Not sellin', not braggin', just offering an example of reason for optimism. With the prices of formerly-affordable lap steels--especially the most-coveted models, escalating, here's a pre-war Rick B I found in a big store in a big city. I visited it three or four times (it was w-a-y across town) before I pulled the trigger. It just got hung higher and farther out of the way between each visit. There's every reason to believe it'd been there as long as a year-and-a-half. And maybe the bronze strings discouraged other admirers...if there ever were any.
It has some corrosion on the pickup blades and around the steel plates (the back is almost pristine, however) and the plastic tuner buttons show the typical effect. (I found a set of ivoroid replacements last week that I didn't know I had--now I know why.) Right now only the 2nd-string button slips, so I tuned to that, and the sound is all there, bronze 'n' all.
Although it was marked a penny shy of $600, I got it for a penny shy of $433 including tax (i.e. $400+). The going rate for these is half-again that or more, especially for the wide-pickup versions like this (s/n C33XX) and even the T-logo postwar examples can leave $500 way behind before all is said and done.
Stuff's out there and it's not all at big-dealer and gcrep prices. (I mention gcrep with an ironic snigger, even though I'm not actually stating for the record where I actually did find this...)
I found an ealier (plated brass plates; bakelite knobs) B-7 a coupla years ago (out of state) for $550 or so and probably could have haggled it lower had I known what slow movers lap steels are in that part of the country.
Not everyone reads (or can enforce) the Blue Book and Price Guides.[This message was edited by Ben Elder on 19 April 2006 at 02:38 AM.]
