Can the Perfect Guitar be Improved? MSA 10-6 TourPro

[Tomas Enguidanos]

Don’t get me wrong — I love my MSA 10-6 TourPro. It is an incredibly versatile instrument with an awesome-sounding E9 neck featuring 5 knee levers and 4 pedals. It even has an interchangeable pickup for the 10-string neck.

I also love the six-string neck. I build resonator guitars myself, and to my ear the Dobro setting on this neck sounds as good as — or better than — many handmade guitars, including my Josh Swift Beard guitar. The lap steel sound is also excellent.

I run all three options through the same main output jack because I can access all three sounds by flipping a few switches into a single amplifier. I use a Benado Steel Dream multi-effects pedal, which gives me clean reverb and delay and also lets me get an overdrive sound similar to David Lindley on the lap steel neck. From there, I run into a Little Walter 89 Paul Franklin Signature amp, which gives me exceptional headroom, warmth, and clarity across all three voices.

In many ways, this guitar is perfect and extremely versatile for my needs. I play in several bands, and in most cases I need all three sounds — E9, Dobro, and lap steel. I also love the illuminated fretboards, which have saved me during several nighttime shows and poorly lit stages.

However, this is where the design flaws begin to show. If you forget — or don’t have time — to charge the battery pack, you not only lose the illuminated fingerboards, you lose the ability to play the six-string neck entirely. In my situation, this is a major problem.

The battery charging cable is too short and feels fragile. It has two thin wires coming out of a transformer with no protective sheathing to guard against moisture, chemicals, or physical wear. My charger eventually began to fail, and the batteries started holding less charge over time.

I began communicating these concerns to Kyle and Scott at MSA. I was advocating for a way to eliminate the need to charge batteries by providing a power supply that I could plug directly into my power strip for reliable, continuous power.

Scott sent me a replacement charger tip, which I soldered on and reinforced with shrink tubing. However, the charger cable is still too short and ends up dangling unless I support it with a box or small table. That isn’t a good long-term solution.

Scott also sent me a power adapter that bypasses the batteries, but again, the cable is too short and feels very flimsy. I’m concerned that this adapter could eventually fail or possibly cause a wiring problem underneath the guitar. What I really need is a more permanent solution — a professional, heavy-duty power cable that is durable, reliable, and either long-lasting or easily replaceable.

Check out my guitar and the sounds I’m getting here:

https://howlive.tv/event/MarkWieser

[Bruce Coffman]

“Design Flaw”? Really?

This is sort of like saying “I don’t like the way my Mercedes-Benz has its license plate holder screwed on” and calling it a “defect”. Wow.

Your issue (as you see it) is so easily remedied by anyone who’s ever built-up a guitar pedalboard. Find a decent tech, tell them what you think you want, and then appreciate your MSA for the superb instrument it is.

FWIW — sounds to me like the guys at MSA have been über-accommodating and definitely don’t deserve to have their product described as “flawed”… maybe save that for when five of the bell cranks all snap off at once and render it unplayable. Now THAT would truly be a fair call of a “design flaw”.

[Tomas Enguidanos]

Clearly we disagree. If you can’t charge it reliably and as a result you can’t play one of the necks that a serious problem. Why does it even need batteries?

[Dale Rottacker]

Both of my chargers cables are plenty long ... If I forget to recharge mine I just plug it in while I'm playing. I've NEVER had to put it on a box to reach the guitar. If it's too short it's a pretty simple thing to add extra leads to make it longer.

As for "Why does it even need batteries"? What would be a better solution, or a design fix? Even Mercedes-Benz as well as every EV manufacture is tethered to a battery.
I know several "Touring" musicians with Tour Pro's but till today never heard any concern of "jumper cables" being too short.

Sure hope you're able to find a resolve.

[Tomas Enguidanos]

To me when you evaluate a design you look at both its’ strengths and weaknesses. I have raved about the strengths of this guitar. I am writing this review as an honest evaluation of the one weakness in a perfect guitar for me. I would love to discuss ways to improve this design because this is indeed the weakest part of the design, and it clearly could and should be improved especially as the price for this amazing instrument has risen to over $10,000.

The cord that came with my guitar has a charging cable that won’t reach the instrument unless the transformer box hangs in the air, it has really small wires that over time could not sustain that weight straining the connection at the plug. I’m glad they are making them with longer cables now.

My guitar will only run if it has a certain amount of charge on the battery. If the battery has run down and I plug it in, it needs to charge a while, then I can play a song, but then it goes dead during that song and needs to charge a while. Believe me I’ve tried this. My guitar won’t power the six string neck in the way you described. plugged in, otherwise I would simply have played it that way. If your guitar has a longer cord and if it runs the six string neck then perhaps they changed something in later guitars. Scott tells me there are only 15 TourPro 10-6’s out in the world. He said recently they started making the chargers longer.

But with the new adapter it will bypass the batteries altogether making the batteries unnecessary. But the new adapter is also very short and the connection to the small wires hanging down worries me that having the wires dangling may lead to short circuits. I play a lot of gigs and I have invested in two of most everything except the actual guitar, because charging cords fail over time. I always buy the best gear possible so that it might be more durable and be something I can count on.

I am hoping to find a way to mount ac/dc adapter in a more permanent way by removing the battery pack. Also, the ac/dc adapter says that it should not be used outside for risk of electric shock. That’s problematic because we play many outdoor gigs at wineries, breweries, festivals and such. I would like the ac/dc adapter to be encased in such a way that it makes plugging in the instrument similar to plugging in my amp our pa equipment.

[John Hyland]

Can’t you fix the transformer to the underside of the guitar body?

[Tomas Enguidanos]

Good idea. Maybe I’ll try with zip ties. Thanks.

[Donny Hinson]

Guitars are just like cars, the more gizmos and add-ons there are, the more chances there are for problems or a complete failure. You want the fancy stuff? Then you've got to accept that. For me, reliability is quintessential. So personally, regardless of how good it looked or sounded, I wouldn't own a guitar that relied on a battery or power supply.

[Tomas Enguidanos]

Well here is my attempt to address the problem I encountered. I mounted the new power supply that MSA sold me. I used zip ties, and while it isn’t elegant, like the rest of the Tour Pro, it works. It will power both the illuminated necks and the six string neck, without requiring a recharge between shows. I think MSA should make a more permanent and elegant solution, which is the whole reason for my post. This is an amazing instrument. Truly unique, versatile and well designed with this one exception. I love my 10-6!

[Derrick Phillips]

I purchased a broom gripper and attached it to one of the legs and put Velcro on the flat side. I use it to attach a pedal that I need quick access to, like a drive pedal.

Another solution in case you’re tie strip breaks

[Tomas Enguidanos]

That’s the spirit!