The Steel Guitar Forum

Got some unexcpected and well paid gigs in the near future and decided to spend the money on one more vintage steel before the taxman gets his hands on them...

I ended up with this Fender Studio Deluxe that I spotted on Gbase, the seller claims it's a 1960 model (but I understand these are hard to date exactly), and I gave $650 for it. From others I've seen that seems like a 'fair' price, but no 'steal'.



I've always imagined that these sounds pretty thin, but I found a couple videos (one with Aubrey Ghent and one with a French guy playing some great funky blues) and loved the tone on those, reminded me of a somewhat softer/warmer version of a Tele's bridge pickup. If that's the case then it'll fill the gap nicely between my Asher Jr's "modern" humbucker tone and my Tonemaster's fat "brown" tone.

Can't find much info about these models on the web, except they're basically Champs with legs and a slightly deeper body.
Anybody has some more info and personal experience with these? Anything would be appreciated, I love knowing as much as possible about the history of vintage instruments I come across..

You can generally date old, non-export Fender guitars to within a couple of years by the case, IF yours came with a case.

http://home.provide.net/~cfh/fender.html#cases

Chris

Thanks! Guess the '1960' date of mine is pretty accurate then:

From mid-1959 to 1961 the exterior of the Fender case changed. A new material called "Tolex" was now used, in a coffee-with-cream type brown color.

Here's the case:

They are nice-looking guitars, but I heard they were lacking in tone as opposed to the Champs, which sound fantastic. I've never played one myself, so I'm only passing on secondhand info.

Mike Neer wrote:...I heard they were lacking in tone as opposed to the Champs,

Hmmm...... sure you're not meaning the Champions sounding better, since the Champ and Studio Deluxe are practically identical? They have a Telecaster style pickup which probably is more edgy than the Strat style pickup in the Champ/Studio Deluxe. Several Champions have been butchered by people looking for a good vintage pickup for their Tele...

Right, the Champion. The Studio Deluxe is similar to the Champ.

Hi Steinar,

To me the tone of these guitars is thin and lacking the qualities I look for. No comparing to the DeLuxe models with the Stringmaster type pickups. It is a credit to Aubrey Ghent that he made his sound as good as he did. And we had to do some EQ in the studio.

South Carolina sacred steeler Anthony Fox has one that he fitted with a "fat" (or was it phat?) pickup that I believe was made by Seymour Duncan. The improvement in tone was huge. I don't see it in the SD online catalog (it looked like the std. Fender pickup, not like the Phat Cat). You might try e-mailing Seymour Duncan. Well worth pursuing, in my opinion.

Good luck.

Best,

Bob

Bob,- yes, I've been thinking about replacing the pickup if I'm not happy with the original. Steve Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars makes some great sounding "P90"s in Strat and Tele size (so they're not quite P90s but share the same setup regarding magnets and poles). I have a set of these in one of my Teles and love them, they preserve much of the basic Tele character while still sounding warmer and fuller.
So I'll probably get one of those if I'm not happy with the original.

Hi Steinar,

I will also try to talk to Fox. My student has one of these guitars that sounds especially bad. I left a couple of voice mails for Fox but never heard back. I suspect the phone number is dated. I'll see if I can reach him by other means.

If you install a Vintage Vibe pickup, please let me know how it works out.

FYI, my student bought a 60s Supro Comet off eBay for $300 and loves it. She still has the Fender and would probably be interested in replacing the pickup.

Best,

Bob

Will do, Bob! I've just sent a mail to Biltoft and explained what I'm looking for, he's very creative in his pickup designs and will do almost anything to make the customer happy.

I was considering several Champions, but don't like the 'all in one' control plate and bridge cover, I want to have access to the bridge for muting.
Plus, the Studio Deluxe is pretty and has legs, and who can resist that?

Hi,

I think a good pickup will work wonders. Fox's steel sounds great.

Best,

Bob

Steinar, I've played a 58 champ since new (I was 8 then and played as a student) skipping quite a few years to pursue guitar. I still gig with it often. A few years ago, I got dissatisfied with the sound of the pickup for the music I was playing, and installed a single space humbucker. Recently, I reinstalled the original pickup to give it another go. I'm usually using it for some tunes, and an old horseshoe Rick for others. I like the sound, but it's NOT the best for "everything' in my opinion. Looks like you made a very nice find. They are pretty, and quite "tough" compared to a lot of other vintage "student line" laps.

