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Topic: Dating my Fender steel? |
John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
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Posted 7 Mar 2011 1:12 pm |
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I just took delivery of what started as a Fender T-8 Custom, but has been cut down to a D-8. It has the trapazoid pickups, and the number stamped on the plate next to the jack is 9578.
I've looked around on the internet without finding anything definitive. The guitar is already at the repair shop, getting the electronics sorted out, so I can't look under the tuner pans. I think that it's been refinished anyway, so there may be nothing under there.
Does anybody have any ideas on when this thing was made? Thanks!
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"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny." - john waters |
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John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
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Posted 7 Mar 2011 1:15 pm
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Here's a picture:
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"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny." - john waters |
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Dave Harmonson
From:
Seattle, Wa
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Posted 7 Mar 2011 1:21 pm
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If it is still visible there should be a penciled date under one of the tuning pans. They stopped making that style in '55 I believe, and the earliest models had the "boxcar" pick-ups. (rectangular as opposed to trapezoid shaped). Not sure the exact dates but I think the traps started around '51. So yours would be somewhere between '51-'55.
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www.facebook.com/countrydaveharmonson |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 7 Mar 2011 1:23 pm
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That particular model Fender Custom was available between 1949 and 1953, according to Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars. In 1953 they switched to dot and diamond markers.
Too bad it's been cut down to two necks, but these babies are HEAVY and the previous owner may have been trying to save his/her back. I hope you got the two good necks!
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
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Posted 7 Mar 2011 1:30 pm
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Brad-
It actually came with the cut-off neck, the tuners, and the pickup (no fretboard or under the pickup plate). I think that I'm going to play it as a D-8, because I have no idea what I would do with the third neck. Besides, it wouldn't fit in the very nice, home made case it came in. It's at the repair shop getting the electronics sorted out, so I guess that I'll figure out what to do with the third neck and the parts after I find out what it's going to need.
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"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny." - john waters |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 7 Mar 2011 1:53 pm
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Fender used a different set of serial numbers for each steel guitar Model. So that serial number will only tell us if that Custom is older or newer than other Customs. I have bought and sold at least six Fender Customs over the years and your serial number, 9578, seems high and I would say that is toward the end of the run... Close to 1953. The volume and tone pots may be dated. That would tell you when the electronics were made. Not an exact way to date a guitar, but if the pots were dated say, 1952, that would eliminate any earlier years for that guitar. It will never be a collector guitar because the body has been cut, but I'll bet it has a great sound. Santo Farina played a Custom on his classic recording "Sleep Walk".
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Last edited by Doug Beaumier on 7 Mar 2011 10:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Gibson Hartwell
From:
Missoula, Montana, USA
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