National lap steel pickups

[Jack Hanson]

Can anyone explain the differences in sound between these two National guitars:

1) The prewar (G-suffix) Dynamic with the string-through pickup.

2) The postwar (V-prefix) New Yorker with the big square pickup.

[Doug Beaumier]

When you say "the big square pickup" I assume you mean a standard string-over pickup ... In general, the string-through pickup has a more gritty, compressed sound than the more modern string-over pickup. The latter sounds a little cleaner IMO. Some players prefer the string-through pickup for blues or music with a little more 'edge'. Some prefer cleaner tones.

[Lee Holliday]

Or do you mean the pickups like in the later New Yorkers, big plate with the visible pole pieces. A lot of these also have a concealed pickup under the fingerboard.

Regards

Lee

[J. Wilson]

I have both. The string-thru design is more powerful so you get a stronger signal and more headroom. The postwar version is weaker but has a neat growl (others here have testified as much of their National Dynamics also) that none of my other steels has. It definitely has it's own voice. This is why David Lindley used one a lot, and in listening to his early work with Jackson Browne you can really tell when he's using his National vs. his Ric B6. They both sound fabulous but definitely have radically different voices.