Supro 6 lap steel model?

[Jeff Williams]

I trying to find out what the model is of a Supro (6 string) lap steel that I have. I doesn't have a serial number on it, so that's no help. It has roman numeral fret markers which are painted onto a transparet plastic adhesive. The shape has flared points where the neck meets the body -- although its all one piece -- and then slopes inward from there, and then out again slightly at the bottom. Two black knobs -- -- a hard-wired cord. The strings pass through the pick-up. And not that it matters, but its a "cream corn" color pearloid finish -- 30 inches long.

Any ideas where I could find out about this model -- approximate age -- were these good steel guitars in their time, are they still?

Thanks for any help here

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[Brad Bechtel]

It sounds like you have a Supro Irene, built between 1942 and 1943. This is my guess based on information found in Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars by George Gruhn and Walter Carter.
Supros in general are considered to be fine instruments, particularly the pickups, which have a good overdriven tone. You may need new tuner buttons; most older lap steels made by National/Valco seem to suffer from disintegration of the plastic used on the tuners.


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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars