The Steel Guitar Forum

The guitar tech who is fixing my Stringmaster Quad called me to give me an update. Everything is good on the guitar, a little corrosion in the electronics which can be cleaned up and I don't have to replace the switch which would basically be impossible.

But one of the things he said to me before he had really dived into it was:

"Ya know. People would give their eye teeth for these pickups. You could probably get $400 a piece for them and you have 8"

which would add up to about a grand more than I paid for the Quad.

Of course I would never destroy such a rare and valuable instrument by parting it out, but I wonder how many great steels we've lost forever because the parts are worth more than the instrument itself.

Quite a few, probably. I know people go after the vintage 6-string lap steels because the pickups go right into their vintage electrics.

As for the others, unfortunately you can find quite a few listings on eBay from people taking apart steels such as yours and selling the parts separately.

What is a guitar player going to do with an 8 string pickup?
I don't know about that claim but there is good money in parts - some must die so others can live. I don't see a huge market for string master parts, but yeah, a quad is worth more parted. I once almost bought a t-8 just for spare parts but it was past it's day.
I'm always suspicious of values like this - its an inside secret they inflate the value of things so you don't balk at the repair bill... You know, after they tell you it's worth $10k..you don't mind the $800 bill they just charged for 2 hrs work.

No idea.

(he said) ...People would give their eye teeth for these pickups. You could probably get $400 a piece for them and you have 8

He's wrong. As Jerome said, 8-string PUs are of no interest to guitarists. But... I've seen a lot of Fender Champions and Champs (6-strings) stripped of their pickups, pots, and control Knobs. Fender used the same parts on Telecasters of the era. Before I buy any Champ or Champion today I want to see the electronics. I've seen too many with new replacement pots and pickups. Same thing with Gibsons. Especially the knobs, which are often robbed for someone's Les Paul guitar and replaced with new repros.

The repairman's talk about parting out the quad is very troubling, but it's about what I expect from guitar guys nowadays.

Bill McCloskey wrote: "Ya know. People would give their eye teeth for these pickups. You could probably get $400 a piece for them and you have 8"

This begs the question -- what are eye teeth going for these days?

Interestingly enough, you could buy 8 pickups from about 15 or 20 different sources that are likely to be quieter, more consistent and overall a "better" piece of electronic device than the originals... it seems to me that people who hear through their wallets are highly likely to be "gifted" with some localized interference, IYKWIM.

I wonder how many great steels we've lost forever because the parts are worth more than the instrument itself.

Here's another one on eBay. A nice old Fender Champion, stripped of it's pickup, pots, and knobs and being sold as a project. What a shame. -----> CLICK

Please don't hate me... but back in the early 1970's I removed an 8 string pickup from my Stringmaster and mounted it in my acoustic guitar sound hole.
I was playing in a band where I played Tele and Pedal steel and I wanted to do some acoustic songs. It sounded great in the guitar, and I never thought I would Play the old non pedal again!!!

Oh how foolish I was....

Worse yet I sold the guitar with the stringmaster pickup!!!

I have never seen a real Fender, let alone a triple or quad

I don't think Fenders lap steels were ever exported to South Africa.

Original Stringmaster pickups are going for about $120 on eBay right now... although I've seen them go for more. Duncan makes them in his Antiquity series... you should buy them in pairs, they're RWRP.

Champ pickups are not Tele, nor Strat... they're Duo-Sonic, Mustang, Musicmaker pickups. Pretty sure there's a Duncan equivalent to these also... although I find it much better to replace these with dual-blade humbuckers if you're not going for the zippy bright original tone. Junior Brown has them RWRP in the Guit-Steel, they sound great when humbuckered together RWRP.

Its one thing salvaging working parts off an abused / misused organ donor, but it always makes me sad to see a nice old instrument striped down and cannibalized for the vintage parts market.

Junior Barnard may have been the first guy to take the pickup out of a Fender steel and put it on a guitar.

Doug Beaumier wrote:

I wonder how many great steels we've lost forever because the parts are worth more than the instrument itself.

Here's another one on eBay. A nice old Fender Champion, stripped of it's pickup, pots, and knobs and being sold as a project. What a shame. -----> CLICK

Doug,
I have bought several items from that seller. Actually, if you look at his "other items". he has all the parts for the Champion. Seems like he is also parting out a Stringmaster too. Why he takes them apart and sells the parts individually? I guess he gets more that way.
gary

Ah, yes... the seller in Memphis who specializes in bastardizing guitars and selling off the parts. I remember him from a few years ago. When I emailed him about it he proudly said he Loves tearing them apart and has no problem doing that. Actually, I bought some very hard to find parts for my 1968 telecaster from him about ten years ago, and I was thrilled to find them... and I paid top dollar for them, outbidding everyone else.
I have no problem with sellers parting out incomplete "parts" guitars, but tearing apart a complete, fully functioning guitar is pretty low.

Doug Beaumier wrote:
I have no problem with sellers parting out incomplete "parts" guitars, but tearing apart a complete, fully functioning guitar is pretty low.

Yes Doug I agree. I hate to see a beautiful instrument ripped up for parts and a few extra $$$.

Got my guitar back and it is all fixed and sounding great. The shop told me they contacted Fender just in case about switch parts and they told him; "You are the second person in my entire life that has asked me about those. We don't even have the schematics anymore".

So good thing no parts needed replacing!

Well I rescued these three on eBay about three years ago from someone who had no idea what they were or what to do with them. The pickups and tuners had to have been used for something else at some time.




I never did find out who Art Boyer was.

Bill, it's interesting to hear that not even Fender Co. knows much about the quads. Of course, the current multi-national corporation that calls itself FENDER bears no resemblance to the original Fender company.

I know a certain amount of people disdain collectors.......but at least these vintage babies are kept whole and preserved.....and eventually passed down/sold to the next buyer or recipient.....