The Steel Guitar Forum

Here's an old lap steel that I got on the cheap the other day. Surely some of you know about instruments like these. My newbie guess is that it's a National (or similar brand). I suspect that the tuners are (unfortunately) original and that the pickup has (also unfortunately?) been replaced and the input jack moved. Oh, and the volume and tone controls... Any advice, folks?

Harmony H1, 1960s. Replacement pickup and controls.

Keith Calmes wrote:Any advice, folks?

If you like the way it sounds just play it. I have one of these and the "fretboard" graphics don't match the scale length. I could never play it in tune.

Fred

Thanks for the feedback on this instrument.
The fretboard graphics seem to be lined up.
Despite being a "lesser" instrument, it seems fine.
If anyone has suggestions for an original (or handmade) pick guard or pickup replacements, I'm all ears.

Looks like someone took a chunk of wood out of the body to install that humbucker. I'd leave it and the guard alone, as reinstalling originals (or facsimilies) would be problematic now and probably not be economically worthwhile.

Noah Miller wrote:Looks like someone took a chunk of wood out of the body to install that humbucker. I'd leave it and the guard alone, as reinstalling originals (or facsimilies) would be problematic now and probably not be economically worthwhile.

This sounds like good advice!

That's a good base to start with to mod.
Zillion choices...what would you like to end up with?

Chris Harwood wrote:That's a good base to start with to mod.
Zillion choices...what would you like to end up with?

Thanks for the reply.
The modified pickup does sound good so I'll leave that alone. I've decided to just replace the knobs and "pick guard" with parts that look original. Those tuners are stubborn and will need to replaced also.

I looked for vintage parts online yesterday and didn't find anything suitable. It's much easier to buy parts that resemble the originals, right?