I know a few aluminum Dobro steels were finished with the faux-grain brown, but I've never seen this on a National steel before:
I'm also intrigued by the tuner repairs. If you've never dealt with these Waverly Tune-Rite machines, the buttons are made of pot metal and they tend to crumble. Two of these have been re-buttoned with Schaller (or similar) knobs - not period-correct, but a surprisingly good visual imitation.
That's a very cool guitar, I've never seen that finish on a electric National either, some resonators from that time had it though. As you probably know National and Dobro we're the same company in Chicago then.
Noah Miller wrote:
I'm also intrigued by the tuner repairs. If you've never dealt with these Waverly Tune-Rite machines, the buttons are made of pot metal and they tend to crumble. Two of these have been re-buttoned with Schaller (or similar) knobs - not period-correct, but a surprisingly good visual imitation.
Noah,
How are those replacement buttons attached? They look like metal, so I'm guessing epoxy? They do look like a good repair option.
Cool looking guitar! I love my old Electric Hawaiian.
"To live outside the law you must be honest." (Bob Dylan)
Noah, I have only seen one other faux wood brown national.
This one is darker brown but that could be because picture taken indoors.
This set has been together for a long time..purchased from a local farmer who indicated it belonged to his grandfather.
I have not tried the amp as I understand they should be checked out first before plugging in.
Strangely, I like the numbers added to the fret board....
Mike
That's a great set, it might just take a good cleaning and a few capacitors to get that amp running. I love how they used resonator cover plates for speaker grills.
