The Steel Guitar Forum

Allan Revich wrote:What’s that saying? “The only constant is change.”?

Anyway, since last posting here, a new vintage 1930s Gibson EH100-7 has joined the family, further complicating my decision as to my “most valuable”.




The little Champ isn’t one of my most valuable, but he photobombed the picture, and I do love the little fellow.

Allan, a nice group of steels. I have a Fender, Gibson,
and Rick like these. My favorite is the Gibson. You can
see photos of these in my vintage guitar video below.



Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

Here’s my Favorite Lap Steel. It’s a Custom Order Diana Tonemaster with Original Oahu Bullit ToneBar! Case, Chord, and pic.

C. E. Jackson wrote: Allan, a nice group of steels. I have a Fender, Gibson,
and Rick like these. My favorite is the Gibson. You can
see photos of these in my vintage guitar video below.



Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

Thank you CE. You have a great collection.

Jeffery Mercer wrote:Here’s my Favorite Lap Steel. It’s a Custom Order Diana Tonemaster with Original Oahu Bullit ToneBar! Case, Chord, and pic.

Jeffery, a great little guitar and information.
A steel you should be proud to own and a keeper.


Here is my Oahu Diana which I enjoy playing.




Thanks for posting,

Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

Allan Revich wrote:

C. E. Jackson wrote: Allan, a nice group of steels. I have a Fender, Gibson,
and Rick like these. My favorite is the Gibson. You can
see photos of these in my vintage guitar video below.



Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

Thank you CE. You have a great collection.

Allan, thank you for the kind comment
about my collection.


I agree with George Piburn's name for
this thread-"TREASURE CHEST". It shows
great photos of favorites and historical
comments by many Forum members.

Hopefully, other Forum members will
continue to post photos and comments
of their favorites and/or most
valuable steels.


Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

Call me an ol' stick-in-the-mud, but Mr. VunCannon: that Harmos is just NOT cuddly.

Basically, my steel guitars are parts value only (tell this to the seller who‘s trying to sell a heavily tinkered with early post war guitar on eBay for ages. I could use its fretboard and pickup, if only to more thorougly botch mine. He wants serious money though.)



This would be my pick, not least because putting it together was such an unexpectedly bloody lot of work.

Гавайская электрогитара was built at the Moscow Experimental Fabric of Musical Instruments in the 60s. It is a (fairly exact) copy of Resonet Arioso from Czechoslovakia , which, combining designs of two American models, would become the most advanced European lap steel guitar for decades to come. Now the Soviets, instead of using two coils, wired Stringmaster style, installed a double bar magnet PU with multiple coils like those from headsets and telephone receivers, giving a very pleasing, warm fuzzy tone.
Craftsmanship was quite sloppy then, crappy tuners, bad wiring, even the nut was unevenly cut, which gave me the idea of converting one into a seven-string, if I was recutting the nut anyway. And coming from a country where even your everyday beater has seven strings, why not? (and this is exactly where the original tuners went along the way – to a Leningrad acoustic that had completely unusable units. Russian machines have a wider post spacing than Western ones, so replacements are hard to find).
Interestingly, while instruments in domestic collection mostly are in mint condition, those that made it across the Iron Curtain are pretty beat up. So was this one, all varnish stripped, I#m glad that a prvious owner repaired the shattered in six pieces plastic fretboard. I upgraded the saddle and tailpiece. And yes, both plexi covers are missing.
Unfortunately the original pickup isn‘t working anymore, so I fitted a very unexciting Asian humbucker that was about flat enough under the cover. It sounds better than expected that way.

Wow, Rainer,those are very cool steels! Don't see those everyday.
C.E., I love the looks of those Nationals so much. I've never had a chance to play one but sure would love to see one up close. Love your playing on the video. Have fun at your friends playing that beauty.

Scheerhorn Acoustic-Electric









Acquired in 2002 from Tim Scheerhorn

Wow! That Scheerhorn is gorgeous!

Thanks Allan for the compliment. I will pass it along to Tim Scheerhorn.

