An Oahu Tonemaster, a "Lapsquire", and a question.

[Steinar Gregertsen]

Yesterday I got a "50s" Oahu Tonemaster that I bought from Elderly from only $300. It turned out to be a real keeper and I can't understand how Elderly could sell it so cheap, I see these go for $450-500 on eBay.
Some minor issues, but definitely no dealbreakers; The volume pot was scratchy and the tone pot was frozen, but some spray and patience took care of that so they work great now, and one of the tuners is bent but fully functional. It's also missing a small fraction of the nut, by the 6th string, but I'm considering having a new nut installed anyway because this is very low.
The pickup sounds strong and fine and easily matches the volume of the P90s in my regular guitars, so no worries there. Good string balance, sweet warm clean tone, gets real mean with the overdrive kicked in.

So here's the question,- there's no serial number to be found anywhere, and I can't see any signs of there ever being a metal plate at the back of the headstock as there usually were on Valco made instruments. All I can find is the numbers 172 stamped into the top of the headstock, but that's it,- no prefix or anything else... Any ideas?
Elderly claimed it was a "50s", which is probably true, but I'd like to date it a little more precisely than that. Not that it matters all that much, but it's always nice to know if the instrument is older than me,- it's certainly in better shape!

Last weekend I also assembled a "Lapsquire", using one of Loni's Lapdancer "Redneck" necks but a thinner version than standard, plus real cheap body, pickup and hardware from Guitarfetish. Nice!

Here's both of them (I assume you will understand which is which... )

[Bill Creller]

Looks like you did really well on buying the Oahu. A little fixing is common on old guitars, even when you own them for years. Good to hear it all works good.......

[Gary Stevenson]

great! besides being a great musician, you are also a builder too They both look sweet!!!

[Doug Beaumier]

Steinar, I've owned a couple of these Tonemasters (and Dianas) in past years, and I was never able to pinpoint the date of manufacture. It's possible that this guitar was not made by Valco, but by some other company, like Harmony, for Oahu. If there is no date/source code on the pots, it's probably prior to the early '50s.

[Mark van Allen]

Those Tonemasters are great laps. I was going to suggest you check the pot date codes, if they're not covered over with sodler.

[Tom Pettingill]

Nice score on the Tonemaster! How are you liking that GFS rail pickup?

[Charley Wilder]

[quote="Steinar Gregertsen"]Yesterday I got a "50s" Oahu Tonemaster that I bought from Elderly from only $300. It turned out to be a real keeper and I can't understand how Elderly could sell it so cheap, I see these go for $450-500 on eBay.

I get the feeling Elderly doesn't like to work on instruments they are going to sell. I keep a watch on their used mandolins and most of the older instruments that have issues, they sell "as is". Even with minor issues quite often.

[Steinar Gregertsen]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions guys!

It's possible that this guitar was not made by Valco, but by some other company, like Harmony, for Oahu.

Yes, it was suggested to me in a PM that it was built by Kay, and that may very well be the case based on info I've found on the net.

check the pot date codes

Will do, didn't think of it when I opened it up to clean the pots.

How are you liking that GFS rail pickup?

Hard to say since I haven't tested it on an instrument I'm already familiar with, but it does a good job on the "Lapsquire" since it sounds a bit thin and trebly acoustically, and the Li'l Puncher has a dark character that kinda balances things out.
It's a low budget instrument, the body is a "factory 2nd" that I got from Guitarfetish for only $39, so I didn't want to spend much money on the pickup. Ideally I would have bought one from Vintage Vibe Guitars, I love those pickups, but the money was tight...

I'll try and record something with the Tonemaster this weekend, I'm really excited about how it sounds. Unlike most other vintage lap steels I've owned, this one does clean and overdriven tones equally well, all the way 'from Hank to Hendrix'..

[John Groover McDuffie]

Wow, except for the markings on the headstock that Tonemaster looks just like my Oahu Diana. Most Tonemasters I have seen don't have the string-through pickup, but this one appears to. Those string-through pickups are wonderful. No wonder it sounds so good (the player probably helps a little bit too! )

[Steinar Gregertsen]

It has a huge single-coil, not the string-through pickup. I've had a Diana with the string-through, and to my ears this one sounds a bit warmer and fatter, almost like a P90. They both sound great though, just different characters.

Here's a pic of the Tonemaster pickup:

[Michael Laslovich]

I'm hoping this will be a great steel. Keep in touch I might be asking advice if i have issues. Oahu Tonemaster probably a 50's model. Lived your input!!!

[Paul DiMaggio]

Michael, Steinar passed away in Feb. 2012. Sorely missed on this forum and, turns out, on several other forums. I have a totally looted Japanese Strat and was trying to find out what it was and where to find parts. I was skimming thru reams of threads and if there was info I needed I'd write it down, not paying any attention to the authors of the posts. On my iPad I would pull just the posts up . Made it easier to read. I was cruising thru this one thread and one of the posts was " What Steinar said", it kind of stopped me. How many Steinars could there be? I pulled the screen sideways and there it was," play to express not to impress" . I had no idea he was so knowledgable about Fender guitars in general and Strats in particular. When I reviewed my notes, over half of the info had come from him. All presented in his helpful ,positive ,and non argumentative way despite the drivel and vitriol surrounding him on some of those threads.

[Michael Laslovich]

Steinar Gregertsen was very true to the cause. Sorry I never got to talk to him. He seemed totally inspirational,,,and truly very good at playing and building...And his knowledge about those old Strats...not many people know about those slides...