Hawaiian Steel Guitar in Brussels Musical Instrument Museum

John Botofte · Post by **John Botofte** » 11 Jan 2013 7:17 am

Saw this steel guitar today in the above mentioned museum. Only info: Early 20th century. Does anybody know more?
Thanks in advance.
John
Brussels

Peter den Hartogh · Post by **Peter den Hartogh** » 11 Jan 2013 7:24 am

For starters, the tuning keys are the wrong way around, so this guitar has not been built by a knowledgeable builder.
The pickup looks like telephone or army surplus parts I used to buy in the early sixties in Holland.
What kind of output jack was used? If there is one, the type might be an indication of its age.
The lack of a fretboard might indicate that the project has been abandoned.

John Botofte · Post by **John Botofte** » 11 Jan 2013 12:09 pm

It looked strange to me too, but hoped it was some kind of rare early piece, but guess it was found in a garbage dump by the museum not knowing what it was handling... Still a nice museum though there is hardly any info in English.

Manfred Nabinger · Post by **Manfred Nabinger** » 12 Jan 2013 2:48 pm

the bridge/tailpiece set was often used on german-made hawaiian guitars (acoustic flattops)in the 30s. they usually show a "drp", "pat"- or "drgm"-stamp.

the tuners look 30s german too.

maybe someone built this in germany after the war (having seen pictures of us-made lap steels).

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 12 Jan 2013 4:39 pm

It's an amateur's experiment. Everyone starts out building something like this. It's almost identical to the first lap steel I built fifty years ago.

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Eu ... -BR-1.html
If you happen to be in the area, travel a little further north to Den Haag (The Hague) and visit the musical instrument museum there, which is one of the best in Europe.