My Most Valuable Lap Steel. Please Share Yours

[Bill Groner]

Just plain, simple and to the point. This is my new favorite. However, I say that every time I finish building one. LOL

[C. E. Jackson]

Just plain, simple and to the point. This is my new favorite. However, I say that every time I finish building one. LOL

Thanks for the photo and comment, Bill. Very nice. I like the head design
and tuner arrangement, and also the strings anchoring through the body.

C. E. Jackson

[George Piburn]

Here are my 2 D8 Consoles the 1st one is called Lacewood or leopardwood or dragonwood the burgandy color is the natural color.

I played the dragonwood at the Dallas Jamboree and Tulsa Jamboree amongst other festivals and events. It is actually part of my collection being offering for sale.

Further below is my persnoal D8 high figure book matched Walnut.

[C. E. Jackson]

Here are my 2 D8 Consoles the 1st one is called Lacewood or leopardwood or dragonwood the burgandy color is the natural color.

I played the dragonwood at the Dallas Jamboree and Tulsa Jamboree amongst other festivals and events. It is actually part of my collection being offering for sale.

Further below is my persnoal D8 high figure book matched Walnut.

George, those are fabulous steels. I don't ever recall seeing a double-neck steel made with book
matched Walnut, or any other wood.

I worked in construction before going into consulting. I recall one project where our company installed book
matched paneling in a very large courtroom. Book matched material is very expensive for a project like that.

I have one Gibson steel which may have been intended to have a book matched top. I will post a photo a
little later and let you give your opinion as to whether you think it was intended to be book matched.

C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

George, here are photos of a Gibson lap steel with fairly symmetrical wood grain about the center
of the top. I don't have another lap steel with this grain detail.

GIBSON E(H)-150 (v.1) C.C. pu (01): c. 1936





As you can see, the top material is split in the middle. I don't believe it was intended to be book
matched. Of course, the lines don't line up as you would expect in book matched material. Maybe
Gibson just wanted to show a great wood grain, similar on both sides. The top is somewhat rough
and not smooth, so the difference in color is due to grain change, not paint.

George, do you think it was intended just to be a nice top with fairly symmetrical wood
grain appearance around the center line of the top, or otherwise?


C. E. Jackson

[George Piburn]

Thanks for the kind words CE , I've adored your fantastic collection for years and am glad to contribute to your thread.

For certain that is a booked face on the Gibson, looks absolutely beautiful,

About that 12 star walnut, it started out as a 8/4 sawmill cut slabs then split and clleaned up to a final thickness of 7/8" then bonded to thick slabs of really nice walnut then milled to shape, approximately 2" thick final per neck.

After that I bonded more 1/4" thick booked walnut front and back side facias with even more exotic inlay banding on the top edges and middle connecting bar, Look closely to see those details.

The fretboards are Peruvian Walnut and laser etched for the inlay lines and mother of pearl dots, Of course add the exotic marquetry banding them too.

Why stop now --- the string receiver and nut holder are yet another high quality walnut and cnc machined to exacting specs.

Even the pickups have a book-matched facias from black walnut veneer.

Now to the finish, to make it full micron mirror it took 2-3 years to apply the 200 coats of cab acrylic lacquer. The way it's done is to apply 9 coats , allow time to dry , then sand it down, repete seemingly endless times, until it becomes mirror then a lot of hand rubbed polishing.

If you would like I have photos of laps made from this super exotic walnut , that are 2 identical Twins laps book matched.

Thank you for the opportunity to brag about my personals - hopefully other members will add even more photos of their GEMS.

[Jeff Highland]

CE,
In bookmatched maple you expect the medulary rays (the cross grained stripes) to be reversed as they go across the centreline. This is however affected by the thickness of the saw cut and any subsequent sanding.
I'd say yours was bookmatched.

[C. E. Jackson]

Thanks for the kind words CE , I've adored your fantastic collection for years and am glad to contribute to your thread.

For certain that is a booked face on the Gibson, looks absolutely beautiful,

About that 12 star walnut, it started out as a 8/4 sawmill cut slabs then split and clleaned up to a final thickness of 7/8" then bonded to thick slabs of really nice walnut then milled to shape, approximately 2" thick final per neck.

After that I bonded more 1/4" thick booked walnut front and back side facias with even more exotic inlay banding on the top edges and middle connecting bar, Look closely to see those details.

The fretboards are Peruvian Walnut and laser etched for the inlay lines and mother of pearl dots, Of course add the exotic marquetry banding them too.

Why stop now --- the string receiver and nut holder are yet another high quality walnut and cnc machined to exacting specs.

Even the pickups have a book-matched facias from black walnut veneer.

Now to the finish, to make it full micron mirror it took 2-3 years to apply the 200 coats of cab acrylic lacquer. The way it's done is to apply 9 coats , allow time to dry , then sand it down, repete seemingly endless times, until it becomes mirror then a lot of hand rubbed polishing.

If you would like I have photos of laps made from this super exotic walnut , that are 2 identical Twins laps book matched.

