A Poor Man's Stringmaster - Guyatone D-8

Ray Shakeshaft · Post by **Ray Shakeshaft** » 27 Apr 2011 3:03 pm

When I took out the pans to be re-plated it was obvious that mine is laminate too.

From the pictures above it also seems there were two different kind of pick ups used. Again mine are like those of Doug's D8. I can't see that there would be any way of adjusting them but from my first impressions and despite lousy strings it does not need any alteration.

Matt Berg · Post by **Matt Berg** » 29 Apr 2011 11:01 am

Guyatone on the brain prompted me to buy this 6 stringer with gold foil pickups....

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-60S-TEISCO- ... 588dc611e9

The price was right, and even though they're not the same pups that Ry Cooder has, I saw some youtube demos that lead me to believe they'll be pretty darn good.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 29 Apr 2011 12:02 pm

Matt, those '60s Japanese pickups sound really warm, some would say slightly distorted. It's an interesting tone and I like it!

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 29 Apr 2011 5:27 pm

You can't go wrong for $131.

Iain · Post by **Iain** » 2 May 2011 4:22 am

Those pickups do, indeed, sound great. I have an identical Guyatone...that I got for £25 in a junk shop in Keith, in the (Scottish) Highlands! One of those really lucky finds that are all-too-rare.

I like the guitar a lot: very light and portable and has a nice, warm, fat sound. I keep toying with putting the p/ups into a guitar, they're so nice (and I'm much more a standard guitar player than I am a steeler!) but it would seem a shame to wreck the little steel. Hmm...decisions, decisions etc.

Matt Berg · Post by **Matt Berg** » 2 May 2011 9:28 am

Maybe your turn...?

http://cgi.ebay.com/lap-steel-1960s-Guy ... 20b8f7b397

6 stringer, looks a little more Stringmasterish.

I have similar pickups on a Decca/Teisco DMI 203 Spanish guitar. Not as hot/growly sounding as what I am anticipating on the gold foil one I have coming.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 3 May 2011 8:28 am

I have a Guya D8 and it has served its purpose remarkably well. I use it for all our Hank Williams Sr.and Eddy Arnold take offs during our gigs. I use my Remington D10 for the regular country sound.

This one is solid wood, it is very heavy and stays in tune better than my Remington D10. The wood is quite hard so I suspect white birch

I bought this D8 steel (in pristine condition), hard case, Fender Princeton Reverb amp, Ernie Ball volume pedal, Fender, Stevens style bar and the Yamaha 160 jumbo box acoustic guitar all for $50.00. I was just at the right place at the right time.

Kevin Mincke · Post by **Kevin Mincke** » 3 May 2011 8:36 am

[quote="Les Anderson"] I was just at the right place at the right time.

Les, you're killin' me!

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 3 May 2011 9:00 am

I bought this D8 steel (in pristine condition), hard case, Fender Princeton Reverb amp, Ernie Ball volume pedal, Fender, Stevens style bar and the Yamaha 160 jumbo box acoustic guitar all for $50.00.

Wow! that's the best deal I've ever heard of!

When I was a teenager back in the 60's I bought a 1958 Fender Telecaster for $50 and a blackface Super Reverb amp for $40. I think your deal beats my deal.

Those were the days. Believe it or not, I traded the '58 tele for a Sho-Bud pedal steel and both are long gone. Live and learn.

Les, your Guyatone is in great condition. It looks very much like the one I had a couple of years ago. Those guitars really growl. My G'tone sounded a lot hotter than my Stringmaster. It was a Fender copy, but the tone was quite a bit different than the Fenders. Not the thin, cutting, and somewhat out of phase tone of the Stringmaster, but a more gritty, overdriven sound. To hear it, click on my link below for How D'ya Do. The other audio clip below is the same guitar, the inner neck, a warmer tone.

Les, your silverface Princeton Reverb looks very familiar. I have the same amp and I've been using it to teach guitar lessons for 30 years. It must have 20,000 hours on it and it's still going strong. You can't beat a Fender tube amp!

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 3 May 2011 10:58 am

Doug, all this happened at a yard sale that my wife and I came across as we were heading for another yard sale. I spotted the Guya propped up against the wall of the old lady’s house so I pulled into her driveway and headed straight for it. I had never heard of a Guya steel guitar before but I was fully aware of the value of the Fender amp and the Yamaha jumbo box. (the Yamaha has the most beautiful deep mellow tone of any jumbo box I have ever played) The old lady’s daughter just wanted to get rid of the old man’s junk (as she put it after he died). I realized after that I had just bought a gold mine for fifty bucks.

