The Steel Guitar Forum

I have a 53 Console Grand Double 8. A friend of mine has a 7-8 ealier date. Pickups on his are not Charlie Christian style, but like P-90's without pickup covers and never had them. Can anyone tell me when they added the pickup covers? I have a problem with mine, some of the wound strings rub and buzz against the pickup covers. I checked it top and bottom with a precission straight edge and it isn't warped. Should I just remove the pickup covers or shim the bridge ?

Bobby:
The pickup covers were added to Gibsons early on (about 1937, I think), and remained a staple of many Gibson lap steels for more than thirty years. I have a 1967 Century whose pickup cover (and nut) are identical to those on my 1938 EH-150.

I'm surprised that there's so little clearance under your covers. I have a 7-8
Console Grande of the same vintage, and there is nearly 1/8" clearance, more than enough to
accomodate the thickest strings. I haven't had this problem with a Gibson before, but I have with other brands. A thin washer has always been enough to put it right.

Thanks Ian, I'll give that a try first. If I lose any sustain I'll try a 1/16" shim under the bridge. One of my hobbies is machining so it shouldn't take long to make a few.