This futuristic-looking all-metal lap steel guitar from 1935 is a major historical piece and a fine example of the Gibson company's first-ever electric guitar. The hollow cast aluminum body is fitted with Gibson's earliest bar magnet pickup - later nicknamed the 'Charlie Christian' pickup. This seminal pickup - the first designed by Walter Fuller in mid-'35 - has an unbound black plastic coil form with a single metal blade pole-piece for the three bass strings and segmented blades for the treble strings.The very advanced for 1935 circuitry features both volume and tone controls with a fancy Bakelite knob on either side of the lower bout-a feature requested by Gibson's consultant Alvino Rey. The body's shoulders are more rounded and angle into neck at a sharper angle compared to the subsequent wooden-body EH-150.
May 19, 2014 Hexx Henderson playing a Gibson EH-150 Charlie Christian Lap Steel - Duration: 1:42. Normans Rare Guitars 13,392 views. This BEAUTIFUL circa 1960 GIBSON LAP STEEL GUITAR is in the original MINT CONDITION plush lined case with brass GIBSON label – the guitar bears serial number 164590 – it has been thoroughly tested with a quality period amplifier and it sounds fine.
The unbound ebony fingerboard has a V-shaped end, white flush fret inlays and mother-of-pearl dot markers. This instrument has the second style of bridge, with slots to hold the strings but only two securing screws. The body, neck and headstock on the E-150 are finished in raw aluminum, no doubt influenced by the Rickenbacker Electro instruments.
The original open back Grover tuners are stamped with the company logo and are nickel- plated.This model was originally designated both the 'EHG' (Electric Hawaiian Guitar) and 'E-150' reflecting the original $150.00 list price of the guitar-amp set. Gibson's records indicate that somewhere around 100 of this model were shipped from Kalamazoo from October 1935 into the beginning of 1936. The production run was very limited; Gibson quickly deduced that the metal body (which had to be outsourced) was not an advantage and switched to a wooden body built in-house.The serial numbers on this model-apparently beginning at 100 and running up to just over 200-are a specific series impressed into the metal, and records indicate that the same instrument was sometimes shipped out to several different dealers before eventually finding a home!
By any standard this is one of the rarest models in Gibson history. Not only were a very limited number originally produced, but more than a few were likely sacrificed to the WWII aluminum drives enforced from around 1942! In terms of not only Gibson history but the story of the 20th century guitar in general the E-150 is a milestone design, and marks the progress of the electric guitar from novelty to ubiquity.The guitar was paired with Gibson amps.(see TYS electric guitar collection Gibson EH 150 guitar amplifier (Version 1), 1935).
.For all dates, you will need to look at the construction technique and components used to get a more precise date of manufacture. Gibson Solid Body Serial Numbers Gibson Serial numbers are located on the back of the headstock Years 1953-1961 Use the first number of the 5 or 6 digit serial number.
For example 55395. Oct 28, 2017. Dating Hamers The first Hamer Standard was numbered 0000 stamped into the wood and subsequently consecutive numbers were used on all guitars until 1977. AMPHENOLADAPTOR2.jpg' alt='Gibson Lap Steel Serial Numbers' title='Gibson Lap Steel Serial Numbers' /You are the musician and the.The whole transaction started with an e-mail I received from a guy who wanted to sell me a 50's jackplate. Ended up with me purchasing one of THE nicest condition vintage Gibson BR-9 Lapsteels, original case and matching Amp I have EVER come across!An 'Under-The-Bed' special!!
The only problem is, I have NO IDEA what year the lapsteel was manufactured! There is no serial number on the back of the headstock. It wasn't removed, it came stock from the factory without one. I won't bore you with a lot of superlatives, but just check out the photo of the pickup (from a 'looking down the neck' angle).NOT ONE spec of rust!! Issues: 1) A small, rough patch on the back, where the owner told me used to be a piece of velcro.
2) A slight ding on the lower bout below the strumming area.3) I have no fucking idea how to play one of these! Click on any 'thumbnail'. I use Jagwire strings for lap steel. You probably haven't heard of them. But they are handmade, and great quality.They make three 'Steel Guitar Forum' sets for three different lap steel tunings.
E major or A major tuning is fun, easy and great for blues and rock. However, the great advantage of 6th tunings (C6, A6) is that if you treat the 6 as a root, it gives you a minor chord without having to slant the bar. Drop me an email and I'll send you a PDF of a magazine article I wrote with lots of info. Enjoy that BR9, it looks great. BurstMeUp, Here's a link to 'THE' resource for steel guitar and lapsteel. Scotty set the standard years ago.and folks that have gone through his shop are the who's who of the music industry.Buddy Emmons to Jerry Garcia.
