Is this a good price?

Keith Davidson · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Hi, have a friend who may be interested in this lap steel but not knowing much about lap steels I figured it would be best to post the link here and ask the more knowledgeable if this is worth it or not.

Here's the link:

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-guitar/cape-breton/1955-national-new-yorker-lap-steel/1056864664?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

Thanks for any help,

Keith

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

new yorkers look good but i think that's way too high.
the one i had was hard to play because the strings were so low my picks would hit the body.

Doug Beaumier · From: Northampton, MA

I notice that the seller is in Canada. $800 Canadian dollars = about $652 American dollars at this time. Still a little pricey, but this is a nice, clean New Yorker. Too bad it has the old amphenol connector instead of a modern 1/4" output jack. I'm surprised they were still using that in 1955.
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Mike Spieth · From: Santa Fe, New Mexico

"Built Like A Fortress"

Cool case too...

Denny Turner · From: Oahu, Hawaii USA

Keith,

The National New Yorker is probably most famous for being an icon of art deco and thus attracts collectors of lap steels; And that looks like a nice one. I've had and played a few as a buyer / seller dealer, and was not particularly impressed with their features and tones not being as outstanding as their looks, particularly for the model you posted which has a 3 position selector switch for tone control which leaves much to be desired for more-modern tone shaping with a variable tone pot. It was not uncommon at all in "days of old" for some design engineers all the way through the 1960s to design in features that forced players to conform to the engineers or their bosses ideas of how to play: Tone switches instead of pots, hand covers over pickups & bridges to conform to old styles of playing deliberately avoiding hand blocking at the bridge and forcing picking well-forward of the bridge, making pickups unaccessable to amateur hands (and in some cases like "MOTS Maggie" Magnatones, pickups not accessable at all), etc. There is some validity in such design engineering philosophy; For instance, Jerry Byrd "had" to teach his students how and where to find the Hawaiian sweet spot on tone pots, which I myself didn't know after playing guitar for over 30 years! Voila good reason of-sorts for some design engineers to put predetermined tone switches on some guitars and steels instead of variable tone pots. BUT, I've seen many comments on the SGF from Fo'Bros that owned / played New Yorkers and liked them a lot.

But for my own personal tastes, playing being primary over looks although good looks is good gravy, ...at $800 I think I would look for a better sounding steel such as a post-war Rickenbacker bakelite panda, ...or get SGF Bro Wayne Johnson / Innovative Guitars to build one of his fantastic aluminum fry pans with a number of options for a Customer to choose from:
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=284365
Wayne admits he ain't no Buddy Emmons, but listen to his soundcloud audio track linked in the above discussion, with the volume turned up a bit to hear the sustain and nuances in that Fry Pan's total tone (body and pickup). I have GOT to (and will) get one of those Fry Pans just as soon as I get a break from critical matters at home, ...and thus have the time to finish studying and compiling options I would prefer!

There are also many other good and even great lap steels often available for less than $800, and $800 in the present economy is a good number to motivate a seller that might be asking more. You might ask other Fo'Bros for their opinions on other steel choices, and then post a notice on the SGF *Wanted* section.

.....Just sayin' ... imho ... fwiw.
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Denny Turner · From: Oahu, Hawaii USA

Jeff Mead · From: London, England

Rick Abbott · From: Indiana, USA

Angela Instruments sells anything you could need. I bought new amphenol connectors and built a few new cords to go with my old Stromberg Carlson amp. 1/4 on one end, amphenol on the other.

Jeff's answer is a good one too. Angela Instruments sells them as well.
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Keith Davidson · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

Thanks so much for the replies guys. The lap steel was not for me, but a friend had mentioned to me that he had been looking at this one.

So, not knowing much about these or any lap steels for that matter, I figured I'd post the question here and as always the steel guitar forum pulls through with knowledgeable and informative answers and info.

Thanks a bunch, greatly appreciated.

Keith

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