When guitars had style

Dennis Smith · Post by **Dennis Smith** » 20 Dec 2013 9:07 pm

A Harmony on Ebay.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 21 Dec 2013 6:53 pm

that's cool...never seen that design before!

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 24 Dec 2013 4:47 pm

It almost looks like a solid body electric fiddle.

Richard Shatz · Post by **Richard Shatz** » 25 Dec 2013 10:00 am

Richard Shatz · Post by **Richard Shatz** » 25 Dec 2013 10:05 am

Dennis Smith · Post by **Dennis Smith** » 25 Dec 2013 9:59 pm

Two nice guitars Richard. The Royal looks like a 40's-50's Teisco. Looks a little like a nat new yorker.
The other looks like one of the plexlglas Magnatones I've never seen one with all three colors on one guitar. Are the flower on top or under the fretboard? Did you get it that way?

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Dec 2013 10:14 pm

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 25 Dec 2013 10:52 pm

far out stuff.

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 25 Dec 2013 11:27 pm

Lots of beautiful designs etc.
I often wondered how good those guitars were for tone etc. Only a pretty face ?
Most folks figure that the guitar they have is a good sounding instrument, which is normal, and the way I thought with my first steel guitars.

Interesting thing to think about......

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 25 Dec 2013 11:44 pm

In my experience, beautiful, stylish design does Not necessarily mean a great sound. Like other things in life, sometimes beauty is only skin deep!

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 25 Dec 2013 11:54 pm

So beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but maybe not in the ears !

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 26 Dec 2013 7:18 am

... I'm mad ... I want a Toon control too!!

Seriously though, there have been so many wonderful styles and designs over the years. Steel guitar has such a rich history and it is that history that I often find inspiration in.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 26 Dec 2013 12:56 pm

I am so glad I discovered the lap steel and learning about the many different models that have so much history behind them. My Rick model B has such a warm tone I am playing it every day and I finally understand that "sound" Eddie Cunningham mentioned in another thread. What a way to start 2014

Adam Nero · Post by **Adam Nero** » 26 Dec 2013 2:07 pm

Really loving the beautiful Hawaiian laps in this thread. Thanks for the photos, gentlemen.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 26 Dec 2013 3:13 pm

Michael Butler · Post by **Michael Butler** » 27 Dec 2013 12:13 am

wow! that is all i can say about the amazing looking instruments you folks have posted!

play music!

Ralph Czitrom · Post by **Ralph Czitrom** » 27 Dec 2013 3:19 am

Doug - Your contributions to this forum are always enjoyable and educational. A quick question: is that an optical illusion or is one of those B6's a long scale guitar? I was under the impression that Rickenbacher only made them in short scale.

Rick Aiello · Post by **Rick Aiello** » 27 Dec 2013 4:56 am

Ralph, that's a Bakelite Spanish guitar ... Same scale length as the steel

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Dec 2013 8:27 am

Yes, a Spanish (standard) guitar. I believe that was the first electric guitar ever made?

Noah Miller · Post by **Noah Miller** » 27 Dec 2013 8:42 am

Doug Beaumier wrote:Yes, a Spanish (standard) guitar. I believe that was the first electric guitar ever made?

Not quite. Stromberg-Voisinet had a model called the "Electro" in 1928; it picked up the movement of the top of the guitar rather than the strings, but it still sent that signal to an amp. Rickenbacker themselves built Spanish electric guitars as early as 1932 (using outsourced bodies and necks). The bakelite Ric model was arguably the first solidbody Spanish guitar, but there are also contenders from Vivitone and Slingerland.

James Nottage · Post by **James Nottage** » 27 Dec 2013 9:11 am

It always seems risky to name the "first" of anything. However, in this case the guitar in question, although early, had predecessors. The Ro-Pat-In company, later renamed Richenbacher Electro Instruments produced an electric six string guitar with wood body starting in 1932. In the middle of that same year they released the aluminum lap steel "frying pan". A prototype of the six string guitar is at the Wichita-Sedgwick County Museum in Wichita, Kansas. Its original owner was Gage Brewer of that city. The Electro Spanish Model B guitar did not come out until about 3 years later.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Dec 2013 9:40 am

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 27 Dec 2013 9:48 am

I thought I'd seem them all over the years, but there are a lot of interesting instruments in this thread that are completely new to me.

As I've said many times, a lap steel is just a plank with strings and a pick-up; the rest is all artwork, and the builders of these lap steels have shown a lot of ingenuity.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 27 Dec 2013 9:58 am

Lynn Wheelwright · Post by **Lynn Wheelwright** » 27 Dec 2013 10:24 am

Doug,

Did you own the triple neck yellow MOTO unit with the black hand rests/PUP covers in the case on the lawn?

Lynn

The Steel Guitar Forum

When guitars had style

When guitars had style

B 6

First electric six string