Wood Leo Used For the Stringmaster

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

I've been researching the wood type that Leo used for the Stringmaster. I couldn't find much at all. There was a thread from the old board that mentions a few types.

https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum2/HTML/004921.html

My interest is mostly the 1970's versions as my T8 is a 1978 but I have a couple of 1953ish 26" necks. I am no expert on wood but I am thinking that swamp ash was used. Is there one type of wood that was predominantly used?

Anyone know for sure?

Thanks!
_________________
Tony
Newnan, GA

Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster T8 black
PedalMaster D8

Henry Hibbert · From: Georgia, USA

I would like to know too. I have a 1954 long scale and recently acquired a 70's D8.
_________________
Lord Almighty its a long scale 1954 Double Neck Stringmaster. Will I set down the D-18 and Telecaster for a while? Yes... perhaps for quite a while.

Chris Clem · From: California, USA

Ash was used for any semi transparent finish (Blonde/Butterscotch) The Ash that Fender used was not Swamp Ash it was standard Ash from the east coast.

Henry Hibbert · From: Georgia, USA

Chris,
Thank you for your note. Mine are indeed blondies.

kind regards,
Henry
_________________
Lord Almighty its a long scale 1954 Double Neck Stringmaster. Will I set down the D-18 and Telecaster for a while? Yes... perhaps for quite a while.

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

Chris,

Thanks for the info.

What wood would have been used for a solid black colour T8?

I have a couple of brown necks like Doug B's Quad. Would ash have been used for brown necks?
_________________
Tony
Newnan, GA

Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster T8 black
PedalMaster D8

Robert B Murphy · From: Mountain View, Arkansas, USA

What is "swamp ash?" Are you referring to Green Ash?Carolina Ash? Pumpkin Ash? I have trouble seeing a timber buyer for Fender wanting anything but White Ash.
_________________
Bob, small o.

Chris Clem · From: California, USA

[quote]What wood would have been used for a solid black colour T8?

Solid colors would have used wood that doesn't require filling the grain. Ash would not be used for solid colors. Leo would have had used either Alder,Poplar or Walnut.Those were all considered Paint grade woods. He probably used all three depending on what he could get that week.

Bill Groner · From: QUAKERTOWN, PA

Walnut is very porous and I am sure would take a lot to fill it.
_________________
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40

Noah Miller · From: Rocky Hill, CT

Fender used ash and alder for both solid and transparent colors, depending on the year. It had nothing to do with appearance; they switched because it was cheaper. Early ones were sometimes made of pine for the same reason. I have seen many Fender steels with a walnut-colored stain, but not one that was made of walnut wood.

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

Robert B Murphy · From: Mountain View, Arkansas, USA

One of my wood handbooks lists White Ash at 41 lbs/ft^3 and Green Ash at 22 lbs/ft^3 so, yes, it sure is less dense. I have an Arkansas State publication that lists "swamp ash" as a local name for Carolina Ash but, as the term is loose, I suspect different locales mean different species by it. All ash seems to be water loving, I have a huge White Ash growing in the cleft of a gulley that gets all the run-off but some types seem to prefer having their roots submerged all the time.

Tom Wheeler's American Guitar has a picture of the room where they softened sheets of cellulose nitrate in acetone and used a "flare heater" to stretch them over steel guitar bodies. Leo's comments are hilarious calling the place a "bomb" and said the fire inspector took one look, left the building, and called them from a pay phone blocks away. Leo said the process was commonly used on toilet seats back then. I think it was only used on steels by Fender.

My D-8 is ash.
_________________
Bob, small o.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

That type of covering was used on numerous brands of guitars.
It was called "MOTS", mother of toilet seats! Whoa!

Erv

Scott Thomas · Posted 30 Mar 2022 3:43 pm

Ash is the most common by far. Early on, there are actual walnut Dual Pro and Custom models but for the most part they are ash (even the walnut stained ones).

Stringmasters are typically ash in one of two finishes--transparent blonde and transparent brown. The earlier brown ones of the '50s had a subtle shading with darker brown on the edges going to more amber in the center. It is easy to see the ash graining in the 50s/60s models.

As the '60s wore on, the finishes got more opaque and went from lacquer to poly based just like the whole Fender guitar line.

Stringmasters were still in the catalogs into the '70s. They were available in opaque white and in black. Since there is no grain visible in those it's hard for me to know what wood was used. Did they continue with ash or?? I have heard poplar as a candidate.

Anyway, those later ones are rare. I would have to say, if you see a Stringmaster, it would have to be over 99% certain to be made of ash.

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

Thanks Scott; my T8 is a 1978 in black poly I have not looked under the "hood" to see what's there. Next string change I will.

Erv, I'd hate to run into one of those MOTS!
_________________
Tony
Newnan, GA

Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster T8 black
PedalMaster D8

Scott Thomas · Posted 30 Mar 2022 4:32 pm

Yours must be one of the last ones made! What I know of Stringmasters is from my own (previous) '54 and about 25 years of seeing many others posted on this forum. Outside of Rick Aiello's D-8, I have never seen another one in black. You add a lot to the "database".

Glenn Wilde · From: California, USA

My '50 Deluxe is Ash, my '46 K&F is Maple.

Mike Schway · From: Washington, USA

I have two Champions. A 50 (maybe 49?) and a 54 (or 55?). The 50 is pine covered with a translucent yellow film. The 54 is ash with yellow MOTS cladding.

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

I used to strum my 3-neck Fender Custom's unplugged strings on the way out of the house just to hear them sustain for 30 seconds or more. I always referred to that guitar as "Swamp Ash" but I see that might have been a misnomer.
_________________
Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

Scott Thomas · Posted 31 Mar 2022 2:22 pm

Wow. 24" scale, too. Awesome!

Roger Fletcher · From: United Kingdom

Carl McLaughlin · From: St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can

I have a Dual 6 Stringmaster ,I think it is 1960s Blonde, what wood would likely have been used?

Carl Smile

_________________
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.

Brad Davis · From: Texas, USA

To OP:

I would surmise that, just as with Telecasters and other guitars, by the early 60s Fender was already finding suitable Ash less plentiful or available and was largely switching to Alder except for clear finishes meant to show off the grain. The 1970s was not a good time for musical instrument manufacturing. I think there's a good chance your 70s Stringmaster could be made of Alder, or it could be something completely different. I think I've seen a few from that era that were supposedly Walnut also. Ash is unlikely, but not impossible.

I have a couple of 53/54 first gen Stringmasters, and they are certainly the variety of Ash being used on the earliest Teles.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Andy DePaule · From: Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon

I know that Fender used a lot of Poplar on their guitars. My best guess is that they also used it on the steels because it's a closed grain wood that does not need grain filler before the finish is applied. I'd expect it was used on some or all of the painted ones.

You'd need to remove the tuner pans to see what the wood is in a painted model. Then you would also learn the date it was made because Fender always dated them under one of the pans.

Poplar is also a very stable wood so very good under string tension.
I'm thinking of using it on my next two lap steels with Maple and Walnut veneer over it.

Not often used on stained guitars because while much Poplar is a light tan color a lot also has green or very dark brown places in the wood that many people would not like to see.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project.

Forum Index > Steel Without Pedals	Goto page 1, 2 Next	Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic