LAP, TABLE, and PEDAL STEELS
78-7612 Gibson (used, 1940) Console Grande table steel guitar, #F1408-7, in very good condition with original tweed semi-rectangular hard shell case.
This is the standard Console Grande of its time, having one 8-string neck and one 7-string neck. The necks are tuned to E9th and C6th. The steel shows wear on the metal plates under each neck, wear on the nickel-plated covers over the tailpieces; one tailpiece cover (the bass side) has been moved by a prior owner and the cover plate is offset on the metal base – which required new screw hole or holes. Between the headstocks is a plate that reads “Console Gibson Grande.” Two of the metal button tuners have been replaced with plastic buttons – one larger and one smaller – I replaced tuner on each neck. A prior owner has put a white dot of paint on one corner of the old style radio knobs for volume and tone as an indicator. The guitar shows normal dings, marks, scuffs and signs of normal playing time. It has twin Charlie Christian single coil pickups. The tweed rounded corner but semi-rectangular case shows medium wear, some missing fabric, several torn inside ribbons that hold the case lid up, and it now has a replaced handle. $1541 or, at our cash discount price, $1495.
78-7618 National New Yorker (used, 1938-’40) Lap Steel #C4417, with original Geib brand tweed hard shell form fitting carrying case with a screw-on apparently original cable.
The C in the serial number, found stamped into the tip end of the stair step headstock, indicates that the year is 1938-1940. This model was originally called Electric Hawaiian Model in 1935 and was renamed New Yorker in 1939. Our workshop has just performed a set-up and a restring, cleaned the pots, and now it plays beautifully. Whoever owned this played it fairly hard – they dented the metal neck binding and surface in several places. It has 36 painted “fret” lines as position markers the original owner wore some of the paint between “fret” positions 15 and 30 under the highest four strings. This instrument has what appears to be a bone nut; its black metal fingerboard is painted with parallelogram position markers in 10 positions, six of which have triple art deco lines within the open parallelogram, and then in the last 13 frets positions the markers are just short white horizontal lines. The body of the steel painted in crème and alternating black, is stair step-shaped to echo the headstock tip. Still functional metal button tuners are three-on- a-side within a nickel-plated long oval metal box, each stamped with the National crest logo. There is a large bird’s beak control at center bottom that, charmingly, has positions for “Hawaiian, Chimes and Harp” but in actuality it’s just a tone control, and a smaller round black volume control on the treble side. The metal platform over the large magnet pickup has lost its black finish; it is down to the brass; the tailpiece is simple but useable. The original hard shell case is worn and a bit dirty but quite serviceable. This is a fine player and likely good for continuous service under the metal slide (slide not provided) for the next 150 to 200 years. $1025 or at our cash discount price, $995.
78-7631 National-Dobro Corp. Los Angeles-Chicago brand (used, c. 1932-’35) Hawaiian Lap Steel, #176, in very good condition with worn yet original gray alligator style chipboard case.
Since you asked, here’s some background: The Dobro Company came about back in the late 1920s when five Slovak brothers named Dopyera got together to invent, promote and sell resonator instruments. They later chose to operate under the contraction DO for Dopyera and BRO for Brothers. The pun was that in Slovakia the word “Dobro” also means “good.” In fact, one of their earliest slogans at the new factory was “Dobro means ‘good’ in any language.” First, in 1926 they formed the National String Instrument Company in Los Angeles, but in 1928 the Dopyeras fell in with some investors and happy times faded fast after that. Brother John had invented the Tricone, and then the single cone, which he called a “bowl-shaped” resonator. It is said that John had a difficult time convincing his new partners that single-cone would be more affordable and therefore more popular. Consequently, John got a new US patent (#1808756) on an “inverted” aluminum cone construction in 1932 and, along with his brothers, went off on his own - although Lewis and Robert Dopyera also remained shareholders in the National Company (a good move, it turns out). In that same year, following a legal dispute, the National Company’s original investors resigned (Yay!) and the Dopyera Brothers got control of it and instituted a new name -- the “National-Dobro Corporation.” Because they had been purchasing their wooden bodies from Regal Musical Instruments in Chicago, in June 1933 they gave Regal a license to begin making some of their models, and in 1937 Regal was awarded the exclusive right to build Dobro brand instruments.This Lap Steel is simple in its early, primitive design. It has a pearloid covered (apparently) maple body. The neck portion measures 2 ¼” wide until the 16th fret where the body flares out to 5 ¾” to the bottom. The nut appears to be celluloid or Bakelite and the headstock is squared at the top like a Martin. At the bottom section of the face is a square metal plate, 5 3/8” square, that contains the magnetic pickup covered by a 1 5/8” by 3 3/8” rectangular plate with 10 holes, four of which presumably hold the cover to the pickup base. There are 6 triangular shapes at the bottom side into which are inserted the ball ends of the strings. There is a single rotary control in the upper treble portion of that square metal plate, which came in missing it’s knob (but we’ll try to get a knob on it) and right next to that is a small hole out of which the jack for the amplifier emerges (the cable was hard-wired into the potentiometer). This lap steel will have received a Lindy Fralin (the best) pickup rewinding, and, installed also, is a new fabric-appropriate cable. The pearloid fingerboard is marked by 12 black rectangles and has a total of 25 fret marker black lines. The tuners are original, open-gear, three-on-a-plate, and the tuner buttons are wizened but holding. At the bottom side is a decal that reads “Made by National-Dobro Corp., Los Angeles Chicago.” The serial number of #176 is stamped into the tip end of the headstock. This is the earliest example of a National or Dobro Lap Steel we have ever seen; it is notable as a statement of our country’s musical heritage from the Great Depression. As a player it is indescribably great! It defines American roots music like no other and yet it is ultra-affordable: $670 or, at our cash discount price, $650.
78-7165 Paul Beard (Resophonic Outfitters) (new) “Road-O-Phonic” lap steel guitar, #117, with hard shell case.
$1500 or, at our cash discount price, $1455.
78-7520 Gibson (used, 1946-1959) Ultratone lap steel, #SRQ503137, in excellent condition with its original brown rectangular hard shell case.
This most beautiful of ‘50s Gibson lap steels’ body has a crème painted finish with art deco style plastic covers over the headstock and over the bridge. There is no serial number on the guitar, only that the former owner scratched the inscrutable legend “SRQ503137” into the into the face below the bridge - we’re going to use that as “the number.” This guitar has a plastic, hinged “Gibson” logo (in modern spaghetti script gray and crème headstock cover, a “29 line” silver plastic fretboard with 15 crème and red dotmarkers, three gold cylinder knobs, the top one of which is faded in color and all were, when it came in at least, hard to turn. The pickup, which is an oblong black single-coil under a coral pink plastic cover that states “Ultratone” with a musical staff and two gold dots. There is a double recess on the back of the headstock into which trough six individual un-signed open-gear tuners reside each having an art deco square coral pink button. The jack is centered at the bottom side; there is an oblong black rear cover held in place by four Phillips head screws. When it came in the pickup did not work (it has an open coil) but we have removed it and sent that component to Lindy Fralin, the world-famous pickup rewinder. When completed this will turn out to be a remarkably beautiful and fine lap steel – one you would want to own. Stay in touch. Write often. You can reserve the piece pending the future (probable) completion of the work by calling us and placing a $100 “Right of First Refusal” fully refundable deposit on this. $1,129 or, at our cash discount price $1,095.
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