The Steel Guitar Forum

What a pleasure it was to check that guitar out. Honestly, it was like a mission for me. I brought my little Microcube with me and took the subway and walked to the wrong building and decided to walk to the other site, which was bout 25 NYC blocks away. Caminando, se aprende en la vida.

Looking at the guitar very carefully like I did, I walked away pretty convinced that they got the story wrong on this. I won't say too much about that, though.

Anyway, this a 25" scale guitar, with thick horseshoe magnets, a little narrower than the 1 /1/2" Rickenbacher shoes, and they were each stamped with an N (I wonder if that meant "north". If anyone knows anything about this, please chime in). They looked to be hand tooled, but that would be awfully thick steel to bend.

The headstock confused me a little because it looked so much like painted wood. The hand brush strokes were clean, but gave wooden texture to it, which threw me off. I found a bare piece of metal on the top of the headstock, though. And that guitar is solid all the way through.



Though I couldn't see what really lurked under the paint, there is a big enough spot on the top of bare metal that I could see that it had looked like it was cast and polished. Besides, the fretboard and markers really would have to be cast. No one else on the planet did that design at the time, I mean come on. There is not a single doubt in my mind.



I looked carefully at the PA logo on the headstock and that threw me off a little. They were so meticulously made and polished, that they looked newer than the 40s, but after thinking about it and talking with Todd, that's totally an art deco font he would use.

Didn't get a look at the pickup's interior to see whether it was a blade of pole pieces, though tried. I honestly couldn't see it without a flashlight--should have used my phone. But I did manage to snap a pic--you can see how the bobbin is held together with a green string.

The case is amazing. I'll let a picture speak for itself. Hand hammered copper attached to the case via 100 or more tiny copper nails. Truly stunning work. This guy kept himself busy!

Anyway, this a 25" scale guitar, with thick horseshoe magnets, a little narrower than the 1 /1/2" Rickenbacher shoes, and they were each stamped with an N (I wonder if that meant "north". If anyone knows anything about this, please chime in). They looked to be hand tooled, but that would be awfully thick steel to bend.


Yes, "N" for north pole.

I think the shoes them selves were/are Magnetos.


That case is so cool.

Thank you Mike

thanks mike for the posts - so cool.
its great to hear you fire that old gal up once more!
thats crazy it was still tuned up to C#m!

when i bought the 'rumored' jerry byrd #2 Sho-Bud it had OLD strings on the 7st neck that were still tuned to his diatonic tuning - nearly perfectly in tune after sitting in a case for 25+ years...i should have left them on there because it seriously didn't sound the same when i changed the strings..i used his recommend gauges.

Thanks for checking it out and posting a video and detailed pics, Mike! It helps bring this historic guitar to life for the rest of us.

Very cool Mike!

Thanks for posting these photos, Mike. It just occurred to me, Chas Smith old pal- does your D8 lap guitar not have some sort of "pinup girl" figure on its case? Like outlined in nail holes??

Hey Jeremy, great to see you!

I shared this with Don Rooke, who in turn showed it to Joe Yanuziello, who is big PA Bigsby fan, and he said about the case:

"I remember, as a kid, having a craft kit which was essentially the same as the copper cowgirl decoration on the case. The kit had a few sheets of copper, which you would press over a form that came in the kit. The copper would be pressed with small burnishing tools, and tapped with a small hammer, until it completely conformed to the shape beneath.The copper was very malleable, and easily formed....if I remember, mine was a sailboat, I like the cowgirl way more."