 14 fretter "Blues". MMB0032 08. I hung on till the 14 fretters arrived, and got one of the first. I think........
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Post by Matt on Sept 17, 2010 8:47:54 GMT
Ken, it's not so surprising that the inside would be plated, I believe that the metal comes in flat plated sheets (although I amy be wrong), from which the top, back and sides of the body are cut/stamped. It could well be more difficult o plate only one side!
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Post by ken1953clark on Sept 17, 2010 18:31:11 GMT
Thanks for the feedback guys. I tried the magnet test, its not steel. Just me being surprised at the lightness compared to previous Brass-bodied resonators (Ozark 3515 BTE). Panic over, now I can settle down and enjoy it.
Cheers
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Post by Stevie on Sept 17, 2010 19:14:29 GMT
Plated sheets? Nothing is impossible, but it seems to me that value engineering would not encourage the use of plated raw material that would need to be stripped, polished and re-plated after soldering or brazing together. Who knows though? Plating, being an electrical process, would tend to be less effective further into the darkest reaches of the body. If mine was plated inside (and I don't remember if it is) then it must have been very thin because the scratches that I made using a long electricians screwdriver through the "f" hole revealed what I thought was brass very easily. Anyway, this is supposed to be a thread on variants from the standard of MM guitars and I am going off topic again!
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Post by Matt on Sept 17, 2010 23:53:04 GMT
I expect that the plating is thick enough to be polished on it's own. There's a good series of 'how it's made' type videos on youtube showing the national resophonic production line, I don't know whether their sheets are plated, but I don't imagine that they're dunking formed MM bodies in a bath and plating them, though I could be completely wrong!
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Post by Michael Messer on Sept 18, 2010 10:18:41 GMT
Hi Steve,
Your guitar was part of the first shipment in August 08 and is unique. The black neck 'aged' finish MM BLUES with what we now know has a brass body is the result of one of those mistakes that created a wonderful sounding unique guitar. The headstock was stamped MM BLUES and painted black at the factory. If it had not been stamped MM BLUES we would have called it an aged finish MM LIGHTNING.
As part of the first shipment of MM guitars, the only explanation I can give is that it was a mistake and the wrong neck went on the brass body, which is probably why they aged it.
Robin recalls selling it to a guy called John, which I guess is the person you bought it from? Robin has just emailed me a photo of it with its original 'aged' finish which if you are interested, I can post on this thread.
A good story that makes your guitar unique.
The only other guitar we know of like this is Andy's 14 fret MM BLUES, which was the first 14 fret MM BLUES to be shipped to us. It too has a brass body, but was painted with the MM BLUES greyburst finish. This guitar is unique too as we do not manufacture any 14 fret brass MM guitars, so this one could not be called an MM LIGHTNING with an MM BLUES stamp on the headstock. The ONLY other 14 fret brass MM guitar in existence is Ian Anderson's 14 fret seven string MM Style 0!!!!
Both guitars will become interesting talking points for collectors in years to come. As you say, the name is not important, what is important is that you both have great guitars that you love playing. As you know, that was always my intention > to get really good guitars into your hands at an affordable price.
Shine On, Michael.
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Post by Stevie on Sept 19, 2010 20:23:21 GMT
Robin is correct. The member's name is John. He is known as "hansi" on the forum. He came from Salisbury and I met him at Fleet services on the M3 to do the deal. There was a good image that was posted by "jamesfarrell" but it is no longer hosted. I thought that I had saved a copy of that image but if I did I cannot find it any longer.
I gave 0004 a couple of licks of "Mer" today. How soon time flies? It must be a year since I stripped it because it was all complete by the time of the Atherstone event, and Michael recommends about every six months
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Post by frank64f on Sept 27, 2010 19:30:34 GMT
Hi Michael, I'm glad to see that my blues is not quite Standard!
MMB 0096 09, 12 fret with bound fingerboard. I wasn't expecting a bound fingerboard at the time, Robin didn't mention it,so I was surprised when I opened the packing, but I was really pleased with how well it goes with the paint job.
I think that if given the choice, I would have chosen it anyway, sets off the guitar nicely
I do a little fingerpicking on it from time to time, when I'm in BBF mood, and it also feels good.
Frank
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2010 9:11:59 GMT
hi my mm blues special has been stamped up incorrectly during set up, it has the correct mm blues bound mahogany finger board , its not stamped mm blues across front of the headstock and has been stamped, BDA 018 10, definetly one to keep collectors guessing in 50 or so years time. and sounds fantastic
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