The Steel Guitar Forum

Just like to know, what is the oldest steel guitar you own now and what is the oldest pedal guitar you have ever had.
Lets cover lap steels also, I think some of you guys have some great old guitars, tell us about them!

Bobbe

The oldest guitar I now have is (I believe) a '73 Sho Bud LDG. I've had it since '74. Still plays & sounds great. YEARS ago at one time I had a Pedalmaster D-10 made by Leroy Prine in Ft. Smith,AR. AND a little Multichord.

Well, that "Little Multi Kord" isn't new! ha! A '47?

The oldest steel guitar I now own is a 49 Gibson Electraharp. It has pedals of sorts, but I use it mostly as a table steel, that early P-90 sounds great. The oldest "modern" pedal steel I have now is a 71 or 72 round-front Sho Bud Professional S-10 3+3 rack and barrel. I wish I could bottle that natural resonance and sprinkle it on all my steels. Just picked up a mid-50s Stringmaster D8. Well-played but cool.

I believe the oldest steel guitar I've ever had was a late 30s Epiphone Electar 6-string lap steel. It had a thick bluesy tone through an old tweed amp or my blue and white Bronson Singing Electric amp - the latter now in the hands of a very fine blues harp player. There were some 40s lap steels - a D8 National with totem pole inlays, an old Supro, and an Oahu Tonemaster. I dunno why I sold any of those, what was I thinking? I suppose I needed money for a Telecaster or something.

Well, practically everyone knows that I have an original 1956 Quad-8 Bigsby with six pedals.

I guess the Rick-6 Fry Pan that I recently acquired from Mike Neer is probably the oldest, oldest, with an assorment of Rick-6 & Rick-7 PreWars following closely behind.

I also now have an olde VOLU-TONE amp, just like the one JERRY BYRD placed in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The problem with this thread is that there are a lot of old instruments on the market, and anyone can buy them. I have two Multi-Kords, but I only bought them this year. It would count more if I'd bought them new and played them all those years.
Ray's record is in a different class... he's actually played his instruments continually since he bought them, and his old guitars have been his working instruments.

My Pedal Steel is only a couple of years old,That's me on the left Green Desert Rose,My good friend Danny Keough on the right with his Sho-Bud My Lap steel might have come over on the Mayflower...Make that Mayflower Madam

I don't know the exact date, but a early to mid 40's Rickenbacher, then a late 40's Fender Dual Professional, a '54 triple neck Stringmaster, a '57 or '58 Fender 400, a '63 Fender 1000, and the newest steel I own a '79-'80 Sho-Bud ProI.

I also have a '36 square neck Dobro, so I guess that would be the oldest.

The oldest steel I've ever owned was a double neck 6 string Oahu with the perliod covering. I got it, used, in the early 50's so I assume it's a 40's model.

The first pedal steel I owned was a Fender 2000, that was the Fender demo steel at the 1969 DJ Convention.

The oldest steel i had and just rebought last year is a
1969 ZB D10 and my Sho-Bud super per D10 bought in 1980. for sale in England for £1550
The ZB is up for sale in England For £1000, as i just bought a Sierra 12 uni 3 years old

A Martin 0-18 KH acoustic hawaiian 1936

We own a Fender Stringmaster probably around '50 or so,but it is really in poor shape. It was purchased and played by my wifes Dad.

t

I have a 1974 Emmons D10 8x5 "Fatback" Walnut Mica. The guitar is older than me, so I have no stories about her

My oldest PEDAL STEEL, is a Gibsom Multiharp 1954 6 pedals 3x8 string necks.

The oldest Lap steel I owned was a 1935 Gibson EH-150 Metalbody

I have a 1933 Gibson Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe that my dad purchased new. He is 97 years old and is still doing well.

Jim

Posted for my wife Nan, she owned a fender 6 string plywood, over the years the plywood split and came apart, also a fender amp model unknown. The guitar was burned, wish I had kept the parts, pickup ect.

For ernie, I started out with a Harmony flat top with a bridge over the nut, it was mahogany brown, later dad bought me a regal 6 string. amp unknown.When I was on the La. Hayride I had a D 8 National, beautiful ggood playing guitar. will find pix and post later.
a NATIONAL D8, ALSO A FENDER 1000.
NOW HAVE A NATIONAL BY SUPRO 6 STRING.
Also I bought a new Shobud Professional in 1972, sold it recently.


ernie

I have an all original Harlin Brothers four pedal Multi-Kord that my father bought new for me in 1948. It is all cast aluminum including the tuning and changer covers. It is painted a sunburst two tone brown and it has a fretboard of different colors.

The case is original and is one of those old thin, hard, black pressed paper, forbond, or cardboard of somekind like the old drum cases were made of. It is still in good shape for its age.

I haven't played it for years.

I also have 3 other Multi-Kords but two I don't know the age. They have wood bodies.

The one I play is covered with white Mother of Pearl with black plastic tuning and changer covers. It is a six string six pedal. I bought it new from Jay Harlin in 1961 or 62. ??

My oldest pedal steel was a fingertip Sho~Bud I ordered from Shot Jackson in 1965.

My two oldest lap steels are a 1937 bakelite Rickenbacher and a 1937 Gibson 7 string EH-150.

The oldest non-pedal steel I prsently own is a double 8 1956 Rickenbacker. The oldest pedal steel I currently have is a 1965 Fender 400. The oldest non-pedal steel I ever owned was a six string Supro back in about 1948 and the oldest pedal steel I ever owned was a circa 1959 four neck 8 string Wright Custom.
Keep Steelin'

The oldest one I own now is a 78 Emmons PP. The oldest one I ever owned was probably the first one I ever owned. It was a Sho-Bud beginners model. I have no idea what year it was made but it had gone through several owners long before I ever owned it. I payed $85 for it and traded it in on a Sho-Bud Pro I and Don Pack in San Antonio gave me $200 trade-in allowance for it. What a guy!!!

The oldest non pedal I had was a square neck box style Oahu that my mom taught Hawiian steel on in Cols. Ohio around 43. The oldest pedal steel I owned and played was a fifties something Fender 1000. It was the orginal style, blond with silver metal body.

I have a Rickenbacker S-8 pedal steel and a Fender 1000 (D-8). Both are from the early 1960's.

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My first pedal steel was older than that, but it didn't have a brand name it. It was sort of a Multikord clone. It didn't work very well, and I eventually destroyed it out of frustration.

Speaking of old steels,I'm looking for a playable Fender T8 or Quad. Thanks...Roger

1938 Gibson EH150.