Does anyone recognize the make of this old lap steel?

[Jim Keller]

I have this and I'm not sure who makes it. I was wondering if anyone here knows anything about it? Thanks.

[Glenn Wilde]

Whoa! Not i, really curious though.

[Richard Sinkler]

Nope, but it is pretty darn cool. Wouldn't mind having that one.

[Bill Sinclair]

The knobs and number plates are similar to those seen on many of the Epiphone Electar guitars but nothing else looks like Electar to me. My guess is that it's a one-off by a talented machinist. Knurled knob tuners possibly inspired by (but not the same as) Vegas from that era. Appears to be a fiber and resin construction instead of wood. Very cool. How's it sound?

[Steve Gwizdalski]

That fiber and resin is called Ryertex, a brand name of a phenolic I believe. We used to use it in steel mills on overhead crane electrical boards. They had large contactors mounted on pieces of slate, and if that slate cracked or somehow got busted up we replaced it w a hunk of the Ryertex. Easy enough to work, drill, cut etc...heavy tho. I bet that guitar weighs plenty. Somebody put a lot of work into that build.
How does it sound?

[Jim Keller]

Yes, you are right. That's the stuff. It weighs 11 pounds 3 ounces. That tuning mechanism is pretty crafty, I've never seen one like it before. It looks like a decent idea as long as you get the length right when you put it on the post. I don't play the steel but I checked it through a Princeton Reverb. The pots needed cleaning, a little deox-it did the job. The tone has a wide range. It would sound better in someone else's hands, but the electronics function as they should. The piece of paper with says FGBDE-GBDEG*High. I know the 2nd one is G6, I'm not sure what the first one is. Anyways, if anyone has a tuning suggestion, I'd go with it. I'll tune it and hopefully have a video of it in a few hours. Thanks for the info and your time.

[Jack Hanson]

The knobs and number plates are similar to those seen on many of the Epiphone Electar guitars but nothing else looks like Electar to me.

Gibson also used similar knobs on its KEH (Kalamazoo Electric Hawaiian) and MEH (Mastertone Electric Hawaiian) prewar budget models. They called it the No. 480.

[David Ball]

Don't know what it is, but that is so cool on so many fronts! Between the phenolic fiber body, the keyless tuners, the great period knobs and the pickup. Very 21st century lap steel for probably coming from the 40's!

Dave

[Jack Hanson]

Interesting the way the bridge appears to be notched for an alternate tuning and its appropriate string gauges.

[Eric Dahlhoff]

Interesting the way the bridge appears to be notched for an alternate tuning and its appropriate string gauges.

Right, it has two sets of string notches. I didn't notice that at first. A cool Idea perhaps....

[Richard Sinkler]

Interesting the way the bridge appears to be notched for an alternate tuning and its appropriate string gauges.

Looking at what original poster said was the tuning on a piece of paper, the F on string 10 giving the dominant 7th, may have been an unwound thin string (based on the smaller slot) placed there to stay out of the way of the strummable G6 chord. Similar to how Buddy Emmons placed the current string 1 F# and string 2 D# in the 9th and 10th string positions on his Sho-Bud when he first added those strings to the E9 pedal steel tuning.