Thank you for the opportunity to brag about my personals - hopefully other members will add even more photos of their GEMS.

George, thanks for your kind comments and wealth of information on wood. As an consulting engineer and contractor, I once
visited the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, WI, to learn more about wood and veneers. Wood experts and engineers there
reminded me that every piece of lumber or veneer is different, and that no two pieces of lumber or veneer are alike (just like people),
even from the same log. Therefore, all musical instruments made of wood or veneer will probably have some tone differences, some very
small. You have a fabulous collection of steels, all unique, and your website is great. I would recommend it to all Forum members. Glad
to get your confirmation that my Gibson has a booked face. Yes, please email photos of laps made from the super exotic
walnut, that are 2 identical Twins lap book matched.

As far as I know, the rarest wood on any of my vintage steels is an ebony fret-board on my Metal EHG Steel, but it probably
has no effect on the tone.

GIBSON METAL EHG: c. 1935


This model has a straight bar pickup, ebony fret-board and oblong bridge held by 2 screws.
See Duchossoir, pages 16-23, for model specs and additional information. This model is the
only metal-bodied model lap steel ever produced by Gibson.


C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

CE,
In bookmatched maple you expect the medulary rays (the cross grained stripes) to be reversed as they go across the centreline. This is however affected by the thickness of the saw cut and any subsequent sanding.
I'd say yours was bookmatched.

Thank you, Jeff, for the comment.

C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

MY GIBSON E(H)-150 (v.1) C.C. pu (01): c. 1936 (SHOWN EARLIER IN THIS POST)




As you can see, the top material is split in the middle. To refresh my memory,
I went back and looked at George Gruhn's appraisal of this steel in 2005. His
description was "...and Well Figured Fiddle Back Curly Maple Top."



Here is a Fiddle Back photo on the web. Photo courtesy of Guitar Gallery.
This guitar has a split back, but mine has a split front.


How interesting the different terms we use to describe our vintage and new guitar material!

C. E. Jackson

[Jerry Berger]

Here's my latest purchase.This Stringmaster has great tone!

[Andy Sandoval]

I've had so many steels come and go but these two are here to stay. The B7 (early post war I believe) suffered a broken and repaired neck at the point where it joins the body which the previous owner conveniently forgot to disclose before I bid on it but it sounds great and is holdin up fine so thats more important to me. The silver hawaiian is a 38' and had several bad and worn tuners with one missing tuner button so I removed the tuners and replaced with some Grover sta tites from stewmac and now it stays in tune and plays fine. It looked worse than it was when I first opened the case but a good cleaning and polishing did wonders for both guitars. The electronics on both guitars are in exellent shape and the pickups sound strong.

[Glenn Wilde]

This baby just came back to me, I'll have to say this one now! I recon its about a 1950.


Anybody know who Vernon White is?
The guitar came from Central Valley Ca.

[Bill McCloskey]

No question, my most valuable steel from a musical standpoint is my 14 string extended eharp from Wayne Johnson and Innovative Guitars. There is nothing I can't play on this sucker. (I just have to learn how to do it. )

[Andy DePaule]

I don't know about what others think, but to me this may be the most worthwhile lap steel to have.
I came up on e-Bay a while back and sold I think for $8,000.00 but to whom?
Maybe it was Eric Galletta as I saw this picture on facebook I think.
I see in the photo the tuners have been replaced making it playable.


I remember that Mike Near went to the auction house and actually tried it out.
The tuners no longer functioned, but the top strings were still in tune enough to play it.

Well whoever got it sure has a fine example. Possibly the very first Bigsby steel?
I saved all these pictures in a file as I often do with interesting instruments.










Gotta just love that case!
I wish it was me who had managed to buy that, but it's really out of my budget.
Still good to know whoever does own it now will treasure the instrument and protect it.

[Glenn Wilde]

I've had so many steels come and go but these two are here to stay. The B7 (early post war I believe) suffered a broken and repaired neck at the point where it joins the body which the previous owner conveniently forgot to disclose before I bid on it but it sounds great and is holdin up fine so thats more important to me. The silver hawaiian is a 38' and had several bad and worn tuners with one missing tuner button so I removed the tuners and replaced with some Grover sta tites from stewmac and now it stays in tune and plays fine. It looked worse than it was when I first opened the case but a good cleaning and polishing did wonders for both guitars. The electronics on both guitars are in exellent shape and the pickups sound strong.

Those are great, the last B6 i had i traded for the 8 string Fender i posted above, then realized i wasn't ready for a 8. I got rid of the 8 to my friend but 10 years later he traded it back to me! Pretty cool huh?
I still miss having a Ric B though, maybe one will come my way again. I have a Cole clark knock off now, complete with a horseshoe pickup that sounds pretty good and its very beautiful.

[Andy Sandoval]

Those horseshoe pickups really sound great when they're adjusted and you find that sweet spot.

[C. E. Jackson]

Here's my latest purchase.This Stringmaster has great tone!

Jerry, the Fender Stringmasters have great tone, and are very popular steels. Thanks for posting.