Steve

Nope....That Scheerhorn acoustic/electric isn't gorgeous. It is BEYOND gorgeous...it is the "one instrument that does it all"....I've now asked Ben Bonham to make something very similar for me...He did such a great job on my tricone and lots of great instruments for other folks...that tricone now is my current "most valuable instrument"...

That Tricone is awesome Steve!

David Mason wrote:Call me an ol' stick-in-the-mud, but Mr. VunCannon: that Harmos is just NOT cuddly.

David, thanks for your comment.

C. E. Jackson

Rainer Schmidt wrote:Basically, my steel guitars are parts value only (tell this to the seller who‘s trying to sell a heavily tinkered with early post war guitar on eBay for ages. I could use its fretboard and pickup, if only to more thorougly botch mine. He wants serious money though.)



This would be my pick, not least because putting it together was such an unexpectedly bloody lot of work.

Гавайская электрогитара was built at the Moscow Experimental Fabric of Musical Instruments in the 60s. It is a (fairly exact) copy of Resonet Arioso from Czechoslovakia , which, combining designs of two American models, would become the most advanced European lap steel guitar for decades to come. Now the Soviets, instead of using two coils, wired Stringmaster style, installed a double bar magnet PU with multiple coils like those from headsets and telephone receivers, giving a very pleasing, warm fuzzy tone.
Craftsmanship was quite sloppy then, crappy tuners, bad wiring, even the nut was unevenly cut, which gave me the idea of converting one into a seven-string, if I was recutting the nut anyway. And coming from a country where even your everyday beater has seven strings, why not? (and this is exactly where the original tuners went along the way – to a Leningrad acoustic that had completely unusable units. Russian machines have a wider post spacing than Western ones, so replacements are hard to find).
Interestingly, while instruments in domestic collection mostly are in mint condition, those that made it across the Iron Curtain are pretty beat up. So was this one, all varnish stripped, I#m glad that a prvious owner repaired the shattered in six pieces plastic fretboard. I upgraded the saddle and tailpiece. And yes, both plexi covers are missing.
Unfortunately the original pickup isn‘t working anymore, so I fitted a very unexciting Asian humbucker that was about flat enough under the cover. It sounds better than expected that way.

Rainer, thanks for the photos of your steels, and the
comments. You have done a great job.


C. E. Jackson

Steven Meyrich wrote:Scheerhorn Acoustic-Electric









Acquired in 2002 from Tim Scheerhorn

Thanks Steven Meyrich for photos of the Scheerhorn Guitar, and comments.

I have seen many played and tested at the factory in Videos. Never played
one, but may consider getting one, in the future.


C. E. Jackson



Thanks to Allan for your comment.

C. E. Jackson

Steve Lipsey wrote:Nope....That Scheerhorn acoustic/electric isn't gorgeous. It is BEYOND gorgeous...it is the "one instrument that does it all"....I've now asked Ben Bonham to make something very similar for me...He did such a great job on my tricone and lots of great instruments for other folks...that tricone now is my current "most valuable instrument"...

Thanks Steve for the photo of your tricone guitar and
comments. A great looking guitar.


C. E. Jackson

Joe Cook wrote:Wow, Rainer,those are very cool steels! Don't see those everyday.
C.E., I love the looks of those Nationals so much. I've never had a chance to play one but sure would love to see one up close. Love your playing on the video. Have fun at your friends playing that beauty.

Joe, thanks for the kind comment on my playing.
My father taught me to play the melody with a
few other additions added.

I remember Jerry Byrd saying on one of his videos
to play the melody and maybe add a few other
additions, and that people would stop and listen
to the steel player. He said don't try to put
all you know in every song.


C. E. Jackson



I agree with George Piburn's name for this
thread-"TREASURE CHEST". It shows great
photos of many most valuable steels.

Hopefully, other Forum members will
continue to post photos and comments
of their favorites and/or most valuable
steels.


Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

I guess if we are including acoustic steels, one of my most valuable would be what I call my “Shroud of Turin” Scheerhorn (or rather Shroud of Dickson, TN built by Tim Scheerhorn, in 2005, out of quilted maple. I am the second owner, Tim was the first—this was his personal ‘show’ guitar.
It’s got a crazy beautiful sunburst maple quilt thang goin on......The little flash in the middle of the back is lighting or something from the camera.

It also has Tim’s very first Schertler/Scheerhorn pickup installed in it.....which is no longer used because of the success of the Fishman Nashville pick up system.

Michael, thanks for posting photos of this beautiful guitar.

Your friend,

C. E. Jackson

Brooks, thanks for posting photos and comments
of your beautiful Sheerhorn guitar. A great looking
instrument.

Your friend,

C. E. Jackson

I am the oldest of 10 children, 7 boys and 3 girls.
We lost one of the boys last August and have not
had an entire family visit since. We are currently
planning a dinner at one brother's camp and will
play music and sing after, as well as visit. I don't
know how many will bring instruments, but I will
play steel, another brother will play acoustic guitar,
and a niece will probably play cello (she is a
professional who teaches and plays special events).

Here is a photo of the guitar I plan to take and
one of my favorite songs I like to play on it. This
guitar is not my most valuable, but a keeper.

GIBSON EH-185N (v.2) 6 STRING ES-300 pu NATURAL: c. 1940


See Duchossoir, page 57, for a photo of this instrument. This instrument was shipped with a
re-cut metal insert, as shown, to install the newer diagonal pickup with adjustable poles. See
Duchossoir, pages 30-31, 45-47, 56-57 for model specs and additional information on
EH-185 models.

MOCKING BIRD HILL

Hope you enjoy the song.

Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson

the real deal
a many lapsteels the frypan is the grail

I am selling off my personal Treasure Chest of Steel Guitars.

Looking in a closet I found this Lap Steel Guitar and 2 more Double neck consoles from my personal Museum.

I haven't thought about these particular instruments for over 5 years.

This lap is from my very first batch, when I was making these in my back yard with all hand held tools - power and manual.
I had a MDF pattern and got about 10 before it got too worn out.

This is #006 of all 500 + guitars I have made over the past 26 years.

Thick booked slabs of super figured Walnut on top of a 1 piece Maple lower body.

The strings are just to temporary hold the nut and bridge pins.

George Piburn wrote:I am selling off my personal Treasure Chest of Steel Guitars.

Looking in a closet I found this Lap Steel Guitar and 2 more Double neck consoles from my personal Museum.

I haven't thought about these particular instruments for over 5 years.

This lap is from my very first batch, when I was making these in my back yard with all hand held tools - power and manual.
I had a MDF pattern and got about 10 before it got too worn out.

This is #006 of all 500 + guitars I have made over the past 26 years.

I was just looking at #009 on Reverb yesterday! Owned by George Benson... wow. Is 1979 right?
I wonder what he played on it.

https://reverb.com/item/35743932-george ... 79-natural

Hello from GeorgeBoards

Joe: That George Benson lap is for real, Not a 1979 though. It is #009 of that same backyard run described above.
If you look closely at the fretboard on the reverb guitar that was so far back, I was going to Kinko's and making clear acetate unlays and hand making the plexi cover.
When I developed the Console I also figured out the Etched Plexi with the Hula Dancers.

My Hawaiian friend Henry Allen Hawaii's most well known jazz guitarist and last of the Hollywood Hawaiian's were neighbors.
I brought over that lap to play on holiday - we played out at a golf resort restaurant George was there , and a few other well known performers.

George just had to have it so.....

To continue the saga, at the time 1995-97-ish, I was only into making Laps and Henry was wanting me to make a more Hawaiian Console.
I told them I would match their 3000 little solutions to design and develop a CNC Console.
I did and Benson Sponsored and got my 1st D8 GeorgeBoards Console, delivered to Maui in of course a Pelican Case.

Gilbert Lazar wrote: the real deal
a many lapsteels the frypan is the grail

Gilbert, from the photo, that looks like a large
horseshoe magnet. If you have a recording, please
share it with this group. It sure looks like a
keeper to me.

Friend to all,

C. E. Jackson