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Topic: To Date A Pearloid Magnatone? |
Dave Young
From:
Mount GambierSouth Australia, Australia
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Posted 10 Apr 2009 5:15 pm |
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GREETINGS AGAIN EVERYONE- I HAVE A GREEN M.O.P. MAGNATONE LAP STEEL SERIAL #23982- IS THERE A MAGNATONE SITE WHICH PROVIDES INFO ON PRODUCTION DATES SIMILAR TO VALCO-GIBSON OR FENDER? HAVE NOT HAD ANY LUCK UP UNTIL NOW! REGARDS DAVE YOUNG
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DOBRO SUPRO MAGNATONE HARMONY GRETSCH VOLU-TONE GUYATONE |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 11 Apr 2009 3:03 pm
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No, there isn't such a site for Magnatone guitars.
Do a search for "Magnatone" in the Steel Without Pedals section of the forum and you'll find various catalogs posted by Michael Lee Allen along with many other discussions of these instruments.
Posting photos of your instrument will help in guessing a general time period in which it was made and what model it may be.
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Tim Walker
From:
Marin County, CA (originally U.K)
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Posted 11 Apr 2009 3:33 pm
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This is a cool site for their amps. You may find an amo with the same pearloid as I think they were often sold as a set.
http://www.vibroworld.com/magnatone/index.html
Cheers, Tim
Last edited by Tim Walker on 11 Apr 2009 5:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Craig Stenseth
From:
Naperville, Illinois, USA
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Posted 11 Apr 2009 3:48 pm
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Dave,
There is also some date information that can be obtained from the numbers/codes on the volume and tone pots. They can at least provide a ballpark estimate (i.e. Magnatone might have bought a bunch of '1940' volume pots and used them for 15 years, or somebody might have replaced your electronics with something newer...). |
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John Dahms
From:
Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 12 Apr 2009 5:59 am
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I've got a mess of old MOTS Magnatones and their relatives and there are a number of keys to date them. Off-hand this is what I recall.
Generally: Pot codes are often there but not always easy to see. The headstock (after the tulip shaped early models was more rounded on the end (ca.'47)and became squared off after a few years. The fingerboard was black, then became cream colored about the same time (around 1950). The cover over the pickup (hand rest) was angled before ca. 1950 and enlarged and mounted straight after.
There were originally round holes with ferrules to feed the strings through on the back that was later sometimes replaced with a stamped one-piece affair to feed the strings through on the last versions. There are bridge, nut , knob and tuner variations during different time periods as well but with all the brands they were offered in it can be hard to nail these down. Serial numbers appear to have some pattern but I haven't spent much time on them.
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Time flies like an eagle
Fruit flies like a banana. |
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Dave Young
From:
Mount GambierSouth Australia, Australia
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Posted 12 Apr 2009 7:05 pm To Date A Pearloid Magnatone?
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thanks for your help fellas- i am new to the forum and really appreciate your input- dave young
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DOBRO SUPRO MAGNATONE HARMONY GRETSCH VOLU-TONE GUYATONE |
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