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Topic: Gibson BR-3 Lap Steel |
Jason VanDenEng
From:
California, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2022 2:13 pm |
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Hello everyone! New member here. I've played slide guitar for years, and finally decided to pick up a lap steel.
I found a 1945/1946 Gibson BR-3 in excellent shape with the original case. It came tuned to C6 so I fooled around a bit with that before changing strings/tuning to open G (Dobro) as I'll be playing blues/rock. I stick with open G and open D mostly.
I'm playing it through an amp I built from a kit--a clone of a '57 Champ 5F1. I use pedals for overdrive and reverb.
This is not me in this video, but I hope to sound like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1edRK7pV1o&t=32s eventually!
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2022 2:21 pm
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Nice!
Those old racetrack/wide oval pickups can growl like a grizzly bear, purr like a kitten, or sting like a bee. Especially through a Champ. |
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Jason VanDenEng
From:
California, USA
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Posted 25 Aug 2022 2:34 pm
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Thanks! The pickup does sound fantastic. I want to add some springs or surgical tubing to the height adjustment screws, but it's very tight in there. It would be tricky to install them due to the location. Maybe not needed anyway, but the pickup does move toward the strings a few mm if you turn the guitar upside down for example. It goes right back when you flip rightside up though.
Also I noticed someone had decals on it at some point that say "S L I M", though you can only see those remnants in just the right light/angle.
The tuners don't appear to be original. Can anyone confirm? They are old, and they work alright, but I can see the outline of whatever tuners were on it before these. |
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Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 25 Aug 2022 3:13 pm
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Oh man, I love my BR-3. It's the single best steel rock and roll steel I've played. Congrats!
These normally had Kluson tuners. Yours may be replacements (I'd pull one off and check for an extra screw hole) but those Waverlys might just be old enough to be original. This was among Gibson's very first post-War electric models, and in 1946 it was still difficult to find metal products in constant supply, so I could believe that Gibson bought whatever they could get. On the other hand, Klusons could have been replaced due to crumbling buttons. |
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