fretplay Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I was thinking about buying a lap steel, has any member got one and or can advise me on what to get and what to avoid. I looked at a 50s Fender Champ, seemed nice but expensive, any thoughts? Do any of these models appreciate in value as guitars do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I'm not sure what you would classify "expensive", but Valco made some pretty interesting Lap Steels in the 50's and 60's that were marketed under their name, and also "Supro", and "Silvertone" (and probably others). They are about as reasonably priced as it gets. A few years ago I bought a friend of mine a old "Silvertone" model for about $200. Yes, there is some "collector's" or "vintage" value to old Lap Steels, but there is a VERY limited market. I would not expect to lose any money on a vintage Lap Steel bought at the RIGHT price, but don't expect to make a profit either. I do know a vintage guitar dealer that has a bunch of Gibson Lap Steels, but I'm sure his prices would not be in that "right price" range (but I could check). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I've recently got into lap-steel.... Great fun and a few options... Placing a conventional guitar (such as a resonator) on the lap Or one of the many solid electrics, Hawaiian etc...often cheap Chinese and well usable...S/C pickup... IMO the monster trip is the Deusenberg Pomona at a higher level...twin H/B's and optional lever string benders Take care with string tension if using an acoustic, typical string gauges are quite heavy...16,18,26,36,46,56 for an open E,G or D Hawaiian (C6) is also widely used, inherited from pedal steel, lighter gauge...15,17,20,24,28,32 Some good Shubb tone-bars available too as an alternative to a bottleneck or finger-slide.... Enjoy ! V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretplay Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Fender do an FS52 ( guess that's a copy of the 1952 model )made in China, Any member tried one of these? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 For acoustic style, you can (as mentioned) lay down a flattop, but I think you get better results with a reso or Weisenborn. Bigger note. My Delphi sounds fantastic for that app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 With the Fender Champ you are paying a premium for the pickup which is the same Fender slapped in Teles and Esquires. It has become common to run across Champs with the original pickup removed. If you want electric I agree with an earlier post - go find a lap steel made by Valco, something like an Oahu Tonemaster or Surpro Comet. Just make sure it has the "strings through" pickup. The strings are not actually through the pickup - there is just a meta cover over the whole pickup. Valco did thos because they designed the pickup to be used as a handrest. Valco eventually though started to do away with the metal cover so you will run across both versions. These single coils were not the run of the mill Valco pickups and have become almost legendary. Lollar is now reproducing them as the Chicago Steel pickups. Only other considertaion would be scale. A long scale lap steel will give ya more sustain but is harder to play slants on. A short scale guitar will not put quite as much sound but be easier to play. For an acoustic lap I just use a 1920s Regal parlor guitar. Here is my 1950s Oahu Tonemaster with my favorite amp to play through - a 1967 Airline-badged Supro Sportsman. I pretyy much just stick with da bluz in Open D, Dm, G, C, E and so on tuning. While I have a coule of bars, I will often just use a bottleneck and have been playing around with using both the bottleneck and a ring slide. One of the fun things to get the hang of is learning how to bend a note by grabbing it and pulling or pushing it with one of your fingers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdd707 Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 What about a Gibson? Anyone know about these? http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wat/msg/3035124286.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 If I recall there were two versions of the BR-6. Prior to 1950 they came with a non-adjustable alnico pickup. They were dropped from the Gibson catalog for a couple of years and reappeared around 1952 with the P-90 pickup. This version was made for the rest of the decade and is probably the most common BR6 out there. The bound burst body on the one in the CL ad indicates a guitar made from 1947 on. But there is no way of knowing which pickup is in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I spoke to my vintage guitar dealer friend today (on another subject), and it turns out he has (for sale) two Nationals, and three different Gibson model lap steels. The most interesting sounding one I believe he said was called a Gibson Skylark. It seems it was the Korina lap steel companion to the original V and Explorer line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Turning into a very interesting thread.... Gerry Hogan (currently working with Albert Lee) has an interesting site and shop in S England As a result I'm experimenting with a Boss Compressor and a pedal steel volume pedal to emulate those sounds Heard some nice lap steel used by David Gilmour and John Paul Jones.... