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Topic: A "barn" find so good you just add oil and gas and |
Raymond Jones
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 7 Sep 2011 12:33 pm |
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When I unwrapped the package from FedX I could tell I had won the risk of an internet auction. You take a risk and hope for the best and this came true. From the first glance I could tell nobody had touched this guitar for years, maybe forty or fifty. This is 75 years old, 1936, strings rotted off, you could smell the age. It had been played a lot put away, fortunately in a dry attic somewhere. The only thing I had to do was remove the falling apart felt from the back, put on a new set of strings and listen to the tone. This was close to the beginning of electric guitars, I appreciate this being a long neck, 25" nut to bridge. You can adjust the height of the pickup from the front to get the right bass or treble you want. Hollow body one piece cast aluminum - very cleaver. Look at that big thick horseshoe magnet, still very strong, no need to remagnetize. Case still good. I am a lucky (old) boy!
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 7 Sep 2011 3:19 pm
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Congratulations! These are great sounding instruments, although very heavy. Sustain for days, though. They can be hard to keep in tune in extreme weather conditions, but the tone...THE TONE...
This is a beautiful example of a 1936 National Electric Hawaiian.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 7 Sep 2011 5:52 pm
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| What a find! Reading your description, I was hearing Mike Wolfe's voice, from "American Pickers". |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 7 Sep 2011 6:27 pm
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That's really a nice one !  There was mention a few times that the body on those is cast zinc (?) Doesn't really matter of course. Neat how they did the pickup etc back then......
I think you lucked out !! |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 7 Sep 2011 9:18 pm Re: A "barn" find so good you just add oil and gas
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| Raymond Jones wrote: |
| When I unwrapped the package from FedX I could tell I had won the risk of an internet auction. You take a risk and hope for the best and this came true. |
I think it is a lot less risky buying a lap steel on the internet than a regular guitar. There really isn't a lot to a vintage lap steel and most problems can be fixed by non-professionals (although you might have to send the pickup out to be rewound or remagnetized). With a regular guitar you need to deal with the action, the setting of the truss rod and the shape and condition of the neck and fretboard- all very critical. We don't usually have to worry about any of that. Who needs a luthier when the hardware store usually has whatever you might need? 
That is a great find- I'd never seen pictures of anything like that before.
Steve Ahola
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Frank James Pracher
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 7 Sep 2011 9:24 pm
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All I can say is
_________________
"Don't be mad honey, but I bought another one" |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Raymond Jones
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 8 Sep 2011 7:42 am Thanks for the info -
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I have an aluminum JB Frypan and it felt like the weight was right for this National to be aluminum. I had not thought of it being anything else, I was wrong. I took a piece of "known" aliminum and the National, cleaned a spot down to bright metal and added a drop of HCL - very different results, the aluminum stayed white, the National went black (zinc). Very cool to know. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts.
Ray |
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Mike Anderson
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 8 Sep 2011 8:30 am
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Raymond, that is fantastic, so happy for you!
Where in BC are you BTW? Drop an email or personal message if you like.
cheers,
Mike. |
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 8 Sep 2011 6:51 pm
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| Seriously cool! Mike asked you where in BC you are - I'd like to know where in BC both of you are as I spend a lot of time in the Gulf Islands. |
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Mike Anderson
From:
British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 9 Sep 2011 7:58 am
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Hi Bob, I grew up in Edmonton and have many good friends there! Don't forget to attend George "Keoki" Lake's gig tonight for heaven's sake (wish I could): http://www.hsga.org/memberfeature.htm
I'll PM you about my location; I have many enemies.  |
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