In answering the two rather nasty PMs that I have received; …. my D8 is guaranteed solid wood. The body is actually much thicker than the picture shows. It is a 22 ½ “ & 24 ½ “ scale. It is not painted. The blond clear coat ( I think shellac) is over the natural grain. I even drilled a small hole under the tuning pans to assure myself that it was not laminated. Depending on the switch and amp settings & string gauge, I can get a great mellow tone out of the front neck (24 ½”) and I use a Don Helms & Roy Wiggens tuning on the back neck (the 22 ½ ” neck)……….

You have to remember, the Guya is not a Fender so you won’t get the Fender sound from it. The sustain????? I have compared my Guya with a Stringmaster and the difference is all but indistinguishable. In simple words, the Guya has its own sound as per the amp and switch settings. The same goes for the Fender Stringmaster. My Yamaha Jumbo box does not sound like a Gibson Jumbo box but that does not mean that the Yamaha is a piece of junk.

Give a listen to some of Doug’s work on his Guyatone. I love the tone he getting from his machine. I still insist it's how the instrument is played that makes it sound good or bad

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 3 May 2011 11:10 am

the Yamaha has the most beautiful deep mellow tone of any jumbo box I have ever played

The early Yamaha acoustics C. 1970s were very well made.

It's nice to see this old Guyatone thread resurface every few months. There seems to be a lot of interest in these guitars.

Robert Jette · Post by **Robert Jette** » 5 May 2011 4:02 pm

Here's my "most definitely plywood" Guyatone. Despite the damage, it sounds great. It's got a much more agressive tone than my Deluxe 8.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 6 May 2011 12:05 pm

Jeez, some of you PMers might actually have to come and see my Guya for yourselves. Here are a few pictures of the grain of my Guya. It is solid wood and has not been refinished as far as I know. The only thing I would change on this steel is add coloured fret markers. (I like colour)

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 6 May 2011 1:26 pm

Yes, that sure does look like a solid piece of wood.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 6 May 2011 2:30 pm

Hi Doug, yes it is guaranteed solid wood. I have had three PMs insisting that Guya/Guyatone did not make solid wood steel guitars. Well, mine proves that Guya did, whenever, make solid wood steel guitars. I can't tell what kind of wood it is but looks like white birch. When I drilled the hole under the tuning pan to assure that it was solid wood, the wood was very close to being white and had a birch smell.

Regardless, I love playing the thing and get lots of compliments on it's sound. (mind you, 95% of an audience wouldn't know the difference between a non-pedal and pedal steel anyhow so that's a mute point)

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 8 May 2011 8:41 am

95% of an audience wouldn't know the difference between a non-pedal and pedal steel...

True. Most people don't even know what a steel guitar is... even when they are looking at it and hearing it played. I've heard it called a "synthesizer", "keyboard", "slider", "string guitar"...

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 8 May 2011 11:07 am

Doug Beaumier wrote:
95% of an audience wouldn't know the difference between a non-pedal and pedal steel...
True. Most people don't even know what a steel guitar is... even when they are looking at it and hearing it played. I've heard it called a "synthesizer", "keyboard", "slider", "string guitar"...

So you have been there as well have you?

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 8 May 2011 4:09 pm

...but then most people know very little about musical instruments. When I tell people I play the lute most people think it's a wind instrument.

Next time they ask about your steel guitar tell them you can't play it today because you left the key at home and you can't wind it up.

John Limbach · Post by **John Limbach** » 31 Oct 2011 9:35 am

Just bought the 6-string, dual pickup, 2 rocker switch, etc., etc. Guyatone. It sounds really good and starting to figure out the switching vs sound.

The pots are not scratchy at all, but don't get any variation in tone when I turn the tone pot. I suspect the 40/50 year old caps could stand replacing.

Does anyone have a schematic or know the capacitor values?

Thanks.

Frank James Pracher · Post by **Frank James Pracher** » 31 Oct 2011 10:40 am

John, have you had it open yet? I have a two pickup Guyatone with the rockers that did the same thing when I got it and all it needed was the pots cleaned.
(The tone pot wasn't scratchy, it just did nothing)
Also check the solder connections around the cap.
They are indeed fun little lap steels. The two pickups give lots of options.
My only complaint is that the metal nut has a real sharp edge.

John Limbach · Post by **John Limbach** » 31 Oct 2011 10:46 am

=John, have you had it open yet? I have a two pickup Guyatone with the rockers that did the same thing when I got it and all it needed was the pots cleaned.

Thanks, Frank. Nope, haven't opened it up yet and will try some De-Oxit on the pots. Volume pot works fine. Would like to replace the caps while I'm in there though.

One reason I got it was that it will fit in my suitcase, so I can take it with me on business and not miss a week or two of practice every month. We will be off to Singapore on Wednesday.

