In May of 2022 I stumbled on a Fender Champ husk on eBay. The husk looked to be in good shape with the fretboard (22.5" scale) and the price was reasonable so I bought it. The seller also had the control plate with the original pickup & bridge but the pots/cap were missing. The tuners and pan were missing as was the nut. I just happened to have a 6 string nut that had been a part of a lot of 8 string Stringmaster nuts that I had bought.
The seller was in Canada and I asked him to ship everything in one package. Three weeks later the package arrived and upon opening the package I was surprised to see that he had enclosed everything in a genuine Fender 70's lap steel case in fantastic shape. What luck!!! I emailed the seller and thanked him for his kindness.
Well, not so fast. They had made an error and the case had been sold to a buyer in Arizona. Rats!!! Well, I told him that he could send me a shipping label and I would re-box the case and send it out. Fine.
6 months pass - no label. I send the seller a 3rd email. No reply. 3 more months pass, and I send yet another email and the seller says yes, we have to do something. He had refunded the buyer 8 months prior.
I then offered him the $150 US that he had listed the case for and he said yes so I paid him and I now had clear title to the Fender case. Whew!
STAGE 1:
In the mean time, I bought a Kluson 6 string tuner pan & tuners for the Champ. They did not fit the Champ. The pan alone did fit but the tuners hit the wood side. I ground off the corner ends of the plate that hold the tuners and every thing fit.
I used new Fender pots, cap etc and wired it up. I set it up for C6. It worked fine.
STAGE 2 - Plus:
While the original pickup was ok, I decided to swap in a DiMarzio Area 61 noiseless pickup. Then I noticed something. There was space between the pickup and the end of the fretboard. Hummm.
How about a 2nd pickup? Better yet, why not use the original pickup as a neck pick up and wire it as a BLEND pickup with the DiMarzio Area 61 - like a Stringmaster blend.
I tore the Champ down and started to design a holder for a 2nd pickup. It looks like it will fit.
I shipped the Champ body, original pickup, and the control plate to Tony Dudzik - Pickguardian in Columbus Ohio and asked him to make the pickup adapter. He did. I love Tony's work. He is the best!
I then had to rout the body a bit for the extra pickup and the blend pot.
I put it all back together and it worked!!!
Note the small black blend knob.
But there is more!
STAGE 3 - Plus Plus
I was very happy with my pickup mod. But there was something lacking. Legs. Stable legs. Fender sold the Champ with legs as the "Studio Deluxe". OK, I'll add legs. Gary Sill sells legs and sockets. I bought a set along with a leg bag.
To mount the sockets you need to drill a 3" hole with a 3" Forstner bit.
Then with a 1.250" Forstner bit you drill the the center area out. Using #10 wood screws you can then mount the socket. Bang! Stable adjustable legs!
I thought I was done. Then I had another mad idea. Why stop now? So I took it over the top:
Tore it all down again. Did a couple of cuts:
Notched it out:
Glued in an oak block
Added some filler:
Sanded it smoother. Painted it a bit. Put it back together. It didn't work. Modded the block again. And again.
Finally every thing was just right. Why did I add an oak block to the Champ?
You guessed it:
B E N D E R S !!!!!!!
Yep, Certano benders from France are awesome!!! I had to add wood to the Champ rear to have a place to mount the Certano benders. Then there were some problems. The new block was too high - I could not get the strings to bend over the bridge. I carved down the block 1/4" to lower the benders and I raised the bridge up a bit by wedging a couple of thick screws under the bridge. Finally the strings firmly hit the bridge and bent downward toward the benders.
The Studio Deluxe Plus Plus is done. Finally. Yes, this is the "official" Studio Deluxe Plus Plus. This lap steel is no longer a "student" model
Two years and two months in the making. Another lap steel husk RESCUED! I still need to mod the case a bit to make it fit with the benders.
The tuning is D/G:
The benders are on strings 2 & 3. String 2 is raised a whole step from A to B. String 3 is raised a half step from F# to G.
Oh, I liked the Certano benders so much I bought another kit. Stay tuned.
