National Dynamic Lap Steel

[Don Daringer]

I have a late 40's National Dynamic. Do any of you have experience with changing out the tone control assembly with something that gives you more options tone wise. I know that the pick up is a single coil but I've heard of using a 250K or a 500k potentiometer. What's your experience? Also any advice on a capacitor to use. I play in a David Lindley/Gregg Leisz style. Thanks!

[Jonathan Scherer]

I have a 1948 National Dynamic that I purchased in 2015.

The tone control did not adjust the tone at all, so when I was visiting my son in Bend, Oregon I took it into an instrument repair shop that was just around the corner.

I thought it might be the pot or cap.

In the techs words "extremely difficult to diagnose" but he eventually found a broken ground connection under the pickup, and he rewired the tone pot to bypass the problem.

Now it has plenty of tone adjustment.

Don't know if that is helpful for yours but it definitely fixed mine.

Cost me $80 for the diagnosis and repair.

JMan

[Brian Evans]

National did different, and sometimes funny, things with tone controls. Here is a thread about my Dynamic, which give the difference in age probably isn't identical to yours. But mine had a low pass/high pass filter setup that probably cut output by half at least, and removing the high pass filter left the normal low pass (tone control mutes off the treble frequencies) filter, and when the tone is up full there is pure pickup sound, no dilution. Anyway, maybe this thread and pictures will help. https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=371510

[Don Daringer]

Thanks for the answers, it's in the shop now