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Topic: A Poor Man's Stringmaster - Guyatone D-8 |
Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Veit Doehler
From:
Hamburg, Germany
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Posted 30 Nov 2014 8:14 am |
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Thanks, Stephen, that helped. I held a small rare earth magnet hovering over the PU, now all pole pieces sound the same. Although I don't have any idea, how pole pieces can change their polarity....
Here are two pics my new toy. It also looks like new and I love it's sound. Very different to the Dual Pro 8 that I have and different to the Schnoor S8 (luthier from Hamburg). But I guess that's no news, different guitars sound different...
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Jim Williams
From:
Meridian, Mississippi, USA - Home of Peavey!
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Posted 30 Nov 2014 9:10 pm
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I think these are some vastly under rated guitars, I have an old 6 string and would love to stumble across a D8 someday.
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GFI SM10 3/4, 1937 Gibson EH-150, 2 - Rondo SX Lap Steels and a Guyatone 6 String C6. Peavey 400 and a Roland 40 Amps. Behringer Reverb Pedal. |
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Fraser Moffatt
From:
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 7 Apr 2015 9:17 am
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Just joined the Guyatone steel club (S-8 ) Having never played a Stringmaster (or even seen one in the wild), I can't compare, but jeebus, I like this thing a lot. Plays a lot better than I expected it would for a 40+ year old "cheap" offshore copy of a classic instrument.
Way more versatile than my S6 lapsteel and easier to get going on than my S10 pedal steel.
I like the sound and the feel of it a lot.
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Rookie-ish steel player - currently tinkering around on a BMI S10 and a Guyatone S8. Bassist and vocalist for The Derringers. |
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Darrell Birtcher
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Posted 7 Apr 2015 10:45 am
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I sold this D8 here on the forum back in December 2012 to a gentleman who indicated that he planned to restore it. If he's still out there I'd love to see how it looks today. Wish I had kept it but needed the funds for other "tools of the trade." It sure sounded neat.
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 8 Apr 2015 11:10 am
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http://picosong.com/LuZ8
Well we've talked about Guyatones, and we've looked at pictures, so here's what one sounds like.
Yes, it's just me multiple-tracked, and I'm no Frank Sinatra or Jerry Byrd.
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Joe Elk
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 8 Apr 2015 11:41 am
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Very Nice Alan!
Joe Elk |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 8 Apr 2015 3:34 pm
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Thanks Doug and Joe. I was born to boogie. I guess I'm a product of the 50s. I still prefer C6 to E9. I just love those rich chords.  |
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Pete McAvity
From:
St. Louis, Missouri USA
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Posted 12 Aug 2018 7:03 am Thread revival!
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Had time yesterday to research a sixer I found a couple years ago in Nashville. The store had it in armpit tuning EADGBE. Guyatone Castillo. I can only find one Castillo on the internet- mine! I lifted these pics from the Reverb ad. Plywood layers can be seen through the finish as many have mentioned here. Thought to be a 70’s Guyatone Conqueror HG 306 C. Came w/ no legs or sockets, but included a cleaning cloth which matched the green felt lining of the case and had “I love Heather†written on it. Pickups seemed low output when I got it, not hot like some have described. Life intervened in the last 2 years so have yet to get a proper tuning on it & investigate the pickups. May try the magnet trick mentioned a page or two back in this thread.
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Excel Superb D10, Kline U12, Sarno Black Box, Goodrich L120, Boss DD5, Baby Bloomer, 1965 Super Reverb chopped to a head, feeding a mystery PA cab w/ a K130.
They say "thats how it goes". I say "that ain't the way it stays!" |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Pete McAvity
From:
St. Louis, Missouri USA
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Posted 12 Aug 2018 12:34 pm
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Just gave it a run- pickups are good & even across the strings. Just not as strong as my old Valco w/ string-through pickup, but Ive since come to learn that that thing is an anomoly in and of itself as far as output.
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Excel Superb D10, Kline U12, Sarno Black Box, Goodrich L120, Boss DD5, Baby Bloomer, 1965 Super Reverb chopped to a head, feeding a mystery PA cab w/ a K130.
They say "thats how it goes". I say "that ain't the way it stays!" |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 12 Aug 2018 1:50 pm
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Pete,
I purchased a Guyatone very similar to your Castillo on ebay a few weeks ago. Mostly on a whim because it was cheap and largely based on the favorable reviews on this thread. Far and away the worst sounding lap steel I've owned. Terrible tone and zero sustain, especially on the first string. I figured something must be wrong since I knew Doug's couldn't sound this bad. Closer inspection revealed a gap between the bridge plate and the pickup plate. At first I thought the plate must be warped but when I took it apart it revealed a solid ground wire between the two plates. Many steels use a similar method of grounding the bridge but usually it's a stranded wire that can crush into the wooden body below it. This one was between two pieces of metal and just served as a "sonic decoupler". I relocated that wire and drilled and replaced the tiny and inadequate bridge screws with some longer beefier ones and now it sustains like a normal lap steel. I still have some tone issues to work out. The switch that adds in the neck pickup is currently the "suck" switch but the bridge pickup sounds great and I'm confident it can be addressed when I have time.
Here's the Before picture:
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 20 Mar 2021 1:57 pm
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| Thank you Doug, I enjoy playing mine.....JK |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
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Posted 30 Sep 2021 7:31 am Guyatone Dating
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Can anyone on the forum tell me which came first in the double neck 8s,the one with rocker switches or slide switches, The symble G for fret markers,solid wood bodies or plywood? Foil pickups? 
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Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 30 Sep 2021 8:46 am
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I think the Guyatone D-8's with rocker switches and "G" fret markers are earlier than the ones with slide switches and Stringmaster-style fret markers. I've owned two super clean Guyatone D-8's that I believe were made in the 1970s, and they had slide switches and Stringmaster-style markers. And I owned one of the other style (rocker switches and G markers) and it was very worn. And most of those that I've seen in pictures have been pretty beat up, so I assume that is the older style.
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My Site / My YouTube Channel
25 Songs C6 Lap Steel / 25 MORE Songs C6 Lap Steel / 16 Songs, C6, A6, B11 / 60 Popular Melodies E9 Pedal Steel |
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Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
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Posted 30 Sep 2021 8:53 am Guyatone
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We're the early ones plywood?
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Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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