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 The art deco "skyscraper" Nationals are killer guitars. While they are definitely about the coolest looking lap steel out there, the pickups are the same as you find on the much cheaper MOTS Magnatones and Supros. If I wanted to spend more than a couple of hudred on a lap steel though (I paid $225 for my Oahu with its original Geib hardshell case) I would buy a National. But again, I love those strings through pickups. Dave Lindley's solo on "Running on Empty" was played on a Valco lap steel and Ry Cooder slapped one in as the bridge pup in his Coodercaster (the neck pickup is a Teisco Gold Foil). The lap steels that strangely have not been discussed are the Rics (the Ric frying pan is regarded as the first solid body electtric guitar). They are a bit pricey but really great sounding lap steels. I gather the magnets in those horseshoe pickups are highly coveted with Ric freaks buying the lap steels just to get them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 Heard some nice lap steel used by David Gilmour and John Paul Jones.... I think Gilmour plays a Gibson EH-150 lap steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlejohnny Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 sorry, double post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlejohnny Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 In search for a decent lap Steel I bought a Gibson BR-9 Lap steel about 5 years ago for about 300 $. Real nice lap steel, sounds great. It has a p-90 style pickup without adjustable polepieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I think you'd really enjoy a lap steel guitar. All those great sounds of the surfer tunes and classic country are all right there, or just a couple frets away. If you already play guitar, then it's only a short time before you can slide into some chords to accompany a friend. Sure, it takes years to become a "Jerry Douglas" kind of picker, but you can still play at a level where others will get a bit jealous...lol.......I'd do it. You won't regret it. And you'll have a blast recording with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I am enjoying the thread a lot - I have been fooling with lap style dobro on and off for quite a while very part time, but I know not one thing about electric lap guitars. I was using my metal Dobro, but it was giving me a sore knee because of the weight, so I am now using an Epiphone EL-00 with a extension nut. I sound truly woeful on both guitars. The only better thing to annoy my neighbour than plugging in and winding up would be learning some bagpipes! The advantage of playing lap steel on an acoustic guitar or reso is that you don't need an amp! Just pick it up and go! Anyway, Bob Brozman has a fabulous dvd on playing lap style if you are interested, but he uses a National Tricone. BluesKing777. P.S. Does anyone know what (guitar) Jerry Garcia played Steel Guitar stuff on "Teach Your Children"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted May 27, 2012 Share Posted May 27, 2012 I stuck a 25 yr old Lawrence soundhole PU on a crappy Oahu acoustic lap copy and put it through my ancient Fender Princeton with outstanding results. Seems you can put a slide down on a whole range of guitars and strings and make good noise. By the way...I'm bidding on the Ebay Oahu Tonemaster up now at auction, so don't any of you yahoos get in my way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 P.S. Does anyone know what (guitar) Jerry Garcia played Steel Guitar stuff on "Teach Your Children"? Garcia is normally associated with his ZB (Zane Beck) pedal steel guitar, so I assume that's the one he played on that track. It is almost certainly the one he played on the New Riders albums. The ZB's are generally considered the gold standard of pedal steels, as I understand it. These are complex guitars, and are to the normal lap steel as a pipe organ is to a piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I stuck a 25 yr old Lawrence soundhole PU on a crappy Oahu acoustic lap copy and put it through my ancient Fender Princeton with outstanding results. Seems you can put a slide down on a whole range of guitars and strings and make good noise. By the way...I'm bidding on the Ebay Oahu Tonemaster up now at auction, so don't any of you yahoos get in my way. I have had my Tonemaster for alot of years and have never even been tempted to replace it with any other lap steel other than maybe a National. Again, the Tonemasters have a fairly long scale (about 25") so playing slants can be a bit tougher then other lap steels with a shorter scale. But they will ring out to Kingdom Come and those single coils can just get downright nasty sounding. Good Luck with the auction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionMark Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 LittleJohnie-I too have a GibsonBR9 in my collection...looks identical to yours. Has a very cool vibe. QM aka Jazzman Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 For those inclined...some 'lap' gets played 'standing up' A keyboard scissor stand set at 38" or so can be very easy to work with... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 For those inclined...some 'lap' gets played 'standing up' A keyboard scissor stand set at 38" or so can be very easy to work with... V Ha! I was watching a guy playing lap and got the shock of my life when he got up and went to the bar while the guitar stayed where it was! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretplay Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 In search for a decent lap Steel I bought a Gibson BR-9 Lap steel about 5 years ago for about 300 $. Real nice lap steel, sounds great. It has a p-90 style pickup without adjustable polepieces. The BR9 looks just the thing, if you see a nice one your neck of the woods let me know please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 When your talking about lap steel it just don't get any better than this. This is the guy who inspired me to pick one up. Shows what a double neck Supro Comet in the right hands can do (don't hurt when you are plugging into a Dumble amp). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Quite enjoyed this old guy's trickery around the 3-4 minute mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKbbDBeBNo&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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