Much has been posted here on these great guitars, but most was from the early 2000's to 2009. Let's see what the membership is playing today.
I have an S10 3+5 welded-frame with serial number A1100 (1989?). Got it from Jim Palenscar last year and have since put in an E-66 pup (Thanks Jim).
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
Actually I'm getting ready to sell my 1986 MCI Arlington SD10 3x5. I bought a Mullen G2 SD12 a year ago and now that I'm all-in on 12 string Extended D9, the 10 string MCI just sits and stares at me
Anyway, I don't mean to turn this into a for-sale ad, so here's some pix and a little history as the OP requested. It's an interesting MCI in that the label says it's an EMCI Arlington, yet it doesn't have the welded frame or logo common to these. I've been told it was likely built during the company cutover from MCI to EMCI. You'll also notice the yellow zip ties on some of the undercarriage tuning rods. Some of the rubber O rings have broken and this was an easy fix I read about on the forum
Dennis, your guitar seems to point out the vague history of MCI instruments. Never could see any rhyme or reason to the serial numbers.
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
Ya, the history of the mid 80's MCI/EMCI transition period is very interesting. There's a fellow forumite named Bill Buntin who knows a lot about this and is the source for most of what I learned.
He pointed out that the colored fretboard and pickup on mine also aren't original. The original fretboard would have been black & white and the pickup would have been a Bill Lawrence chrome 705. He also said mine was a Bud Carter design and that Bobbe Seymour likely did the D10 -> SD-10 conversion (though he's not positive about that).
Anyway, if you want to dig into the history of MCI/EMCI further, I'd highly recommend contacting Bill. He's a great guy with a lot of fascinating info to share
Thanks Dennis, I’ll do that. There are a few questions...
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
Thanks Jerry. For some reason, initially, I couldn't see the image.
BTW..Nice S10 Mike.
Anyway, I love the (E)MCI. I got this one from Mickey last year. Its like a time capsule. The guitar doesn't appear to have ever been played out. Virtually new in all respects. This is my fifth one. Two EMCI and 3 MCI. (I think).
The one on the right is an Ernie Ball stereo VP (1 channel for the straight steel FX chain, other channel for the "B3" FX chain). The one on the left is an Ernie Ball Wah in the "B3" FX chain (psg > EHX B9 > Wah > VP > Neo Vent II > Reverb > amp). The wah is used to emulate drawbars on a Hammond. The switch on the steel near the pup is a remote for the Neo Vent "Leslie" speed.
Example switching between "B3", PSG, then back to "B3"....
Last edited by Mike Bacciarini on 29 May 2019 8:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
What's your take on my guitar (welded frame, serial #A1100). It had the Barcus Barry Pup when I got it. Late 80's? Thanks
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
I’m not sure about the knee levers. I’ve never seen fluted or concave levers on mci. So I don’t think those were original. I could be wrong there.
My friend Dent Bills had one just like yours. Dent plays with only 1 or 2 knees as I recall. His s10 mci had 2. Knees. We (he) sold that guitar on here back in 2003 I think
But of all mci equipment I’ve had any dealings with, I’ve never seen knees on one like yours. Jim might have some idea about this.
Otherwise, it’s as clean a mci from Arlington Texas as I’ve ever seen.
If you ever sell it, I’d like a shot at it.
I would be interested in any welded s body mci or emci, S10 or s12 for that matter.
Still for my money, the best carter / fields ever built.
I understand that today’s gfi is the practical grandson of the welded mci.
Incidentally my emci is a 1989. And all original work. It has barcus berry pups as well. My first mci d10 was 1986. Not welded. It had bl705 chrome. It too was a tone monster.
I’ve got two 705 ris I intend to put on mine.
The bb pickups are about 13k impedance and I don’t care as much for that pickup. They’re not bad but not my favorite.
One thing I could never understand, if the MCI/EMCI
guitars are that great, why don't they bring more money?
The same with ZB's, they don't bring the money they should either.
Erv
Thanks Bill. Any idea about the serial number and age? I've seen all different kinds of letters and numbers. I'll be glad to let you have it once I'm dead and gone (if anyone can pry it out of my hands).
Erv, It's a great question, but it didn't bother me when I bought it. In fact, the price being under my budget only sweetened the deal. I looked at a nice ShoBud and an Emmons... they were definitely very cool and had a certain mojo, but this MCI just made me feel at home. Thanks again to Jim Palenscar.
MCI Arlington S-10 3+5, George L E-66, BJS & Emmons bars, Fender Stage Lead II 100W 1x12, Fender Satellite SFX, custom FX rack, 1983 Dobro 60D, Martin D16GT, Ibanez AS73, 1978 Rickenbacker 4000 custom.
My 80's MCI S12U was $900, which I think was its actual As-Is buy/sell/trade value (it had a home made lift-kit and other issues that required several hours of bench work).
If I played a D10, I would buy the MCI 8x8 D10 from Johnny King in Steels For Sale.
I don’t understand why either. It might be that mci Waco models were kind of less than pro in some respect. Bud Carter talked with me extensively about mci. I sort of got that impression from him. I mean he built it. But his favorite story about mci was of course buddy’s partiality to them. Bud told me that buddy honestly just loved the mci guitars that bud built for him. Jim Smith had a hand in that as well. Buddy was 100% satisfied with those guitars, just the way he received them. Jim did the setup and buddy was extremely impressed with it.
Steve Lamb from Fort Worth was one of the production managers I think. He sold me my first mci d10. I traded it to John Fabian for one of the new carters in 1997. Bud worked on that mci then quickly sold it. Bud kept saying, “you sure you want to swap?†The Carter was a great guitar in its own right, but that mci was really special. Hindsight is 20-20.
But maybe the mci carries a prejudice because of its mass produced genre. Seymour tended to think about it that way. But Seymour liked them too. Carp had one as well. And I think Sarah played one for a long time. For some reason though they never caught on as a superior pro instrument. But they are in my opinion every bit a high end pro grade guitar. Gretsch bought out intek and essentially shut it down. Seymour told me in the late 90s that all the emci tooling was for sale.
The welded frame was a genius addition brain child of gene fields. This one I have now has virtually zero cabinet deflection and no hysteresis of any kind. Fantastically stable. Loads of sustain.
I’ve never been able to really understand the serial numbers. Steve lamb might have some insight there.
these are great have owned three of these over the years will try and find pics of the other two...all have moved on...
