Steel Guitar Club

Steel guitars lap leg or pedal.

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1939 Rickenbacker Silver Hawaiian

OOOHHH that Rick is waaaaay kool!!!!

I have an old Supro, but don't have convenient pics to go to. Sorry.

Mark I am SO dying to try steel guitar. I really want to get a pedal steel but I know I: A) will never be able to afford it and, B) am WAAAY to ADD to learn how to play it.

So what's the story on that little beauty you have there?

I have a MultiKord (basically a lap steel with 4 pedals) I'll have to hunt down some pictures. It's not nearly as cool as your Rick!

RiverDog said:

Mark I am SO dying to try steel guitar. I really want to get a pedal steel but I know I: A) will never be able to afford it and, B) am WAAAY to ADD to learn how to play it.

So what's the story on that little beauty you have there?

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There are some fairly inexpensive pedal steel models out there $600-700.

I have lots of fun with the laps.

here are the details on those early Silver Hawaiians

Pre-war Model NS Model 100 Silver Hawaiian LapSteel.
Known as the Silver Hawaiian or Model 100 or Model NS (new style in pre-WW2 literature). There was also a post-WW2 Model NS that has different specs.
1937 Pre-war Model NS (100) introduction specs:
body stamped from sheet metal (brass or nickel), nickel plated body, horseshoe pickup, 1 knob, strings attach thru holes on top.
1938 Pre-War Model NS (100) specs:
two knobs on opposite sides.
1939 Pre-war Model NS (100) specs:
1 black knob, 1 white knob, knobs on same side.
1940 Pre-war Model NS (100) specs:
8 string model available.
Model NS (100) Silver Hawaiian Discontinued 1943.

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here are some more the 39 Rick again with a D-6 1957 Fender I sold to a member here years ago and a Frypan clone the Jerry Byrd.

one of my laps..

got a few more..and am currently building another.

Steel is an obsession.

Mojohand40 do you have any plans or drawings that you used to build yours? I just got into steel with one of the Rondo's. Which is a great way to see if Steel is for me.

I want to build a console nowm, so I can have muiltiple tunings. I would love to see more pictures of yours and pick your brain if you are so inclined. Great looking steel.

mojotele65 said:

Mojohand40 do you have any plans or drawings that you used to build yours? I just got into steel with one of the Rondo's. Which is a great way to see if Steel is for me.

I want to build a console nowm, so I can have muiltiple tunings. I would love to see more pictures of yours and pick your brain if you are so inclined. Great looking steel.

Click to expand...

that green one is an Ebay find that I stripped and replaced everything on:
before:

after:

the one I am building is from a kit I bought from this guy:
http://www.dynalap.com/

I've never built a console, but I'd like to one day. One thing I learned from playing the Green D6 pictured: If I build a console make sure that the far neck sets a little higher then the front neck..and not have both necks in plane (it's annoying!)
another console thought: Look for decent keyboard stands and such as they can turn a lap steel into a console quick. I have a few stands that I like.

Anyway, I tend to stay with C6 or E6 on my steels (both six and eight strings), but a good way to get multiple tunings....simply buy another steel. Get another Rondo!.
Oh, and did you get the stand that Rondo sells for the SX lap? If not, then get it! Totally worth it.

Here's pic of my '46 Br-4. This one is double-bound...top and back...solid on-piece mahogany.

nd..here's my double 8 Gibson Consolette in Korina. These were built from '52-'56 and last shipped in '57. I saw Aerosmith outdoors in San Antonion a few years ago. There was quite a lull between two songs, and I was gazing at stars and pretty women. All of a sudden I hear this marvelous high-pitched wailing...I looked at the stage and Joe Perry was front and center with this one's twin rockin' out.

Wally said:

nd..here's my double 8 Gibson Consolette in Korina. These were built from '52-'56 and last shipped in '57. I saw Aerosmith outdoors in San Antonion a few years ago. There was quite a lull between two songs, and I was gazing at stars and pretty women. All of a sudden I hear this marvelous high-pitched wailing...I looked at the stage and Joe Perry was front and center with this one's twin rockin' out.

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I'm drooling on my keyboard....

Nice!

nice

my father-in-law was going to put this in a garage sale but gave it to me when I showed interest, this was actually before I bought my first actual guitar by several years...

Mojohand,
yes I bought the stand it is pretty nice. it is funny you mentioned the Keyboard stand, I just sold my old keyboard and was going to let the stand go with it, changed my mind.

I decided to pickup a steel after talking with Tony Locke, Wayne Hancock's Steel player for the last year or so, and on his latest CD Viper of Melody. Great guy and great Steel player. He was playing an old 50's Magnatone D8.

Great Console Wally. that is what I want to build something like.

Mojohand, do find it difficult to swith between the 6 and 8 string? Which do you prefer?

mojotele65 said:

Mojohand,
yes I bought the stand it is pretty nice. it is funny you mentioned the Keyboard stand, I just sold my old keyboard and was going to let the stand go with it, changed my mind.

I decided to pickup a steel after talking with Tony Locke, Wayne Hancock's Steel player for the last year or so, and on his latest CD Viper of Melody. Great guy and great Steel player. He was playing an old 50's Magnatone D8.

Great Console Wally. that is what I want to build something like.

Mojohand, do find it difficult to swith between the 6 and 8 string? Which do you prefer?

Click to expand...

I'm not a super player by no stretch, and I am (always) still learning, but I don't find much trouble switching between 6 and 8. The only thing is my current 8 string Morrell has tighter string spacing then my six stringers by a little bit. So that takes me a few fumbling minutes to get used to when I pick it up, then it's not really a problem. The Dynalap kit I'm finishing (eight strings) is spaced wider, so I shouldn't have an issue.
Six strings isn't as limiting as you may think. There is sooooo much you can do with "just" 6 strings, and I certainly haven't done it all, but I must say, even though I mostly play six strings, I prefer some of the options of 8 strings. If I was building a console multi-neck (like you want to do) I would do eight strings, no question.
Two 8 string tunings I like:
Low to High: A#-C-E-G-A-C-E-G and B-D-E-G#-B-C#-E-G#
for six string low to high: C-E-G-A-C-E and E-G#-B-C#-E-G#
As you can see the six string tunings I use are really the same (interval wise), so switching between the two is easy.

Wayne Hancock is great and Tony Locke is a great steeler!

Thanks from my Consolette for the compliments. She is a sweetheart.
Here's an oddity I thought ya'll might find interesting. I found this lap steel stand at a garage sale one day. AT least, I think it is a lap steel stand. I can find no other purpose for it. OF course, I wouldn't feel very comfortable leaving my Gibson lap there for long....quite precarious, it seems.
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I've got 3...
'51 National Chicagoan (Valco/Supro) lap steel
'5x Fender Dual Professional (dual 6 string, trapezoid pickups)
8-string Dynalap I built from a kit

I've been keeping the National and D-6 in tunings specific for Cajun music and the Dynalap in C6 tuning. I'm a hack on both...

Here's the Fender (it's refinished, re-legged, etc.):

My first self-built lap steel:


My second slf-built - an 8-string this time:


My 1952 Supro Supreme:


My WBS Basic pedal steel - which I'm probably going to sell, can't get along with PSG, just too complicated (I'm planning on modding my self-built 6-string with a Duesenberg Multibender, so that I can do some PSG-like licks):