Fender Champion Steel - Opinions?

[Doug Beaumier]

I'm more and more beginning to think that tone primarily is in your hands.

How true! I took two days of lessons with Buddy Emmons in Nashville in 1981. At one point Buddy played a S-10 through a little Peavey Bandit amp... and "that sound" was there! Big, rich tone through a little Bandit amp.

IMHO much of a player's tone is in the hands, the vibrato, the picking, the right hand attack, etc. The amp settings are important too... and the speaker configuration, the wattage, tube or solid state, etc.

Having said that, I have noticed a big difference in tone between lap steels. For example, between a pre-war Gibson lap steel and a Fender Stringmaster. Or between a National string-over pickup lap steel and a National string-through pickup lap steel. There Are differences in tone in the instruments. Some are "darker" in tone, some are "brighter", but a great player will sound great on any adequate instrument.

I'm reminded of the time I heard two guitarists on stage swap equipment. Each played the others guitar, amp, effects, etc. Each player tweaked a few knobs, and within a few minutes each player had his own sound back!

[Cliff Kane]

Gerald,
they're great! Very comfortable to play, great fret board and easy harmonics. Roll back the tone for the island sounds. The tone and volume controls are excellent for swells and boo-wahs. Find one with an original pick-up and you'll be in vintage Fender territory ala an early Esquire....what's not to like?.

Here's a picture of my Champion Rig.....my awesome Fender Champion through my killer full-stack! Rock'n'Roll!

[Andy Sandoval]

I've got a 54' Champion in near mint condtion and just love the bright tone. As others have said a little tweaking on the amp and rolling the tone back a little on the guitar and your ready for a trip to the islands. I believe the Champ has a little more mellower tone than the Champion too, not near as trebley.

[Bill Creller]

Most Fenders that are made of ash seem to be great for harmonics, even the old Dual Pro I have here. Don't really know why, but thats how it seems to me.

Oh yeah, even one I built myself with ash seems to have better harmonics than the same design with other types of wood. The one made of ash also has a hint of the Fender tone, so I would think the wood must have something to do with it.

[Eugene Cole]

Gerald; beware of the man that plays only 1 lap steel because he probably knows how to get the most out of it! Of course this applies to single-gun hunters too.

Frankly I think that the choice of instruments is subjective. So one person might find a Champion to be just what they want tonally and in scale length while another person just would not feel the attraction.

"Stock" Champions are neat little guitars. But they are pretty bright and they do not seem to have the option of warm mid/low full sound which I like to have access to for playing backup.

Also they only have 6-strings which is annoying to me. I just find 8-string instruments/tunings to be more to my liking. Yes my double-neck is a D7/8 but it would have been the D8 version if I could have located one at that time I found this one.

If you were going to customize any Lap Steel then the pickup could be made to offer a wider variety of tones with coil-tapping, multiple coils, and/or other magnet types (but it would no longer be a "stock" whatever model).

If I found a Champion at a Garage Sale for a $100 I would probably buy it: they are small, do not take up much space, and another lap steel never killed anyone (it is the jealous partner/spouse that does the killing usually).