The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello everyone, I picked this up on vacation so now I’m going headlong into lap steel world. Not sure what year this is,

Great condition other than a little funny business on one of the pick up covers.

Howdy Christopher, great looking Grand Console you've got there! If you flip it over there should be a little steel plate with the serial number stamped on it which you can cross reference against this approximate guide;

1940 - 42 ----------- G suffix
1947 ---------------- V100 - V7500
1948 ---------------- V7500 - V15000
1949 ---------------- V15000 - V25000
1950 ---------------- V25000 - V35000
1951 ---------------- V35000 - V38000 X100 - X7000
1952 ---------------- X7000 - X17000
1953 ---------------- X17000 - X30000
1954 ---------------- X30000 - X43000
1955 ---------------- X43000 - X57000
1956 ---------------- X57000 - X71000
1957 ---------------- X71000 - X85000
1958 ---------------- X85000 - X99000
T100 - T5000
1959 ---------------- T5000 - T25000
1960 ---------------- T25000 - T50000
1961 ---------------- T50000 - T75000
1962 ---------------- T75000 - T90000
G100 - G5000
1963 ---------------- T90000 - T99000
G5000 - G15000
1964 ---------------- G15000 - G40000


1964 - early 68 ----- sticker w/"1" prefix
early to mid 1968 --- sticker w/"2" prefix

That's a beautiful instrument!

Thanks guys there is no metal tag or numbers anywhere that I see. There is some residue at the top of one neck that could have been a sticker at one time?

This control layout identifies it as one of the last consoles made by National, sometime after the 1964 catalogue and before the closure of the company in 1968. It would indeed have had the serial number on a sticker, unlike earlier instruments. Pot codes may provide a better earliest date of assembly.

Thanks for the info, If I get it apart one day I’ll check pot dates. I’m not to worried about the year, just happy this guitar found me!!! Never played an 8 string before, so I’m excited to expand my musical horizons!!!