The Steel Guitar Forum

First of all, I'm new here (and new to lap steel) so thank you in advanced for such a great community...

I have an old Oahu lap steel with the built in Supro style sting through pickup... Lindy Franlin provided new magnets on my hunt to figure out this problem, but the problem persists...

the Pickup is clear and loud, with the exception of the 4th string, which is almost completely quiet.

here's the weird part - by playing around with the magnets (trying to figure out how this odd pickup works) - if I reverse ONE of the magnets - all of the other strings go silent, but the 4th string is suddenly loud and proud - which I don't understand and makes me think there's something going on under the hood that is phase canceling that string?

Putting that test aside, I tried to simply raise the pole piece on that string and the old screw, which was completely siezed up, crumbled under my screw driver, so I guess that's not going anywhere (using pliers on the opposite end to turn it didn't yield any results).

As is (back to normal) the 4th string is basically out of the mix. You can hear it, but sonically, the volume drop is extremely problematic. The rest sound fantastic.

Has anyone encountered anything like this?

Just a guess…
Maybe the steel string had become magnetized. Have you tried changing it to a new string?

I imagine you'll need to get that crusty poll piece out and replace it as a start, no?

thanks - about the string. I did change it, but I then put a larger one on - seemed to help pull a little more out. ...when (if) I can get the screw out, and put a new one in, I think that would give me what I need - especially if I can adjust all the others appropriately.

Question - I don't know these old pickup - any harm putting a tiny bit of deoxit on the poles in hopes of loosening them up? Or machine oil?

Hi Brian,

Denny Turner recommends using penetrating oil.

Here's a link to his amazingly detailed website. He has loads of information on working with Valco/Supro string through pickups.

Best of luck with this.

http://www.dennysguitars.com/BillRicklesSuproP16.html

Thanks Ted, what a great resource!