The Steel Guitar Forum

Supro made a simple resonator guitar with a 22.5" scale in the late 30s (wood body). National made two (solid body) models in the fifties, # 1133 and # 1033 (lap steel). They often show up on ebay. Republic guitars offer a 22.5 " scale resonator guitar with a 9.5" biscuit resonator (s...

Hilo made a small (19" scale)Weissenborn-style Hawaiian guitar in the 20s. You can see and here it in this video (also slide playing on a soprano ukulele): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00-sIu0lUY0&list=UUcowC2d_3yzk6glkP2ku-2A I have electrified the soprano ukulele (Lace Dobro pickup) and...

the bridge/tailpiece set was often used on german-made hawaiian guitars (acoustic flattops)in the 30s. they usually show a "drp", "pat"- or "drgm"-stamp. the tuners look 30s german too. maybe someone built this in germany after the war (having seen pictures of us-made l...

I bought this Alamo lap steel some years ago for $ 120:


it seems to have been distributed by Oahu.
good for clear sounds, a lot of trebles.

I have put medium gauge strings on it (open D) because I don't know how much the beech wood neck can stand. Even with these strings the guitar is relatively loud. It has a broad dynamic range. The sound: between a spider and a biscuit type instrument. High strings very clear. The lowest string seems...

Here is a picture (back of the guitar) of what is called the "comb paint" (in fact more a kind of decoration than an imitation of wood structure):

Hi David, thanks for your reply. The guitar was probabely bought in the UK some yeras ago. Most details make me think that the instrument was made in the US. But the neck is beech, hardly seen on US-guitars. And the back and sides are finished in a technique called "comb paint" which imita...

Recently I bought this resonator guitar on German ebay. Seems to be made in the US, but modified here in Germany (tuners, finish, tailpiece). It has a National style resonator cone, but a tapered biuscuit stamped "W 177". The coverplate looks a little bit like a National Rosita's coverplat...

< You didn't tell us about the Girls Manfred >

Sorry, James.

But most people discover them after listening to one or two slide ukulele songs.

Some years ago I discovered the ukulele as a slide instrument. Now I play 14" scale instruments bottleneck style and lap steel style. Here are some recordings (tape recorder, low-fi-microphone, cheap chinese soprano ukuele): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StsCv9fKhf http://www.youtube.com/watch...

My Dickerson Magnatone ist 27 3/4 " long, 7 1/2" wide and 1 3/4" thick and has the common 22 3/8" scale.

Hi,

has anybody ever played this guitar:

http://www.hwguitars.com/hw.htm

Seems to have a plywood body and an Oahu-style metal bridge.
The clip sounds good, but $1100 for a plywood guitar?

at the moment the gauges are 16-19-24-32-42-54, tuned in open d. there is a crack at the end of the fretboard so i don't want to put more tension on the top as long as it is not repaired. i have other acoustic instruments with 20" scales (or shorter). in theory thicker strings might be better a...

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/userpix1029/6637_2w_Kopie_1.jpg i have just bought the small weissenborn style guitar on the right. it seems to date from the 20s. 20" scale, nicely figured mahagony, waverly tuners (improvised bridge and tailpiece).ladder braced (overbraced, there is not much ro...

German manufacturers may have produced a lot of strange guitars - but this one was made in Austria. The green label says "Made by A. Hasslwanter, Innsbruck".

This instrument seems to be made in Germany (pickups, tuners) but probabely not by Framus. I showed this picture to Cristian Hoyer of the Framus museum who is quite sure that it is not a Framus but made by one of the independent luthiers located in Bubenereuth, the former center of German guitar ind...

Recently I bought some nut and saddle blanks sold as "Buffalo horn" on German ebay. They are dark brown, almost black. I used one as a replacement nut on a Weissenborn copy. Sound seems to be a little bit brighter than before (original nut was bone).

This link (great mp3 samples!) has been posted some months ago (don't remember which thread):

http://duetonline.net/samples

I would like to see a combination of a theremin and a lap steel guitar - like a theremin cello played horizontally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRe_H1-Pe0

"I've yet to see one in a concert orchestra...": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBIyW5ihUU&feature=related Also a great solo instrument for campagnella style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAgMqbsKhgw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYmvqkQ16Oo&feature=related ...

For sale is a Weissenborn copy made by Richard Wilson (Australia). Satin finish, Australian Blackwood (an acacia species closely related to koa, looking and sounding like koa) Simple trim like Weissenborn Style 1. Price: 1000 €. Shipping to most European countries between 17€ und 22€, to USA between...

James, this "Hawaii-Zither" might interest you: an Austrian long-scale zither modified and used for playing with a bar http://cgi.ebay.de/Hawaii-Zither-Beatles-Zeit-/250628281666?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Streich_und_Zupfinstrumente&hash=item3a5a9c1542 A 70 year old gentleman from Austria pl...

The Otwin catalogue seems to be from 1925/26 (I have only scans missing thge front page). Otwin means Otto Windisch. The label was still in use in the seventies and could be found on guitars and mandolins made in the GDR. The hollowneck-construction seems to be another Vienna special. You find it ab...

Here is - the Otwin-Weissenborn as pictured in their catalogue - an Otwin with Hawaiian bridge - a Placht-guitar lute from Vienna, 1928,sold on ebay USA last year I am very interested in anything about Hawaiian guitars made in Europe. I have a french Gélas Hawaiian and some German Hawaiians from the...

In fact I have some old German guitars which have about the same age as this SONORA. They all are ladder braced, have pin bridges, spruce tops and maple necks and use fretwire as a bridge insert. They sound great when played with a bar in open tuning. But it has to be a very light bar, because you o...

This auction on German ebay is already closed but it may be still interesting because the guitar which was sold seems to be pre WWI. Instruments like these may have inspired Knutsen or Weissenborn when they conceived the body shape of the guitars they built:

Link to expired auction on eBay Germany.