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Topic: Magnatone...? lap steel |
Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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C. E. Jackson
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Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 21 May 2022 10:07 am |
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| Definitely either a Magnatone or a Dickerson - same company, different time periods. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Doug Taylor
From:
Shelbyville, Kentucky, USA
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Posted 21 May 2022 11:53 am
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| I bought an old Magatone With the pickup under the MOTS a couple of years ago. It is my favorite and sounds really nice. Please post a video with it soon! |
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Noah Miller
From:
Rocky Hill, CT
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Posted 21 May 2022 2:04 pm
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| I'd be very surprised if this one didn't have the hidden pickup. That bridge design raises the strings maybe 1/4" above the body, so there isn't room for a traditional surface-mounted pickup. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 21 May 2022 4:54 pm
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These are really good-sounding steels. I've had a few - again, price was too good to pass up. Every single one with that slanted pickup cover had the pickup under the MOTS.
And that green MOTS is really cool. I suppose that's Russo Music in or around Hamilton NJ? |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Mike Auman
From:
North Texas, USA
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Bob Womack
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 22 May 2022 7:32 am
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Yeah, my first lap steel was an ugly little Magnatone with no tone control and the pickup mounted under the grey mother of toilet seat. It developed an intermittency and I tried to find the issue. I tried removing the arm rest to start. At the first touch, the MOTS shattered, taking the "fretboard" decal with it. Done! I suppose it spent too many hours hanging in the pawn shop window and the MOT became brittle.
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 Little Website) |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 22 May 2022 7:46 am
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| One thing I've noticed about the handful of Dickersons and Magnatones that have passed through my hands is their exceptionally light weight. Although I suspect they were made from inexpensive fir or pinewood sourced in the Pacific Northwest, it's almost like Magna melted the celluloid over a plank of balsa. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 24 May 2022 2:36 am
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Magnatones are under appreciated. Many sound really good and are the cheapest vintage steels around. I love my Varsity model. There's a large Facebook group devoted to all things Magnatone.
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 24 May 2022 4:46 am
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| Doug Beaumier wrote: |
So there is no access to the pickup? There's no way to get to it from the back of the guitar, as far as I can see.
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That's correct. What's more, the magnet (horseshoe, as I recall) is huge so if the pickup goes bad you have to cut a big section of MOTS away to get to it. Previous owner of my Dickerson had already done that so I made a cover piece to hide the damage and put a strat pickup in it. Hopefully, your pickup works.
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Posted 24 May 2022 5:55 am
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The Magnatone arrived and it works fine. It has the hidden pickup. This is definitely a student level lap steel, somewhat lacking in tone and sustain, but a sweet old steel nonetheless. The MOTS is in excellent condition, the tuners are fine, and the pickup works, so that's all good.
Branded for Russo Music Company, Pittsburg, California, which is in the San Francisco area. The company still exists and is a teaching studio with a San Francisco address.
_________________
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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David Matzenik
From:
Cairns, on the Coral Sea
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Posted 24 May 2022 1:36 pm
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Great color MOTS.  As a woodworker, if I had a pick up problem, and had not paid too much for the guitar, I would carefully cut in from the back.
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Don't go in the water after lunch. You'll get a cramp and drown. - Mother. |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 27 May 2022 4:06 am Magnatone
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Those were made from RedWood, = light and at the time abundant - low cost easy to machine.
The Pickups are Not made to be removed. Even if you were to destroy the plastic Top, they were not made with a Bobbin wrap scheme.
They were some how wound and placed in a wood pocket then filled with a wax or some odd hardened liquid material.
If you look under the metal cover-hand rest- on a Troubadour or similar you can see what it is I'm talking about.
Despite the fact that these sound and play good,
pretty much every effort was taken to lower the cost to make eg;
Bent wire pressed into electronic eyelets, (pre top ferrules) for nut and bridges - Decal fretboard water floated on.
Plate tuners and so on.
_________________
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Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 27 May 2022 4:40 am
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Imagine how great they would/could have sounded by spending more time and money on parts. I think they did a great job the way they made them........lots of bang for the buck.
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Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Frank James Pracher
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 27 May 2022 5:34 am
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On the subject of the type of wood these are made of. I have quite a few of these student model Magnatones and the wood they used is all over the map... redwood, pine, I have one that's maple! I assume they used whatever was cheap and available. I would say pine is the most common.
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"Don't be mad honey, but I bought another one" |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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G Strout
From:
Carabelle, Florida
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Posted 30 May 2022 6:20 am
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Doug, The pups were wound (CW) on some type of form slipped off and placed in the cavity. The mag was inserted (N or S up). Then they were potted and covered with MOTS. At least this is what I have found after working on several. Resistance generally runs 3.2K -3.8K at around 76 degrees. Earlier ones with the Tulip headstock tend to run higher.
Gary
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Melbert 8, Remington S8, Silk 6 string, Rick B6, Tremblay 6 lap steel, Marlen S-10 4&4, Prestige Guild M75 and Artist Award, Benedetto Bravo, Epiphone Century Electar (the real one) and a bunch of old lap steels.... mostly Ricks and Magnatones' |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 30 May 2022 6:53 pm
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| That's a nice looking Magnatone. I still have 4 that are all tuned to different tunings and made of different woods. I use the heaviest string gauges I can for each particular tuning which gives you a fatter sound. One has a Dickerson decal on the headstock and is still my favorite to this day even though I have a Fender and a Rickenbacker Panda. Almost 20 years ago you could buy them real cheap on E-Bay under slide guitar, now they are usually several hundreds of dollars. I remember hearing that Joaquin Murphey would have to pawn his good steel guitars every now and then and would just play Magnatone's that he always had stashed in the truck of his car until he got his good steels back out of hock. Great little short scale lap steels... |
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Charles Allen
From:
California, USA
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Posted 2 Jun 2022 12:54 pm New Magnatone
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Hi Folks - I am a new guy here. Gigging bass player who just inherited a 50's era Magnatone Varsity lap steel that I would like to use. It was my father-in-law's and he says it used to work, but when I plug it into an amp I get nothing. Of course tried different amps/cords just to make sure it's not my stuff.
Otherwise it appears to be structurally correct and playable, but the electronics are inoperative. So I opened the little hatch on the back and pulled out the wiring. Everything appears to be connected - no loose wires that I can see. Nothing grounded.
The components appear original, i.e. really old. When I compare to the wiring diagrams helpfully available online I can see that this unit does not correspond to any diagram I have seen so far. Here is what I am seeing on this one:
Anyway, I am not sure how to proceed. I could just start replacing components...or I could just replace everything and start over. Is there any particular value in retaining any of these old components. Are there any tone-volume wiring sets that would just drop in and work with these oddball pickups?
Thanks for any advice and best wishes. |
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Fortunately the pickup is fine in this one so that's not an issue. This guitar hasn't had much use. Whoever owned it was a poor student... didn't practice much.