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1940 Oahu lap steel
In what is likely the final trade of my rock & roll cover band guitars and amps for the musical instruments of my true DNA (western swing, country, blues, Americana, etc.) I picked up this guy yesterday in a trade.
It's a 1940 Oahu with a Rickenbacker pickup. It plays and sounds beautifully! It has a 25-1/2" scale which I'm liking (my Gibson BR9 has a 22-1/5" scale). |
#2
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Nice! Does it have the long Rick pickup?
Bob
__________________
"It is said, 'Go not to the elves for counsel for they will say both no and yes.' " Frodo Baggins to Gildor Inglorion, The Fellowship of the Ring THE MUSICIAN'S ROOM (my website) |
#3
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My second lap, a Rickenbacher Electro is on the brown truck today, but it has legs so can go either way. Its set up for C 6.
What tuning is that bad boy getting?
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2007 Martin D 35 Custom 1970 Guild D 35 1965 Epiphone Texan 2011 Santa Cruz D P/W Pono OP 30 D parlor Pono OP12-30 Pono MT uke Goldtone Paul Beard squareneck resophonic Fluke tenor ukulele Boatload of home rolled telecasters "Shut up and play ur guitar" Frank Zappa |
#4
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BTW I learned today on the Steel Guitar Forum that the Oahu is actually a 1938 and it probably does not have a Rickenbacker pickup. Here are my other steels... 1957 Fender Stringmaster (triple 8 string necks) tuned to C6, E13, and B11 1960 Fender Stringmaster (double 8 string necks) tuned to Bb diminished and C13 1980 RQ Jones square neck tuned to open G 1948 Gibson BR9 tuned to C6 Last edited by 815C; 03-03-2016 at 02:15 PM. |
#5
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Very nice. I love to play lap style, have a weissenborn and occassionally use a cheap nut raiser on my acoustics, although I'm mainly a guitar player. When I see steels with several fretboards - well they kind of freak me out. Two tunings is already too much to think about. Anyway, nice. I'd love to get my hands on one of those old Oahu squarenecks.
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National Resophonic NRP 12 Fret Loar LH-700-VS Archtop Eastman E8-OM Herrmann Weissenborn Recording King RP-10 Recording King RG-35-SN Lapsteel Maton 425 12-string ESP 400 series telecaster Eastman T485 Deering Americana Banjo My Youtube |
#6
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#7
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here is my 1942-48 National Lap Steel with string thru valco/supro pickup. Great machine.
play music!
__________________
2014 Martin 00015M 2009 Martin 0015M 2008 Martin HD28 2007 Martin 000-18GE 2006 Taylor 712 2006 Fender Parlor GDP100 1978 Fender F65 1968 Gibson B25-12N Various Electrics |
#8
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My Ric Electro came today, but life precluded me from taking pics.
So if you had two steels, after C6, what tuning makes sense? I have a dobro in G.
__________________
2007 Martin D 35 Custom 1970 Guild D 35 1965 Epiphone Texan 2011 Santa Cruz D P/W Pono OP 30 D parlor Pono OP12-30 Pono MT uke Goldtone Paul Beard squareneck resophonic Fluke tenor ukulele Boatload of home rolled telecasters "Shut up and play ur guitar" Frank Zappa |
#9
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Also, I've recently joined The Steel Guitar Forum. There is a one time fee of $5 to join, but it's a great community and I've learned a lot over there. I pretty much stick to the "Steel Without Pedals" section, but hope to make use of the rest of the forum someday when I get a pedal steel. |
#10
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I have a few recommendations for string selection and basic tunings on my lap steel construction page here:
http://www.bluestemstrings.com/page5.html |
#11
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I just sold my pedal steel to fund my Epiphone Texan. Not enough life left to get any good at it. But practicing hard for two years did get me good pick and bar technique.
Much better on the lap steel and dobro now.
__________________
2007 Martin D 35 Custom 1970 Guild D 35 1965 Epiphone Texan 2011 Santa Cruz D P/W Pono OP 30 D parlor Pono OP12-30 Pono MT uke Goldtone Paul Beard squareneck resophonic Fluke tenor ukulele Boatload of home rolled telecasters "Shut up and play ur guitar" Frank Zappa |
#12
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Code:
Str .036 .030 .024 .022 .017 .014 C6 C E G A C E C7 C E G Bb C E A6 C# E F# A C# E A7 C# E G A C# E E6 B E G# B C# E E7 B D E G# B E E9 B D F# G# B E E13 B D E G# C# E B11 B D# F# A C# E JB* C# E G A C E WL** C# E G A# C D **WL = William Leavitt's tuning, designed to play a wide variety of chords without slanting the bar. What makes sense to you may not make sense to anyone else, but that's perfectly OK; there's only one person to whom it needs to make sense. You may find that one of the tunings in the chart-- A6 or E7, for example-- is sufficiently useful to you to devote your second lap steel to the tuning full-time. On the other hand, because of the string gauge compatibility and the ease of retuning, you may find that you're OK with occasionally retuning your C6 lap steel to any of the tunings on the list for specific tunes. In that case, you might find a triad tuning more useful on your second lap steel. For example, with your Dobro in G and the Rick in C6 (or other close-spaced tuning), you may find it worthwhile to keep the second lap steel in a Vastopol tuning. Vastopol (very frequently misspelled Vestapol) is the generic name for any R 5 R 3 5 R tuning (low to high), such as "Open D" (D A D F# A D) or "Open E" (E B E G# B E). In many respects, Vastopol is the queen of lap steel (and bottleneck) tunings, with its power chord on the lowest pitched strings and three different inversions of the major triad, plus a bass note, available at every fret. Tuning choices are totally subjective. My own choices may be of some interest. If someone were to offer me an obscene amount of money to come out of retirement and play lap steel in a band context, I'd grab my Fender Deluxe 8, tuned to A6. But for playing solo at home, which is all I do these days, I keep six string lap steels in three tunings, each chosen to fit my (steadily shrinking) vocal range: - Db Vastopol ("Open Db"); often retuned to open Db minor and occasionally to Dbm7. - F7: F C Eb F A C. This is a reentrant tuning, with the fifth string C tuned a fourth below the 6th string F. This tuning would probably make no sense to anyone else on the planet besides myself, but it works very well for me. ! - Bb F Bb F Bb D. This tuning has the same interval relationships (R 5 R 5 R 3) as a widely used "Open C" tuning, but pitched two semitones lower. I hate this tuning! It's constricted, limited, ugly. But David Lindley has been using it extensively in recent years, and I use it for the same reason he does: For accompanying songs we can no longer sing well in higher keys. (Getting old is not for sissies.)
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John Pictures of musical instruments are like sculptures of food. |
#13
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play music!
__________________
2014 Martin 00015M 2009 Martin 0015M 2008 Martin HD28 2007 Martin 000-18GE 2006 Taylor 712 2006 Fender Parlor GDP100 1978 Fender F65 1968 Gibson B25-12N Various Electrics |
#14
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Awwwwww did you have to?
Now I have to get a fresh drool rag.... These are all sweet and remind me that I miss my lap steel, thanks for great photos! |