The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone know anything about this instrument? What does the mechanical part do? It looks like it might be a string bender...

http://cgi.ebay.com/HARMOLIN-STEEL-Lap- ... _500wt_722

I think this is the link you wanted actually:

http://cgi.ebay.com/HARMOLIN-STEEL-Lap- ... 3cae3ab48a

REMOVED

Oops! Yes, that's the link. I'll fix my original posting. Thanks for the info!

This critter was made by mr Smith of the Melobar guitars.

I have one of the old ones and not electric. I dont have the string bender part.

I called the Melobar people and got a hold of the son and he told me that I called 2 weeks to late as his dad ,the builder, had just passed away.
He said that he still has the pat on it and that the first ones were made in the Dobro factry in california. He was good frends with mr Dopra and on the weekends he could use the factory to build these guitars.

I bought my guitar at a yard sale and paid $50.00 just to hang on the wall

Ron Frazier.

New poster here; long time player and occasional collector...
I bid on this and dropped out around the $450 mark. It ended up selling for $835 or so. Guess someone is more interested in 'Volu-Tone Junk' than I am!
No offense to Mr. Allen... I have four Volu-tone laps right now, two of them still have the four-prong plug, the other two sound very good through an amp, although the pickups might be considered a little weak. From what I understand, they were not 'permanent' magnets and were designed to be 'charged' before use each time, and I guess the two I have with the 1/4" jacks haven't been charged in years. I like 'em though, just not as much as the Mighty Slingerland.

I should probably use the search button, but aren't those the pickups that can kill people?

REMOVED

Thank you Mr. Allen for your learned and valuable input. To be sure, the guitar in the auction is a dinosaur, a rather clunky one at that. Yet it is fascinating in its own primitive way (not enough to inspire me to spend eight hundred dollars on one of the damn things).
I wonder if there are any confirmed reports of anybody actually getting electrocuted while playing one of these instruments?

http://www.elvispelvis.com/electrocuted.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Relf

Where was the confirmation? I missed it

In my post? That was a joke. Well, as much as you can joke about death.

Once you start poking into what goes into these old amps, healthy amount of respect is beyond necessary. New amps too.

I was aware of the electrocution deaths of both Lee Harvey of stone the crows (didn't know he was Alex Harvey's brother though) and Keith Relf of the Yardbirds (and later, Armageddon). These both occured with conventional electric guitars. Everyone needs to have a healthy respect for all things electrical!