Does anyone know how deep the routing of the pickup cavity is? The SP90s are taller than regular single coils, and according to Pete Biltoft they will fit all Strats except the 57 reissues, so I'd like to find out if they fit the Studio Deluxe before I order.

Steinar Gregertsen wrote:Bob,- yes, I've been thinking about replacing the pickup if I'm not happy with the original. Steve Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars makes some great sounding "P90"s in Strat and Tele size (so they're not quite P90s but share the same setup regarding magnets and poles). I have a set of these in one of my Teles and love them, they preserve much of the basic Tele character while still sounding warmer and fuller.
So I'll probably get one of those if I'm not happy with the original.

Hey Steinar, Congrats, I was really after a fender lap for a while until I tried a few, the sound was way to thin. You got the right ideal though replace the pick up, with one from Pete (not Steve) Biltoft. I finally going replace the stock ones in my Asher with one of his Charley Christions, for the neck, I'm still trying to figure out if I want a P90 or a humbucker for the bridge. I look forward to hearing how yours sounds

Ah yes, of course, it's Pete not Steve...
I ended up ordering one of his "blade" single coils with Alnico 3 magnets, he claims it sounds smoother than the SP-90 I was considering. He'll flatten the blade to make it better suited for lap steel.

Please keep us posted Steinar! I play an old Champ, but it's my first and only electric guitar, so I have nothing to compare it too. I can say I struggle sometimes finding a tone I like, but I sometimes chalk this up to my lack of experience on the electric. I'm intersted in hearing about your experience with yours.

Well, the steel arrived yesterday, and as expected the original pickup sounded very thin and anemic. Fortunately the pickup from Vintage Vibe arrived today, and, also as expected, it improved the tone 200%, it sounds like a real steel now.
Here's a pic of it with the new blade singlecoil pickup:



In general I miss some sustain in this steel, I suspect that has to do with the short scale since I'm used to playing long scale steels. The first string is a 015 tuned to D (I've set it up for "dobro" G and G6), and when I play the opening line of "Sleepwalk" the fourth note is almost gone..
I'll probably also replace the tone pot with a 250K pot, not sure what is in there now because it had no value printed on the back, but it works pretty much as a "tone on/off" control,- great for boo-wah effects but not for finding the 'sweet spot', which is how I like to use the tone control.

Other than that? It's a sweetie, and I think it was money well spent.

Sustain issue solved,- picked everything apart, checked that all the parts were clean and in good condition, put it back together making sure everything was tight, and now it sings like a bird.

Love the tone of the VVG pickup, a different voice than my Asher or Tonemaster, which is what I was aiming for. Looks cool too:

Cool lookin' piece Steinar ! Looks to be in excellent condition also. Now that it's in tip-top shape, we need a VIDEO ASAP !

Picked up a Deluxe 6 recently (wish it was in as good a shape as your Studio Deluxe though).. looking forward to getting it soon. My Tonemaster is with Bill Asher getting the once-over.

Congrats Mitch! I've always wanted one of those...

Very nice Steal I can't wait to hear a sound clip. Could you do something bluesy or better yet a rockabilly tune!

Can't wait for a clip also. Whatever Steinar does, you know it will be classy and tasty for sure !!

I third the request for a sound sample, and totally agree about "classy and tasty for sure"

Hi Steinar, I'm thinking of getting one of these pups for my Champ project. Can you provide me with the particulars of where to get one, what model it is, how much you paid and if any routing was required? And any overall opinions you are now considering about this purchase...Thanks

Hi Garry, you can contact Pete Biltoft at vintagevibeguitars@gorge.net - the model is a "Blade polepiece singlecoil for Strat", bridge version, and I chose Alnico III magnet in mine on Pete's recommendation (you can choose between Alnico II, III, V and Ceramic 8 ).
Remember to tell him that you'll be using it with a lap steel so he files the blade flat (the standard model comes with a radiused blade).
The prise is $83, can't remember if he charged anything extra for flattening the blade but I don't think he did.
No routing was required for the pickup, but the screws that came with it were a little bit too long so I had to use the original screws which fortunately fit perfectly.

If I should have ordered one today I would have asked him to wind it just a hair hotter than the one I have, other than that I'm perfectly happy with it.