The first steel that I purchased was a FENDER STRINGMASTER TRIPLE 8 (walnut).

Later, I purchased a FENDER STRINGMASTER QUAD 8 (walnut).

C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

I've had so many steels come and go but these two are here to stay. The B7 (early post war I believe) suffered a broken and repaired neck at the point where it joins the body which the previous owner conveniently forgot to disclose before I bid on it but it sounds great and is holdin up fine so thats more important to me. The silver hawaiian is a 38' and had several bad and worn tuners with one missing tuner button so I removed the tuners and replaced with some Grover sta tites from stewmac and now it stays in tune and plays fine. It looked worse than it was when I first opened the case but a good cleaning and polishing did wonders for both guitars. The electronics on both guitars are in exellent shape and the pickups sound strong.

Those horseshoe pickups really sound great when they're adjusted and you find that sweet spot.

Andy, thanks for posting photos of those 2 beautiful steels. I have a RICKENBACHER MODEL B (white plates) 7 STRING: c. 1946,
and a RICKENBACHER SILVER HAWAIIAN (1 knob): c. 1937. I also enjoy the sound of both. However, my current favorite is the
SILVER HAWAIIAN.

C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

This baby just came back to me, I'll have to say this one now! I recon its about a 1950.


Anybody know who Vernon White is?
The guitar came from Central Valley Ca.

Glenn, those old Fender steels with the trapezoid pickup have a tone that is hard
to beat. Thanks for posting the photo and comment.

After hearing the tone of the trapezoid pickup, you can see why Kayton Roberts,
Member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, and Chris Scruggs, a well known steel
guitarist, chose steels with trapezoid pickups.

I have a FENDER DUAL 8 PROFESSIONAL: c. 1948, with trapezoid pickups, and the
tone is hard to beat with any of my other Fenders.

C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

No question, my most valuable steel from a musical standpoint is my 14 string extended eharp from Wayne Johnson and Innovative Guitars. There is nothing I can't play on this sucker. (I just have to learn how to do it. )

Bill, thanks for the photo and comments. That is a great looking steel. I rarely play more than 7 string steels, but
occasionally 8 or 10 string steels. I can see where I could use a 6 string A and an 8 string A6 tuning, or a 7 string A6 and
some other 7 string tuning. I am sure you and many others can use all 14 strings for 1 tuning. What current tuning are
you using?

C. E. Jackson

[Bill McCloskey]

It is an extended Eharp tuning, C.E. Low to high, E A C# E F F# G G# A B C# E F# G#

[C. E. Jackson]

I don't know about what others think, but to me this may be the most worthwhile lap steel to have.
I came up on e-Bay a while back and sold I think for $8,000.00 but to whom?
Maybe it was Eric Galletta as I saw this picture on facebook I think.
I see in the photo the tuners have been replaced making it playable.


I remember that Mike Near went to the auction house and actually tried it out.
The tuners no longer functioned, but the top strings were still in tune enough to play it.

Well whoever got it sure has a fine example. Possibly the very first Bigsby steel?
I saved all these pictures in a file as I often do with interesting instruments.










Gotta just love that case!
I wish it was me who had managed to buy that, but it's really out of my budget.
Still good to know whoever does own it now will treasure the instrument and protect it.

Thanks for the photos and comments, Andy. That large pickup looks like
it would produce a great tone! Truly a piece of steel guitar history that will
hopefully be preserved in coming years.

C. E. Jackson

[C. E. Jackson]

It is an extended Eharp tuning, C.E. Low to high, E A C# E F F# G G# A B C# E F# G#

Thanks for the tuning, Bill. It sure would be nice to hear how it sounds when you
make a recording.

C. E. Jackson


MY EDDIE ALKIRIE EHARP - 10 STRING
(MADE BY EPIPHONE DURING THE EARLY 1950'S)


It is my understanding that this EHARP was formerly owned by Gibson Historian,
Walter Carter, owner of Carter Guitars. George Gruhn appraised this steel in 2004.
George stated: "....As is typical of the Alkire Models it features ten strings and has
the Alkire Eharp Logo on the peghead. Early model Alkire steels such as this one were
made by Epiphone. Later models were made by Valco/National of Chicago. As is typical
of the Alkire Models made by Epiphone, the Epiphone name does not appear on the
instrument although it has the Epiphone Epsilon (slashed C) on the tuner covers. This
model did not appear in the Epiphone Catalog but was made especially for distribution
by Eddie Alkire. This particular instrument has its original hard case and is accompanied
by a letter from Alkire dated August 15, 1952....."


C. E. Jackson

[Bill McCloskey]

That is a nice first generation Eharp C.E. I have a latter Valco consol model.

I'll be making some recordings soon. It is quite a fascinating tuning but not a simple tuning. But the versatility can't be beat. In my extended tuning, I have the choice of 60 plus unique chords and since I play with a thumb and 3 fingers, you get rich 4, 5, or more note chords. Very rich sounding.

It also requires a completely different approach. instead of a lot of left hand movement, it is all right hand grips. Once you get them down, it is sweet as anything