I picked up lap steel playing over the past year and find the E 7th tuning the easiest to adapt to any tune. It is a blast to play!! Look at Scotty's site for 'strings, non-pedal'.and you'll find Item #SIT6E7 for the perfect set to work with.
There's also lots of music available in the C 9th key.but I find the E 7th more easily playable on the fly.It's much more intuitive and easy to jump in with to augment any tune. If you're looking for a pedal.the Goodrich model 120 is the place to start. I would not go with other volume pedals.too much coloring. When we gig.I use channel one Vibrato of my Deluxe Reverb for guitar.and channel two Vibrato for the lapsteel.Using the volume pedal.I have the lapsteel ready to go with just a foot rotation. Scotty is still around and doing well.He has an assistant Don Curtis who teaches and he's a great wealth of information as well. Scotty's son works in the shop but is a non-player. Try it.you'll love it!!The Lap Steel Guitar.
Learning to Play. Image below © 2001 Rickenbacker International Corporation. Reproduced by permission. This is necessarily a very limited discusssion of lap steel guitar models.
I've chosen to focus on electric lap steel guitars, as there still isn't a definitive reference book for these instruments (as there is for the National and Dobro® acoustic guitars). As I find out more, I'll try to add to this page. If you are looking for information on pedal steel guitar models and manufacturers, try.Much of the information provided in this page is paraphrased from Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars by and Walter Carter, ISBN 0-87930-195-3.
Published by the publishers of Guitar Player magazine, it's a essential resource if you want to find out anything about good American guitars. If you want to find out more about your specific steel guitar (such as the date it was manufactured, or specifics about the model you own), you ought to buy this book. The suggested list price is $27.95 in the USA.
It is available from any good music store or from. Eric Shoaf has graciously provided me with additional information based on his many years collecting steel guitars.
His comments follow the discussion of each manufacturer.Clay Harrel has a wonderful with much more information, not only about lap steels, but all kinds of musical instruments. Many of the Gibson lap steels shown on this page are from his collection. I have information on,. Alamo Alamo was founded by Charles Eilenberg as Southern Music of San Antonio, Texas around 1947.Alamo made many different guitars and amplifiers. Models included.
2493 Embassy. 2499 Futuramic Dual Eight. 2497 Futuramic Eight.
No.2499 Alamo Dual Eight String Professional Model. No.2493 Embassy (different from the Embassy above) Alkire The Alkire Eharp (a ten string lap steel) was developed by Eddie Alkire around 1939 in a search for more harmonic possibilities for the lap steel guitar. Alkire Eharps were made by Harmony and Valco.See for information on Eddie Alkire and his ten string steel guitars. Bigsby is generally considered to be one of the great steel guitar manufacturers. He's also famous for being one of the first builders of electric solidbody guitars, as well as for the vibrato mechanism seen on Gibson, Gretsch, and many other guitars. His steel guitars were played by Joaquin Murphey, Speedy West, and many other famous guitarists of the day.
Most of the guitars I've seen have been double or triple neck guitars, with the name Bigsby prominently displayed on the front of the instrument, usually along with the name of the original owner. Lowell Kiesel started out making steel guitars and amplifiers in San Diego, immediately after World War II. He renamed his company Carvin (a combination of the names of his two sons, Carson and Gavin) and went on to make a wide variety of guitars, amplifiers, and other musical equipment.Carvin is and was the only sizable guitar maker that sells most of its merchandise through mail order.
Carvin made Hawaiian guitars in various combinations, but I haven't seen any information on particular model numbers. These are rare, although not particularly collectible.If you have any information on their steel guitars, please. Dickerson Dickerson steels were the precursors of the line. Dickerson began manufacturing guitars in the 1930s. At the height of the company's manufacturing career they were building 200 guitars a week under 10 different brands, including Varsity, Southern California Music Company, Oahu, Bronson, and Roland Ball (father of Ernie Ball).
The patent rights were sold to Gaston Factor in 1944, who later sold the rights to Magna Electronics. Apparently was an endorser of the Dickerson line.The cover of the book 'The Hawaiian Steel Guitar' is an artist's rendition of Sol holding a National.
