Anybody know about this Magnatone?

[Andy DePaule]

Hi Steelers,
Anybody know about this Magnatone?
I just acquired this on a trip to Arkansas and I couldn't resist it.
Looks to be as art deco as they come.
I'd love to know when it was made? How many might have been made?
What would it be worth?
And just about anything else about it.
All I know is I've never seen one like this before and it's stunning.
Seems to be made of several layers of red and clear Lucite or some other plastic.
Also the metal work on it is fabulous and it's in near new condition except for the replaced tuners on the right side.
Doubt I'd ever be able to replace the original red button tuners.
Thanks for any help you might offer,
Andy

[Noah Miller]

It's from the rare Jeweltone series, ca. 1950. Aluminum core with lucite panels in red, blue or black. They came in 6 and 8 string versions and seem to bear a unique serial sequence. I sold an all-original 8-string in black a few years ago for around $1200.

[Andy DePaule]

Hi Noah,
Thanks for the information.
The number engraved on the back of the keyhead is G236.

The construction is beautiful.
Unusual in that the strings seem parallel at the same spacing from nut to bridge.
It also looks like it is more than wide enough to be an 8 string.
I usually don't like 6 string steels, but it was so stunning I had to get it.
I had some thoughts about converting the nut & bridge to accept a 7th string for a complete A6th with the E on top, but decided it best to leave it as original as possible.
I can tune it E C# A F# E A top to bottom and still have the best of A6th.
Best wishes,
Andy

[Andy DePaule]

I should also say that the case is also in near mint condition.
The clasps are tarnished and could use a little cleaning, but work well.
The center latch does not hold well.
Other than that it's almost new.

[Brad Bechtel]

That's a nice looking guitar!

[Andy DePaule]

Thanks Brad,
Yes I fell in love when I saw it and got a great deal also.
It's quite heavy and so smooth it's hard to hold.
Felt on the back keeps it on my lap okay.

Sent you an e-mail about something else.
Best wishes,
Andy

[Bill Sinclair]

Andy,
It's seems like it would be well within your fabrication wheelhouse to make up a set of lucite tuner buttons for that guitar. Magnatone also made square lucite tuners if the tulip shaped ones look like too much trouble. Just don't throw away those originals!

[Andy DePaule]

Andy,
It's seems like it would be well within your fabrication wheelhouse to make up a set of lucite tuner buttons for that guitar. Magnatone also made square lucite tuners if the tulip shaped ones look like too much trouble. Just don't throw away those originals!

Hi Bill,
Was thinking of something like that but to try making a mould from the buttons I have.
I could buy a set of the closed back tuners and cast new buttons on them in an epoxy resin dyed red to match?
In fact that may be the only way to do it.
Thanks,
Andy

[Andy DePaule]

On closer inspection I see that the pickup has just six poles so any crazy idea about making it a 7 string is out.

Hooked it up to my Evans amp and it sounds great. Both controls work well with no scratching.
The tone control is very good.

Tried out the A6th tuning I was thinking of but didn't like it with the A on the bottom so re-tuned that string to C# and thats much better.
I guess that makes the tuning F#Minor7th. Can use most of what I know from A6th sans the bottom two strings.
From the top down: E C# A F# E C# That covers most of what I know anyway.

Now I need to clean it up and replace the three top strings with a little heavier gauge and I'll be set.

[Mike Christensen]

Absolutely stunning. Nice find.

[Andy DePaule]

Thanks Mike,
I'd be embarrassed to say how little I paid for it.
Guess it was my turn to get lucky?
Best wishes,
Andy

[Andy DePaule]

After some research and measuring I decided that I'll just make the tuners and buttons.
The buttons are fairly simple 1/4" thick by 7/16" at the top and 3/8" at the bottom.
They have slightly beveled sides.
The local plastic shop does not have any clear red plastic.
However, if I can't find clear red plastic I remember in high school shop class we used to make dash knobs for our cars out of clear plastic with colored glue of some kind.
I could resort to that if I can find out where to buy or how to make red plastic cement.

Think I'll also try the Builders Page to see if anyone there has answers to that?

I bought these tuners from Amazon that look to be almost identical to the original machines. I could cut, grind or break off the white plastic buttons and replace them.

[Joe A. Roberts]

I remember reading that when the clear lucite tuner buttons broke off of Barney Isaacs’ Magnatone Lyric, he always had a pair of pliers around so he could still tune up!

[Glenn Wilde]

Really cool guitar, I love Magnatone amps and guitars. Another option for the tuner buttons is clear acrylic and paint them with translucent red. Congratulations on that beauty.

[Andy DePaule]

I remember reading that when the clear lucite tuner buttons broke off of Barney Isaacs’ Magnatone Lyric, he always had a pair of pliers around so he could still tune up!

Hi Joe,
The issue is almost resolved now.
This steel really does have great tone.
I replaced the top three strings with a more heavy gauge and it also feels perfect now.
No need yet for pliers
Andy

[Andy DePaule]

Really cool guitar, I love Magnatone amps and guitars. Another option for the tuner buttons is clear acrylic and paint them with translucent red. Congratulations on that beauty.

Hi Glenn,
Got what I needed on Amazon. A 12" X 12" X 1/4" sheet of Clear Red Plastic the I'm sure is enough to make about 80 tuner buttons if needed.
It should arrive early next week.
Thanks,
Andy

[Andy DePaule]

Got them tuners in yesterday and they were not what I needed.
Wrong size tuners! Dang me!

The screw holes and the string posts were too close together.
Guess I'll return them and try to find a set that shows the measurements this time.

[Andy DePaule]

My brother told me that Magnatone amps were the first company to have a reverb. Before that he said they only had tremolo.
He thinks they lasted until the mid sixties.

I received the clear red Lucite last week and it is a perfect match.
There is plenty of material so I'll make a few and use those.
It also looks like StewMac has the Kluson tuners, but they are far more expensive at a little over $52.50 per set compared to the $11.99 for the Amazon ones.
They say they are good replacements for the older ones so I'll give them a try.
They don't mention Magnatone, but I'd guess they used the same ones as Gibson, Kay, and Epiphone?

As it turns out these won't work because the original tuners had 1.5" spacing between the string posts. Still searching, but no luck yet!
Also the original tuners have the split post with the hole in the center for the string end. A nicer design where you don't prick your finger on the cut strings.

[Andy DePaule]

Magnatone Jeweltone Series, Found these photos on line.
So to my surprise they were not just the same color red but came in Double and Triple 8 String versions too.
Very cool steels.
I prefer how the double necks have the tuner buttons facing up. Thats far easier to tune.

Looks like this has a similar case as mine.







And here is the Double-8.








Last is the Triple 8. That blue color is also cool.

[Joe A. Roberts]

My brother told me that Magnatone amps were the first company to have a reverb. Before that he said they only had tremolo.
He thinks they lasted until the mid sixties.

Would have to do research, I've always heard that Ampeg was the first guitar spring reverb, beating Fender by a year so ca. 1961.
My favorite amp I have is actually is a '63 Ampeg Reverberocket, and the reverb really is gorgeous.

Magnatone was really set apart for their vibrato. It was a completely different sound vs. any tremolo, and even Fender's complicated brownface vibrato.
The smaller Magnatone amps had only mono vibrato, while the higher models had stereo for a really warbly effect.

Lonnie Mack made it a part of his signature sound:


--
Those Jeweltone Magnatones are the coolest... I wonder why they stopped making them. They sure are rare enough. Reminds me of a story I read where Fender had to stop making those MOTS champ steels because the fire inspector came and saw them making them by forming the plastic by holding them above burning barrel of oil or something!

They also remind me of my dad's old hand vintage hand tools from when I was growing up... I used to marvel at em, a lot of them had red plexiglass or lucite handles and grips just like that. A lot of those newfound mid-century plastics did not stand the test of time, but for some reason these did!

[Andy DePaule]

Hi Joe,
You may be right and it needs more research? I'm not sure because it's just what my younger brother told me.
He said he has one of those Magnatone Amps as well as a cheaper Magnatone lap steel. Said it's one of the Mother Of Toilet seat models. He is a professional guitarist and does not play any steel. A little slide when called for.

I offered him one of my pedal steels, but he didn't want to be distracted from his guitar playing. He recently did a week's recording for the next Van Morrison album and will do a tour with him in September. Sitting in on some of the sessions were Buddy Guy, Elvin Bishop and Taj Mahal.
The tour is starting in Early September until I don't know when yet. Still in the planning stage.
I'd love to attend if it goes into October because I expect to be in Saigon most of September. I do like Van Morrison's style and writing.

Not sure why they made so few of these lap steels because it really is beautiful.
Maybe the company was in financial trouble because they didn't seem to last much longer?
I love the old tools you mentioned. Still have a few of the older plastic handle ones too.

