Dickerson 6 string lap steel questions

[Neal Berniker]

I am looking at purchasing a Dickerson 6 string lap steel. Serial number is 46231. Anyone have an opinion on the quality of Dickerson products? Based on the serial number what is the year of manufacture?

[Ron Whitfield]

They were cheaply made but look cool, are very light, and can sound real good.
Plus, they were endorsed by non others than Dick McIntire and Sol Ho'opii.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

[Bill Creller]

I believe Dickerson was bought out by Magnatone, so it's likely very similar to a Magnatone, with the pearloid finish. Anybody know for sure??

[John Dahms]

The earliest that I have seen is 1937. They morphed in body shape a little over the years. The early ones were sold as Dickerson, Bronson or Oahu with a small peanut shaped body. Very early ones had a wooded palm rest. MOTS Dickerson steels became MOTS Magnatones in about '47 as I remember. There are a bunch of features used to date them (I have a dozen or so myself- there like peanuts- can't stop). The easiest thing to see is the fretboard. If it is black it's 1950 or earlier. Cream color, 1950 or later. They stopped making them in MOTS in '54-'55.
They are feather light and are much better than they should be when you consider how simply and cheaply made they are. Not bakelite Rics or Stringmasters but functional and cool in there own right.
I dug up this picture of part of the herd:

[Bill Creller]

Hey John....Nice collection I know someone with a Bronson MOTS. His really sounds good.

[Rich Hlaves]

I have a Dickerson from as near as I can tell about '37. It is a fun little guitar. My only complaint is that the strings could be a bit higher off the fretboard. They use a bent small diameter rod or wire actually, for the bridge and nut. I had to shim it on my guitar for pickup clearance.

Magnatone changed this design for the better IMHO. As long as the pickup is working they are very servicable decent sounding guitars.

And........John, very nice collection. I only have the one but also have a tree climber amp. Green moto as is yours. Speaker dated it to '37.

RH

[John Dahms]

Rich, yours is probably a ca. '47 set. The bent wire used as a nut was around that period on some models. I had one that was low too so I pulled it out and filled the holes in a little and put it back in to get the action up some. I think string tension drives it into the wood some over the years. Speaker codes repeat every 10 years so '37, '47 & '57 have to be determined by features and other minutia. The palm tree stencil models were not made in the late 30s.
Here's some pics of a very early Dickerson (note the palm rest and bayonet jack)

[Gerald Ross]

Most every Magnatone I've played has sounded great.

Here is a video of me playing my MOTS Magnatone through a Vox DA-5 amp. C6 tuning.

The video is from the first annual Sevilla (Seville) Spain Ukulele Festival last September where I headlined the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5di3D1ct8cY

[Rich Hlaves]

John,

Thanks for the heads up on the dating. It is a black board guitar. I had pics of it in another thread.

I found that just raising the ends of the nut or bridge would cause it to sag in the middle. I used a brass strip I got at the hobby shop that I cut to length and notched at each end with a dremel to keep it in place. Now it supports the entire bridge with no sag which as you know made the center strings too low. It still pulls forward a little. I might solder the wire to the brass strip to keep it in place. With the brass now firmly on the body sustain is improved a little bit.




When I get a few projects off the bench I'll do the nut too for better playability. The little guy rips.

RH