Matt Muldoon · Post by **Matt Muldoon** » 31 Oct 2011 11:23 am

This is a great Forum here! The only place where I could find information about my Lapsteel!
It´s up for sale because I bought a Stringmaster D-8 but I am hoping it doesnt sell...

Any Ideas on the age? It is in absolute Clean condition. just one Dong on the end. No Rust anywhere! Plays nice,

James Mayer · Post by **James Mayer** » 31 Oct 2011 11:51 am

I have two Guyatones. One is a blonde with the slide switches like the ones that have been posted several times in this thread. The other is dark green with a metallic fretboard and white rocker switches. The blonde sounds considerably better than the green model. It's a thicker body with better quality hardware and more tonal options. I think it's a great lap steel. Better than the Fenders that I've tried.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 1 Nov 2011 5:11 pm

Mat, hang in there with that Guya lap steel. They are great sounding guitars and will produce only the sound that the player puts into it.

My suggestion would be, try a few different tunings and change the gauge of the strings along with the various tunings. Keep tinkering until you get the sound that "you" are pleased with. We have many steel players on this forum who can make any steel guitar sound beautiful and could do the same with your Guya lap steel.

By the way: your steel has a 22 1/2" neck, right?

Les

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 1 Nov 2011 6:42 pm

It's nice to see this Guyatone thread resurface again. This would be a good time to repost some interesting Guyatone Co. history posted earlier by Forum member Jackiso:

GUYATONE HISTORY:

MATSUKI MFG, a predecessor to GUYATONE, was founded in 1933 to make wooden housing fixtures like Shoji screen. Other than that its pre-war activities are little known. Soon after the WWII, some manufacturers turned their attention to the merchandise whose manufacturing had been banned during the war. Hawaiian steel guitar was one of those target products. At first MATSUKI MFG was providing a body of the steel guitar for TEISCO who was a forerunner to make a steel guitar in commercial quantity. MATSUKI realizing its sales potential, decided to make a steel themselves under their own brand of GUYA. What does GUYA mean? In Japanese a shop to manufacture or sell housing fixture for a Japanese house was called “TATEGU(housing fixture)-YA(shop)” or “GUYA” in short as a musician likes to shorten any word.

In 1948 MATSUKI MFG was renamed as MATSUKI ELECTRIC SOUND LAB to signify its corporate goals looking toward the post war era. Next year when they were to start assembling a guitar amp, they changed the brand name to “GUYATONE” hoping “TONE” added would give the brand more flavor of a musical instrument.

In ‘50s and ‘60s the demand for a steel guitar soared in line with rising popularity of Hawaiian music and C&W. GUYATONE along with its competitor TEISCO provided steels at an affordable price with an acceptable quality. When I first bought a GUYA 6 stringer in 1960, a double neck Fender Stringmaster was sold here for a price equal to an year’s salary of a college graduate. It is fair to call it a poor man’s Fender or Gibson as we felt exactly as such thinking that some day we would get the “real” thing.

Craze for Rock music, Ventures syndrome in Japan, helped to expand GUYATONE market globally and they shifted their main product from steels to solid body guitars according to the evolution of the guitar market. In 1956 with global marketing in mind MATSUKI ELECTRIC changed its corporate name to more recognizable TOKYO SOUND CO.
Attached is a catalogue of this transitional period:
http://www.guyatone.jp/sub_menu/catalog.htm

TOKYO SOUND was also known among audio buffs as a manufacturer of quality phonograph cartridges and tone arms.

Late ‘50s and early to mid ‘60s were best years for GUYATONE guitars. To meet soaring demand they not only built a new factory in Tokyo suburbs but had to subcontract the production of the body of the electric guitar to YAMAHA. With the craze of guitar market subsiding, however, their sales fell and in August 1969 they went broke. In September they were back as GUYA CO refocusing their business goals and in 1976 it was renamed back to TOKYO SOUND CO.LTD.

When you were to keep up with the growing market under severe competition, it was a safe bet to make your product as close as to a best seller looking-wise or function-wise or both. To penetrate into overseas market you would have to listen to what your local dealers demanded. GUYATONE was no exception. But from late ‘70s the company seemed to have changed its policies leaning more toward originality. Here’s a catalog from that era and you don’t find many copy product there.
http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-an ... tone/1979/
(BTW, did you know they made a pedal steel then?)

One last remark on GUYATONE steel: Deluxe 8 made by Fender Japan sounds very much like GUYATONE 308 IMO. The person once responsible for manufacturing GUYATONE guitars moved out to start Fender Japan and oversaw, among others, production of Deluxe 8.

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