National Quad 8

David DeLoach · Post by **David DeLoach** » 2 Sep 2023 8:46 am

I dropped by Certer's Vintage Guitars this morning and came across this National Quad 8. I'd never seen one before and asked if it came with a case. They told me it was homemade (some put together two D8's), and therefore no case. Looks like whoever did it did a good job.

I didn't plug it in (notice the old school screw on cable jack). There is a 4 position STRING BANKS toggle in the middle that felt a little wanky.

They are asking $1,500 for this.

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 2 Sep 2023 10:59 am

I've got a double, I completely refurbed...and am in the process of new wiring with totally different pickup plan, so the originals were long gone.
$1500 seems a bit high...but not so much if you consider that you're buying two of them. Consider trying reaching over to the 3rd and 4th necks...I don't think you'd be doing a lot of that. I'd almost split them apart, but it is cool...why I bought mine. People really seem to like the fretboards on these things...then the admiration appears to drop off steeply.

If you have $1500 blow money, I'd pick it up, if it fits your needs. Otherwise look for a double at around $500...which seems going rates today. 20 years ago, I'd imagine they went for half of that, but the steel interest nowadays looks like its accelerating and thus affecting pricing.

David DeLoach · Post by **David DeLoach** » 2 Sep 2023 11:21 am

I guess if you had a band with 2 steel players, and one of them was left handed, you could string up the 2 outer necks for a lefty and they two players sit on each side of the steel with 2 necks each.

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 2 Sep 2023 12:08 pm

now that would get attention.
are you having feelings about buying it? Ya know...once I got mine, it totally made me lose interest in my 6 string steels, not that I even pretend to feel comfortable with the xtra 2 strings...not to mention what tunings to pick from. Obviously my first neck is the common C6, but the 2nd neck is in a state of changes.
Because of those two topics.... picking which tunings to settle into and going to 8 strings, it actually cut off my interest in collecting a few more lap steels. Pedal steels... I wish I had the interest 20 years ago, but have no desire to conquer them at this point...even a simple one. They're just gorgeous instruments and that's a big part of why I like playing the instruments I own. But I never really adopted alternate tunings on my main instrument the guitar...and I don't even want to dive into the deep end.

Keep us posted what you end up deciding. Contact me first if you buy it and decide to part out some of the pickups! lol! (like I need them!)

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 2 Sep 2023 12:11 pm

btw, it still looks to have the original switch for the neck selection... and wonder how the 3rd and 4th are hooked in, since it seems it is labeled for just the two...but wonder how it's really wired.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 2 Sep 2023 12:57 pm

That looks like more trouble than it's worth and impossible to play

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 2 Sep 2023 1:34 pm

I love playing non pedal. Its what I cut my teeth on. I play a Gibson Console Grande with The Lovesick Drifters. I have a triple National. If I were in a retro Western Swing band, I'd buy this one for it's uniqueness.

David DeLoach · Post by **David DeLoach** » 2 Sep 2023 4:26 pm

Chris Harwood wrote:btw, it still looks to have the original switch for the neck selection... and wonder how the 3rd and 4th are hooked in, since it seems it is labeled for just the two...but wonder how it's really wired.

The neck selector switch has 4 positions, but it was a bit tricky to get it to stay on positions 2 & 3.

David DeLoach · Post by **David DeLoach** » 2 Sep 2023 4:27 pm

Chris Harwood wrote:
are you having feelings about buying it?

Nah, I just thought it was a pretty interesting steel. I had a T8 Stringmaster at one time, and I've found the D8 is all I need.

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 2 Sep 2023 4:46 pm

David DeLoach wrote:
Chris Harwood wrote:btw, it still looks to have the original switch for the neck selection... and wonder how the 3rd and 4th are hooked in, since it seems it is labeled for just the two...but wonder how it's really wired.
The neck selector switch has 4 positions, but it was a bit tricky to get it to stay on positions 2 & 3.

Sounds like those old 3 position Stratocaster switches before they went to 5 way. Players nudging into 2 and 4 gingerly to get that Strat quack, which that guitar is so famous for nowadsys...or at least one of the many reasons.
I'm sure that switch isn't as valuable as what somebody would shell out for one of those Fender switches. I've seen those old Fender lap steel pickups going for over $1k and an old pot for $300. Just crazy.

Walter Webb · Post by **Walter Webb** » 3 Sep 2023 12:38 pm

These Nationals are put together with dowels and glue, and can be separated. I see the mechanic has put a couple of steel plates across the bottom to knit the sections together. Must weigh a helluva lot...

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 3 Sep 2023 12:52 pm

Did not National combine them with a couple different ways? I have no idea about details. Mine has three long bolts for the necks and the middle piece and short dowel stubs for the matching "end caps" to stick on.

Glenn Wilde · Post by **Glenn Wilde** » 3 Sep 2023 6:52 pm

That thing looks factory to me. I see no evidence of a home built.

Glenn Wilde · Post by **Glenn Wilde** » 3 Sep 2023 6:54 pm

That thing looks factory to me. I see no evidence of a home built.

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 3 Sep 2023 8:41 pm

Glenn Wilde wrote:That thing looks factory to me. I see no evidence of a home built.

What do I know...but the extra spacer piece needed looks pretty legit. Those pieces are wrapped with a plastic like material..like the Pearloid toilet seat stuff you see... that would be hard to replicate with a finish. But of course you can't tell any differences from the photos. I've seen triples...but maybe National was either going for an aircraft carrier or a Guiness record.
The OP said the neck selector switch accounts for all the necks, even though it's only labeled for two.

David DeLoach · Post by **David DeLoach** » 4 Sep 2023 4:36 am

The guys at Carter's Vintage Guitars know their stuff pretty well. They have a lot of steels go thru their shop. They told me it was a home project and not a factory build.

Here is the link on their site and you can see more photos, spec, and description which says the 2 outer necks work intermittently and have low output.

It also says there is a 3-way neck selector switch. It felt like a 4-way to me, that was tricky to get to stay in the middle 2 positions.

https://cartervintage.com/shop/national ... OtQvrjwLaz

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 4 Sep 2023 7:03 am

You'd have to have arms like a gorilla to play that thing.

Erv

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 4 Sep 2023 10:06 am

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 4 Sep 2023 12:58 pm

Glenn Wilde wrote:That thing looks factory to me. I see no evidence of a home built.

I've seen a bunch of National totem-pole consoles, and I've owned a couple. I've never seen or heard of a National Quad like this. But the true tips that this is a pair of put-together D8s are in

1. The third photo that David posted

and

2. The back photo on the Carter page

Maybe the switch is a 4-way, but the switch label "Switch Banks" clearly state 1st and 2nd. And there is no way those painted brown plates with the irregular screw locations are original. Open up the photo in a new tab and expand it - they are crude homemade plates and there's no way that brown paint is factory.

Walter Carter knows the drill, and I'm confident that if they thought this was all-original, they'd say so. Vintage people virtually always want 'all-original' and are willing to pay more for that. That's all she wrote, folks.

Quads are a hard sell. Even original Stringmasters. Ask me how I know, LOL.

Chris Harwood · Post by **Chris Harwood** » 4 Sep 2023 3:06 pm

exactly.... and I probably misworded above...but I'd take Carter's word as a last word anytime.
Yeah...I pointed out the labeling on the neck switch too...but who knows... they tapped in, with lousy solder job..hence intermittent...
But none of it is really important. Just got me blabbering because I'm disecting one myself.

oh...yeah, you'd think they could screw the metal plates on straight... I'm sure Carter looked at that and went..."hhmmmm" lol