New Recording King lap steel

[Brad Bechtel]

Everybody's getting into the game! I'm seeing these on eBay for $150 or so without a case.

The Recording King Lap Steel guitar is made of solid mahogany and the string-through-body design makes for full, powerful sustain. A single EMG-designed Alnico P-90 pickup gives it excellent tone. The open geared tuners make staying in tune a breeze and offer classic looks with modern reliability.

The single volume and tone controls allow players to control the tonal texture from classic country lines to searing blues licks.

• Solid Mahogany Body
• Single EMG-Designed P-90 Pickup
• Volume and Tone controls
• Open Geared Tuners
• String-Through-Body Design
• Pearloid Fret Markers

[Dennis Brooker]

Brad - You forgot to mention the "Lifetime Warantee" - I wonder how that works and whos lifetime they're talking about? It would be interesting if someone on the forum that buys one would provide some info and feedback - DB

[Dave Sky]

Musicians Friend/Music 123/Guitar Center- online have the Recording King and the Peavey Power Slide in stock right now.

So I need to decide between those models and a Rondo Jazz box.
So many guitars, so little time and money.

[Ned Pearson]

I bought one of these and that was a mistake (IMHO). The Rondo wasn't in stock so I decided that this looked like a real good deal on a decent inexpensive lap steel.

To begin with the pickup didn't work when I got it. Took the back plate off and then the pickup worked. Put the back plate on and it quit working again. After several attempts to reposition the wires I got the pickup to work with the back plate on but there was a noticeable hum. When I tried to play with finger picks I got static to go with the hum. By the way this was not single coil hum.

The poles on the bass side of the pickup were off by at least 1/8. I tried raising the pickup on one side trying to align it better and that didn't work.

The tuning machines were terrible and it was difficult to keep in tune. The description on the manufacturer's website lead me to believe that the pickup was an EMG. It was not.

Then on Wednesday it appeared that the Rondo SX was in stock so I ordered one and should have it tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Recording King is on it's way back to Amazon.

[Dave Thier]

Sorry to hear of the problems, Ned.

I wonder if one is better than the other (RK vs Rondo)to gut and hot rod?

BTW, I don't post much here, but have learned a great deal from just reading what others have to say.

Dave

[Chris Battis]

Very glad I thought to do a search here--I was this close to buying one of these on ebay a few minutes ago.

Chris

[Bill Creller]

Looks like it's pretty hard to beat an old original, like a Supro etc. New stuff that's cheap to buy wont compare to old cheap lap steels, it seems.

[Ned Pearson]

I bought the Rondo SX and it has been great.

http://www.rondomusic.com/LG1na.html

I had some issues with the bridge so I replaced it with one from Bob Allen of Melbert Steels and improved the ground.

http://www.musonmt.com

Although the tuners were adequate I replaced them with Golden Gates.

I love my Rondo laptop. It has a beautiful sound.

When I have time I will be posting some photos of the mods I did.

[Ned Pearson]

I don't know...I've owned two Supros and they were great and had a great sound but so does the Rondo.

[Bill Creller]

That's a really nice looking guitar Ned. Sounds like you have it fixed up to be a good one.

[Ned Pearson]

To hear just how good a Rondo can sound go to Greg Cutshaw's website and listen to some of his audio cuts of him playing his

http://gregcutshaw.com/Tab/LapTab.html

He also posts photos about the guitar and an article

http://gregcutshaw.com/Rondo/Rondo.html

[Tom Cooper]

Hey guys. I just bought the Recording King lap and I am really enjoying it. Got it for 135$ on ebay store. Mine has the pickup further back. For start, really like the mother of pearoid fret board. Real pretty mahogany and finish. Some parts of back finish were not all that great but who cares. The front looks real good. I also have the Rondo sx. They are similar, but the Recording King has nicer,wider body.SX has the steel nut which is really cool. RK has thru body stringing which I love. I had the opposite problem with the pickup, mine is really loud. Sounds great, like a big fat P-90 should. Also love the tone knob. It has better throw than any of my other steels. I have a Gibson Consolette, Morrell Lil Roy, and the SX. One day would like to spring for a upper end 8 string but for now getting by with budget steels. If set up well they are ok. I have the RK tuned to Bm7. Just trying to experiment with other tunings. I would have to put in a yay for the RK lap steel. I love mine and play it all the time.I'm sure it could use tuner upgrade,maybe new nut, Its cool right out of the box. It is a lot of fun for very little money. To me sounds a bit warmer,and fat than the SX. Esp in upper register. TC

[David Eastwood]

Forgive me for resurrecting an old thread, but I thought it an appropriate place to report my impressions of this guitar.

I was searching for an inexpensive lap steel to put on my Christmas list last year. Didn't know anything about the Rondo; didn't like the look of the Rogue; and at the last minute found this one in the Musician's Friend catalogue. To my surprise and delight, my wife actually took the hint, and I found one under the tree.

FIrst impressions were quite favourable. It's a nice piece of wood; everything seems to be screwed together well, and well-aligned (although the bridge is a hair out of whack). Like Tom's, the pickup on mine is right back by the bridge, and it has black top-hat knobs instead of the metal Tele style in the pictures. I restrung it for C6, and to my ears, it sounds pretty sweet - and most importantly, does nothing to get in my way as a newcomer to lap steel and this tuning. The pickup has some very characteristic P90 'bark', but also mellows up nicely with lower volume, and picking further away from the bridge.

The bad stuff - the tuners are pretty dreadful. OK, they're awful. The tone control worked out of the box, and now no longer does anything. These things are easy to fix, however, and I will do so, eventually. Right now, I'm just having too much fun playing it. Might add a Rondo SX to the stable for a different tuning soon...

[Nils Fliegner]

Bought one on eBay a while ago, with the option of returning it, no questions asked. Mine has the pickup moved a little backwards and a slighty different headstock saying "Johnson", but you can tell it's the same basic model. (I guess it is a generic chinese design sold to different brands).



But, surprise: It is actually very good!!!

The wood looks great, the all-metall tuners are Grovers and the P90 copy gives a good clear tone with nice harmonics.
The bridge is flimsy, but not more so than the old Fenders (pre-Stringmasters) and the through-body-stringing makes up for that.
This instrument is so minimalistic, there is not much that they could f*** up

I've seen a lot of laps come and go - this one's a keeper! End of commercial.

P.S.: I'm not affiliated with the company or the seller in any way.

P.P.S.: The fretboard is made of two parts of plastic. A piece of white pearloid with a clear acrylic that has the fret lines on top.
You can remove the pearloid and a) have an all-mahagony guitar or b) slip other designs underneath the acrylic.
Probably not intended by the manufacturer, but pretty cool, anyway.

[Bob Vantine]

you guys couldn't have picked a better time to open this back up, for me anyway.

been looking at both SG and RK for weeks now . thought more on the SG because of case .

i've got a real old Harmony (one of those gold things) that needs tuners anyway, so i wanted something newer to add a new tuning to also. the Harmonys been selling on E-bay for $150-195 so maybe i'll "pedle"....er ,i mean unload it.THANKS for info.
**Bob**