Could I ask how you ended up in South Korea? I'm interested because we usually live in Saigon. We got stuck in the US by the Covid in March 2020 when they closed VN to any immigration. Now we got settled in Springfield, OR for the time being, but plan to return to live in Saigon & Tay Ninh in about 18 months to two years. For now I'm just traveling back and forth to take care of my business and also because I miss it.
I plan to be back in late May to late June as well.
Best wishes,
Andy






Here are some links to Anthony's playing just because we are so proud of him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ipPU2Ng93I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WliAst0YGck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQx_AdwdJow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ANavrANBQc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmpBoOgFcGs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WliAst0YGck

[Jack Hanson]

Great pix, Andy!
Thanks for sharing.

[Andy DePaule]

Great pix, Andy!
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Jack,
Wish I could have been there, but it was a no guests allowed. All very hush hush.

My older brother, Marty plays blues harp and we all love playing, but Anthony got the most talent and has been pro for his entire adult life.
He has played and recorded with quite a few name acts over the years as well as having his own large band with horn section, back up singers and several good main singers. They usually have 9 to 15 members which makes for tricky traveling when they go overseas.
Marty is a decent player too. but never did try to do it professionally. I was always just about a tad below average, but very enthusiastic...
Best wishes,
Andy

[Joe A. Roberts]

Wow I missed your post. Thanks for sharing that, your brother is great, I love the soul band in the clips you sent. Very nice pics with BG too, wow!

I actually am in Seoul for university. Decided I wanted to go abroad to study. I just graduated, I am not sure what the next step is, but for now I still here studying Korean, something I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted (my program was 100% in English).

Funnily enough, one of my old friends was doing a big vacation all throughout Asia and I spoke to him two weeks ago, right after he came to Seoul from Vietnam.
I think he went Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea and then Japan.
He spoke highly of all the countries he went to, except Vietnam.
He said at every turn he was scammed, triple charged by taxis etc.
His craziest story though was when he went to a bar in Saigon.
He wanted to get a drink, so he asked the owner of a bar he saw how much for a glass of whiskey, and the guy typed about 15 euros equivalent onto his phone calculator and showed it to my friend.
So my friend got it, drank it by himself reflecting on his trip for a bit.
When it was time to pay, he got a bill for something equivalent to like 150 euros.
My friend was like “there must be a mistake here” and was trying to understand, but the guy and staff were adamant about the charge.
So the owner brings over a menu and it had the whiskey for 15, then a copy pasted picture of the same whiskey with the number 20 above it implying it was aged, for 150!
Suddenly the owner and staff didn’t know any English whatsoever and he wasn’t getting anywhere.
He said he wasn’t paying it, and as soon as he did, 3 bouncers encircled him with their arms crossed.
It was particularly egregious because the owner literally quoted him the price on his phone visually beforehand, there was no room for misunderstanding.
My friend was ready to throw fists but did not want to end up as a foreigner in a foreign jail in a foreign country in which he knew no one 7 hours before his flight to Seoul, so he acquiesced and paid the bill.

I’m sure my friend just had a very unlucky experience with Vietnam, but damn!

I’m sorry you got locked out of Vietnam by restrictions! I was seriously planning a trip to visit a buddy of mine in a small town near Xian, China right around Chinese New Year Match or February 2020 right before the covid hysteria hit the fan.
Procrastinating on those plans was one of the best things I ever did, who knows how long I would have been stuck there!

[Andy DePaule]

Hi Joe,
Your friends story is odd to say the least. I've been doing my business there for the last 23 years as have lots of other ExPats. Never heard a story like that before though taxi's over charging tourists is all too common all over the world. I can't imagine that thing with the whisky?
He may have not understood the currency there. One US Dollar is now about 23,500 VN Dong. $43.00 exchanged makes you a millionaire!
Taxi meters, Gas pumps, Some menu's and other printed material often don't show the last three 000's but everyone understands that.
Perhaps your friend became confused or was in some kind of very seedy underworld red light place?

At the end of the war the exchange rate was about 100 VND to the dollar. After the war they tried printing their way out of debt* to pay back the Russians and Chinese and thats how it got to 1 = 23,500.
*Sound a little like another country we all know too well? Beware of guys with doctorates in economics!

Well if you'd ever like to see Viet Nam try to come when I'm there. We have a house right in the center of Saigon as well as a nice house in the country and I know a lot of great clubs and restaurants.

The fellow who helped manage my business there from 2006 to 2011 left to get his masters in Seoul. Later went to Canada for his doctorate in engineering where he lives now.
We visited with him at the University. Don't remember the name, but it was right near the boarder with the north and fighter jets were flying over low and loud about every ten minutes.
Best wishes,
Andy