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Topic: LEILANI STEEL ON EBAY ITEM No. 380057710793 |
George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 2:02 pm |
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A friend is asking about this guitar. I note it has only a volume and no tone control. I assume it's an "economical" model. It's looks very Nationalish, and wondering if someone can comment on it, the good, bad and the fugly.
Link to auction on eBay.
(I don't know how to shorten a link down to "here", but there it is. The eBay item No. is 380057710793).
Thanks.
Geo
_________________
http://georgerout.com
"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me" |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 2:47 pm
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I don't know how to reduce a link to just "Here"
But I do use these: http://tinyurl.com/ |
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George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 2:55 pm
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Thanks John. Never knew about that site. Handy to know.
Geo
_________________
http://georgerout.com
"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me" |
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 2:57 pm
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| Yeah George! I keep it on my toolbar, as I use it all the time. |
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Ron !
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 3:20 pm
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[url=e-bay url here] type item number here [/url]
Thats all it takes |
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Ron !
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John Billings
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 3:27 pm
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| Cool! Thanks Ron! |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 3:39 pm
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I doubt that that guitar was built by Valco (National) There are a bunch of those cheapies around built like that for teaching studios. I had one, called a Maestro. Pick-up is embedded under the plastic "mots" Some were built with the Bronson name on them too.
Mine did have a tone control though. They could be ordered with the student's first name on them. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 4:13 pm
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REMOVED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 28 Feb 2011 8:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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George Rout
From:
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 5:43 pm
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Thanks guys for both the info ont he guitar and how to put the eBay link in the post.
Geo
_________________
http://georgerout.com
"I play in the A Major tuning. It's fun to learn and so easy to play. It's as old as the hills....like me" |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 24 Aug 2008 7:06 pm
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One of my students has a MOTS Magnatone that looks very much like that LEILANI, George. Hers has a tone control. The LEILANI is probably a Magnatone in disguise !  |
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Denny Turner
From:
Oahu, Hawaii USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2008 2:04 am
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George,
It's a Dickerson Leilani. Dickerson later became the Magnatone company that kept right on making Leilani's in several different shapes. Yes, it's their lowest end model at that time. Low or high end for those "MOTS Maggies" is just a matter of marketing and very small differences; They had the same pickup and electronics as slightly higher priced versions, although no tone control is a rather uncommon "low-end" appointment. The slanted chrome handcover is the low-end icon while a rectangular chrome handcover denotes the higher end models. Some had the heavy wire bridge like this one, and most are bent from string pressure like this one is; Easy to bend back flat and glue stainless washers under the center with innocuous white / everyday Elmers glue, to solve that problem. The thru-body string root ferrules are bent like most are, but they pop right out and not difficult to re-round and rotate 180 degrees for strong metal again.
BIG NOT UNCOMMON PROBLEM with these MOTS Maggies is that you WANT to have a look under that handcover ...a couple of good pics from the front and back ends is adequate. In high humidity the humidity enters the pickup's mounting cavity through the jack hole and wreeks havoc with the pickup's potting tar that also secures the pickup into it's cavity. I think the potting "tar" is a beeswax compound. (It looks just like the black tar blobs that were put into stamped-metal body Rickenbachers to secure it's wires from moving / flopping around). The high humidity can absorb into the potting making it swell and push / lift the entire pickup assembly upward in it's cavity, to the point of raising then cracking the MOTS and eventually the magnet high enough to touch the strings. A swollen pickup potting ruins the pickup and is a real professional chore to remake. ------ Some picture views under that handcover should show no raising of the MOTS at all. If you see any raising, forget that steel. Raising will be first noticed by the 2 rectangles of he top of the magnet pushing up against the MOTS ... and cracks around those faint rectangular raises are not uncommon, meaning the magnet is raising and cracking that very thin MOTS.
However, a MOTS Maggie that has a raised / ruined pickup can still be used to mount some other kind of pickup in, which too is a real chore because the original pickup cavity is not a standard routing, and the pickup must be mounted with it's top near flush with the deck of the guitar's body because the string height for the original pickup is quite low.
Here's a link to an illustration of how that pickup is mounted into the Steel:
http://dennysguitars.com/files/MAGPUP3.jpg
(image too wide to post here)
The illustration is for the more common Magnatone configuration of the pots mounted through a cavity routed in the back and covered with a plate. The one in the auction you're watching has the volume control mounted to the handrest which drops into a top-routed cavity. But the pickup on both are the very same configuration.
The black half-donut in the illustration is the pickup's "U" magnet, and has a deeper routed socket than it's surrounding routing for the coil to sit in the potting tar. It all lifts / protrudes right out with the coil if the potting gets enough moisture to expand.
Picture the red part expanding greatly and lifting / pushing the whole pickup wad upward in the cavity. I had one that the raising was barely noticeable except for the MOTS cracking around the magnet impressions when I bought it; Played just fine; And about a year or two later it had raised to the point of hitting the strings. Also notice that there is no bobbin in the coil; The bobbin remained on the winding machine while the coil was simply removed from the winding machine bobbin with the help of a paper cuff placed around the bobbin before winding, ...and the coil was then strapped with masking tape and placed in the guitar's body cavity with the magnet, and the potting tar was poured in to glue it all in place. The top surfaces of the magnet is all that sticks out of the potting tar ...and barely. So trying to remove the pickup is impossible without digging the tar out and destroying the coil (cute little magnet though  ). Rewinding a coil would require making a bobbin for the winding machine and the paper slip-off cuff ...even if a professional rewinder did it, unless a person would be lucky enough to find a pro rewinder that has sone it before and saved the bobbin ...or knew how to make a bobbin without unreasonable ado.
IF the pickup works fully, AND there's no raising of the MOTS covering the pickup, and no other hidden problems; Then as a Player the guitar is probably worth around $175 ...or around $225 for a collector looking for a sorta rare model in apparantly VG 100% condition for what can be seen. The absence of a tone control will probably limit it's winning bid.
Without a tone control, expect a quite sharp / treble full sounding pickup that doesn't have a tone control to roll back to the "sweeter" Steel tones, ...and no boo-wah; ALTHOUGH a tone control could be made in an aluminum project box to plug into the output jack and have a jack in the box for the guitar cord's plug (plugging in from the rear side of the box is best), and will be handy right next to the volume control ...albeit a bit awkward with the box rotating in the jack hole, unless an aluminum stabilizing plate to extend onto the bottom of the guitar body can be pop-riveted or screwed to the bottom of the box to stop the rotation in the jack. Just unplug the box when needed, such as putting the Steel into a fitting hard case.
If your Friend buys it and has any problems; He can feel most free to email me at home for any advice / help.
Sorry for any goofy typos here; I've been up for 21 hours and am indeed a bit goofy.
_________________
Aloha,
Denny T~
http://www.dennysguitars.com/
Please help support humanity:
http://www.redcross.org/en/aboutus
Last edited by Denny Turner on 25 Aug 2008 2:19 am; edited 4 times in total |
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Denny Turner
From:
Oahu, Hawaii USA
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Posted 27 Aug 2008 4:12 pm
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I failed to mention but should have:
The small MOTS Maggie Steels are one of the most convenient, perfect lap fit and feel, greatest sound, easiest playing and one of my very favorite Steels. The only big step up model of them I've found is one without the MOTS, solid mahagony with an oak finish. That's what I play the most now, but would be a MOTS Maggie if I hadn't encountered the wood one. ......fwiw.
_________________
Aloha,
Denny T~
http://www.dennysguitars.com/
Please help support humanity:
http://www.redcross.org/en/aboutus |
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