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Inside the book is the real photo, with Sol holding a Dickerson. Dobro/Regal The term 'Dobro®' is a registered trademark, but is also commonly used to refer to any resophonic guitar. Dobros have been made since the 1920's. A discussion of the history of the Dobro Company can be found on their.
Dobro electric lap steel guitars were manufactured from 1935 to 1943. Models offered included and electric Hawaiian guitars.Epiphone Epiphone started making electric steel guitars in 1936. The models offered included. Varichord.Kent Epiphone stopped making steel guitars around 1958. Eric's Comments: Epiphone made some cool steels but they didn't sound good with period amps and didn't sell well (there are no production numbers but this is based on availability in the vintage market).Actually they aren't bad sounding steels if you can turn up the treble on your amp, and some are fairly fancy. I don't see many from beyond mid-1950. Fender The very first Fender guitars were lap steel guitars.
Fender steel guitars were first made in the early 40's, usually sold together with a tweed amplifier. Models offered included the following.(Kaufmann and Fender). Princeton.Six and eight string models were offered. Fender also made some student steels under the name.They were named for, Vice President and General Manager of Fender from 1954 to 1966. The Fender steel guitar line was discontinued in 1981.
Fender pedal steels were made starting in 1950's and discontinued in 1981. Models offered were the following.Artist Dual 10.
Artist Single 10. Student Single 10 Eric's Comments: These were cataloged as available through 1981 but in fact I see few from the 1970s. Most of the ones I see, and assume to be most numerous are the 1950s and 1960s models. The serial numbers I've seen seem to follow no recognizable pattern.
The easiest way to verify the date the instrument was constructed is to look under the tuning mechanism. A date of manufacture will usually be penciled in under the tuning peg plate.Framus Frankische Musikindustrie (Framus) started as an acoustic guitar manufacturer after World War II in Erlangen, Germany.
They relocated to Bubenreuth in 1954, and to Pretzfeld in 1967.Models included. Deluxe Table Steel 0/7. Student Hawaiian Steel 0/4 Gibson Gibson started manufacturing lap steel guitars in 1935. The prewar models offered included.Postwar models included. Century Deluxe.
(aka the EH-500). Skylark Deluxe.CGT (also known as CGTN, CG-523). Pedal steel guitars included. Electraharp (, EH-610, EH-820, EH-810).Multiharp Gibson also made steel guitars under the following brand names, as well as some special order models: Kalamazoo. KEH-R (Oriole model) Mastertone. Model MEHG Recording King. Model D Gibson discontinued their steel guitar line in 1968.
Eric's Comments: There is a publication on Gibson Production Numbers 1948-1979 which I have found to be help since you can judge the relative rarity of certain models.Certainly the fact that they made 15,000 BR-9 models is borne out by what I see on the vintage market. Everybody has a BR-9. Like Fender, sales of Gibson steels trailed off in the late 1960s and few were sold thereafter.
As far as collectibility, the Gibson Ultratone and Century models are two of the fanciest lap steels ever made. The 1958 Ultratone with PAF (Patent Applied For) pickup is a rare bird, with less than 100 made. If you find one, be sure the pickup is an original PAF, since people have been known to replace them with another. PAFs are pulling $500 each on the vintage market.Gretsch With the exception of the Electromatic Hawaiian model, all Gretsch steel guitars were made by Valco.
Models offered included.Jet Twin Console. Jet Mainliner. Jet Airliner Gretsch steel guitars were manufactured from 1940 to 1963. Guyatone Occasionally you'll see Guyatone guitars in the American market. These guitars were made in Japan between 1946 and approximately 1960, and are characterized by relatively poor construction. If anyone can provide a listing of the Guyatone steel line, please let me know.Harmony Harmony was at one time the largest American musical instrument manufacturer. The company was started in 1892 and purchased in 1916 by Sears, Roebuck of Chicago.
By 1923 their annual overall instrument production was 250,000. Harmony the Roy Smeck Hawaiian guitar in 1930.By 1938 they were making, using pickups manufactured for them by Rickenbacker. Harmony guitars may be found under the brand names La Scala, Stella, Sovereign, Silvertone, and others. The Harmony company went out of business in 1974, partly due to competition from Japanese manufacturers.Magnatone Dickerson steels were the precursors of the Magnatone line. Dickerson began manufacturing guitars in the 1930s.At the height of their manufacturing career they were building 200 guitars a week under 10 different brands, including Varsity, Southern California Music Company, Oahu, Bronson, and Roland Ball (father of Ernie Ball).
