Anybody Know Anything About This Old Lap Steel?

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 2 Apr 2015 8:47 am

I've had this little monkey since I was a kid,
have y'all ever seen one or know who made it?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 2 Apr 2015 9:05 am

You just can't beat an old 5 string guitar.

Larry Carlson · Post by **Larry Carlson** » 2 Apr 2015 9:12 am

It was manufactured by Valco.
I would imagine it was produced in the early 1940's.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 2 Apr 2015 9:16 am

Looks like a Valco-made lap steel similar to the Supro Irene body shape, but with a different pickup cover and control assembly. There might be a serial number on a small metal plate on the back of the head of the instrument.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 2 Apr 2015 9:54 am

You're right, There's a plate that says "V1926" on the neck

Just found this on the web:
V for Valco serial numbers on back of lap steels neck:
V100-V7500___1947
V7500-V15000___1948
V15000-V25000___1949

Looks like it was a 47 model

Jim Pitman · Post by **Jim Pitman** » 2 Apr 2015 10:17 am

I'll bet you could blaze a trail or two with that. Looks like it may have already knocked off a branch or two.
I'll bet it would propel a canoe nicely as well.
I Wonder how it sounds and plays though.
Kidding of course. I love all those old lap steels. I had an Electro and a Supro at one point.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 2 Apr 2015 12:02 pm

I had one exactly like that. It had a standard string-over pickup, not the Valco string-through pickup. Yours looks like it has a standard pickup too. A cool looking old lap steel, but they don't have much sustain, or at least mine didn't.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 2 Apr 2015 7:57 pm

Didn't Waldo Otto play one of those?

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 3 Apr 2015 1:57 am

Does anyone have an 8 string junker they would trade me for this old guy?
Any beat up old junker would do.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 3 Apr 2015 3:32 am

I have attachment issues

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 3 Apr 2015 3:37 am

John, I can't believe you'd give up your childhood guitar; it's a Trail Blazer!

However, shoot me a price (it was born same year as me, 'Near You' by Francis Craig and His Orchestra)...

... unless I've made the mistake of believing an American.

Chris Sattler · Post by **Chris Sattler** » 4 Apr 2015 10:28 pm

Paul Honeycutt wrote:Didn't Waldo Otto play one of those?

Nice try Paul. I think he played a Fender and yes he was in the Trailblazers. But the other band, Hot Rize, didn't allow them up the front of the bus. They were bluegrass bullies.

Paul Honeycutt · Post by **Paul Honeycutt** » 5 Apr 2015 2:52 pm

Chris Sattler wrote:
Paul Honeycutt wrote:Didn't Waldo Otto play one of those?
Nice try Paul. I think he played a Fender and yes he was in the Trailblazers. But the other band, Hot Rize, didn't allow them up the front of the bus. They were bluegrass bullies.

I was wondering who'd get the joke.

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 15 Apr 2015 7:31 pm

I often wondered just how many of those low-priced guitar were made back then. Department stores sold them as well as music stores and music teachers....
Must have been a bunch sold. The Gibson BR-9 was produced in the thousands, and it wasn't really all that cheap back then...

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 16 Apr 2015 2:24 am

I heard that door-to-door salesmen traveled around demonstrating them
and selling them for a while. Don't know if that's true or not but
I heard it from a good source.

Charlie McDonald · Post by **Charlie McDonald** » 16 Apr 2015 3:16 am

John, did you decide to keep it? I thought it could be pretty nostalgic, stringing it up, playing it....
It's a real piece of Americana.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 Apr 2015 6:40 am

John,
What you're talking about was Oahu. They had salesmen/players going around and if you signed up for so many lessons you got to keep the guitar. The student model guitars were pretty basic but the instructor models were very nice. They had quite an organization going.

Michael Greer · Post by **Michael Greer** » 16 Apr 2015 7:09 am

Just to add to what Erv shared about Oahu...they certainly must have been quite an organization.

I have a copy of the very detailed "door to door " salesman training material.

it's about 50 pages thick full of sales tips and tricks.

The interesting and humorous part of the manual were the social references very typical of that time period. ...1940's and 1950's

Stuff like " don't waste time on the sales attempt with the wife....make an appointment when the decision maker , husband will be home.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 16 Apr 2015 8:55 am

in the seventies, alot of similar steels sold used for around $10.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 Apr 2015 9:02 am

A lot of them were used for kindling.

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 16 Apr 2015 9:08 am

Paul Honeycutt wrote:Didn't Waldo Otto play one of those?

Guess not too many people got the joke!

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 Apr 2015 9:12 am

There was a joke?

Lee Baucum · Post by **Lee Baucum** » 16 Apr 2015 9:39 am

Erv Niehaus wrote:There was a joke?

Waldo was the steel player for Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. ---> Click Here

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 16 Apr 2015 10:05 am

I love it!

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 19 Apr 2015 12:03 pm

I've been to the site of the old Oahu company. It's now a parking lot.