Unknown Steel found in France

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 30 Dec 2007 5:32 am

Can you Identify this guitar :-

Gary Boyett · Post by **Gary Boyett** » 30 Dec 2007 5:46 am

Nope, it's not mine...

It does look like it needs some TLC though.

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 30 Dec 2007 6:44 am

There are some European-made lap steels with nthe brand name Selmer. N ot sure if they were from the Parisian Selmer company or not. The ones I've seen have been of poor quality but perhaps they made higher-end models?

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 30 Dec 2007 8:06 am

mon Dieu, c'est une Funky François

Dan Sawyer · Post by **Dan Sawyer** » 30 Dec 2007 4:43 pm

The sides remind me of Hagstrom electric guitars. Did they make steels?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 30 Dec 2007 6:33 pm

For 10 years I have looked through
dozens of' marche de puce', flea markets,
and never once saw a lapsteel or anything close...
Go figure.
No clue what this unit is.
Given some time, it will be a
nice addition to some collection.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 31 Dec 2007 3:29 pm

Andy, it looks like something for the next reprint of your book.

Dave Jetson · Post by **Dave Jetson** » 31 Dec 2007 11:53 pm

Andy Volk wrote:There are some European-made lap steels with nthe brand name Selmer. N ot sure if they were from the Parisian Selmer company or not. The ones I've seen have been of poor quality but perhaps they made higher-end models?

Selmer UK separated from the French Selmer company pretty early on. Selmer UK made amplifiers. They also had stringed instruments made by the German Hofner factory and branded "Selmer" - including lap steels.

http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/factfile ... awaii.html

But... this lap steel doesn't look much like the models on those links. To me, it looks more 1930s, so it could be a pre-war Hofner. I'm not sure how the Nazis felt about Hawaiian music, but chances are they felt the same way as they did about jazz, so Hofner probably didn't make anything like this between the mid 30s and post-1945.

It could be French or Italian, possibly even Czech or Polish (those latter countries were pretty technologically advanced before the Nazis followed by the Soviets turned them into wastelands).

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 1 Jan 2008 2:33 am

I'm inclining toward "Home Constructed" or a modified combination of acquired parts, a "Bitza" bitza this and bitza that..