The patent rights were sold to Gaston Factor in 1944, who later sold the rights to Magna Electronics. Was an early endorser of the Dickerson line. The cover of the book 'The Hawaiian Steel Guitar' is an artist's rendition of Sol holding a National.
Gibson Lap Steel Serial Number LookupInside the book is the real photo, with Sol holding a Dickerson. The Magnatone name was owned at various times by Estey Electronics, Magna Electronics, and the Estey Musical Instrument Corporation. Has some nice photos of their various fine amplifiers. Thanks to Ashley McKnight, formerly of, I have found that Magnatone shipped the following models during the 1950's and 1960's.
Ray Meany Aloha model. Lyric (double neck table steel). Maestro (triple neck table steel). Quad (four neck table steel) National/Supro/Valco National lap steels were made from 1935 until 1968, when the company became bankrupt.( has a good discussion of acoustic National guitars.) Models offered included. Professional Hawaiian. Triple-Neck Hawaiian. Rocket One Ten.Studio 76.
Console 16 Supro steel guitars were made from 1936 to 1969.Models offered included. Electric Hawaiian. Avalon Hawaiian. Console 16 Valco made steel guitars for many other companies, including. Models offered under the Valco name included the Hawaiian Steel and Deluxe Pro (similar to the National New Yorker). In 1988, Don Young and McGregor Gaines formed in San Luis Obispo, California.They have carried on the National tradition of fine acoustic and electro-acoustic guitars, but have not made electric lap steel guitars.
Eric's Comments: You can find these under the usual Valco brand names right up until the company went under in 1968. Valco made some Silvertone steels for Sears but my research in old Sears Catalogs shows that steels were last listed in the 1964 catalog. Ditto Airline for Montgomery Wards. Supros and Nationals were made right to the end, but the Oahu name seems to have been dropped in the late 1950s. There are no production numbers for Valco made steels, but the consensus is that many thousands were made.If you owned a chain of music stores and wanted to put the store name on the lap steel instead of a brand, that was possible with a minimum order (someone has told me 200 units but I can't substantiate that). I have seen some of these at shows.They often look liked cataloged models but with 'Bobby Marlowe' or some such name instead of 'Tonemaster' or 'Gretsch'.
Norman English Norman English lap steels are generally made by Valco of Chicago, who also made National, Supro and other brands. See the listings for those guitars. Rickenbacker Check out for a collection of old catalogs from the 1930s to the 1980s.
There are many cool lap steels represented within. Rickenbacker 's original lap steel guitar, the 'Frying Pan', is one of the most collectible lap steel guitars.The Model A-22 (22-1/2' scale) and A-25 (25' scale) were introduced in 1934, and discontinued in 1958.
The Model B series was made of Bakelite and had many variations, including up to ten strings. It was made from 1935 to 1971.Other models offered included. (Frying Pan, 22 inch scale). (25 inch scale version) Image © 2001 Rickenbacker International Corporation.Model S.
Model G.Model TW. (Jerry Byrd model, similar to the CW) Image © 2001 Rickenbacker International Corporation.
Model 100 (there were two Model 100 guitars made. One was a sheet metal body with chrome finish, also known as the the other was the low end of the of the 1950s and 1960s).Model 102. Were available in many combinations of 6, 7, and 8 string necks. Pedal steel guitars were offered from 1961 to 1971, but were not as successful as the non-pedal guitars.Eric's Comments: Gruhn's book says the last Rick steels were made in 1971, but I looked at one last year that had a definite 1975 production date and had a toaster pickup and not the horseshoe.
There are no good production numbers on Rickenbacker steels except for the first couple of years of the bakelite model of the mid-1930s. Rickenbacker's steels changed in the 1950s with the pickups being reconfigured to give a more trebly sound (like Fender). New models were introduced with Fender-type styling and upward facing drop-in tuners. The Rickenbacher Silver Hawaiian is extremely cool, being a metal body that is completely chrome plated. The Model G is the same with gold trim. Teisco del Rey Information on the Teisco line of steel guitars courtesy the articles in magazine by Michael Wright.Although the Japanese firm Teisco made its mark in the USA with the standard guitars sold under the brand names Teisco, Kingston, World Teisco, Kent, Kimberly and Heit Deluxe, they also made a series of lap steel guitars. I've seen Kent and Teisco lap steels before, but usually in very rough condition.
I would say Teisco model lap steels are one of the rarer lap steel models, at least in the US.bestlinetel.