National Chicagoan lap steel guitar

[Doug Beaumier]

This lap steel showed up at a local music store today. The price was right so I Had to buy it!

[Jerry Overstreet]

Congratulations Doug. We have one of those at our rehearsal building. Great sound with those string through pickups.

The original owner had it tuned in C6 but that's not for me so I'm waiting for permission to re-string, re-tune.

[Doug Beaumier]

I'll probably go with A6 on this one. And the same set of strings will also work for C6, B11, Eadd9, etc.

I've owned a couple of Valcos in past years, and I've missed them. So I was happy to find this one. Finding a guitar locally and being able to try it and take it home that same day means a lot. It's a lot safer than buying online.

I have a set of Rick Aiello's NIBro magnets (for Valco string-through pickups) that I used in a couple of my Valcos a few years ago. I'll put those into this guitar. They boost the bass, the mids, and overall output of the guitar quite a bit. The improvement is actually stunning.

[David Knutson]

Nice find, Doug. I had that same model for years, only with black knobs. It did its best work playing electric blues through an old Music Man 110 RD amp. Crystal clear sound, with just a bit of "hair" on it. Sold it - and, of course - now I miss it.

[Doug Beaumier]

David, I know what you mean about a bit of “hair” in the sound. I like that. It also has a slightly compressed sound, as compared to a Fender, for example. This guitar is in the queue for now. I have other projects to work on, but eventually I’ll put new strings on this and install Rick’s magnets and do a recording with it.

[Glenn Wilde]

Nice score. I have a Supro with that pickup and love it's tone. I'm enamored with my B6 right now but I'll have to dig out that thing. I know what you mean about stuff turning up locally, it's pretty exciting to run across stuff in the wild.

[Doug Beaumier]

Yes, nothing sounds quite like a Supro/Oahu/National/Silvertone, etc. with this pickup. It’s a warm sound, sometimes gritty and compressed as well.

[K Maul]

Nice find! I love those pickups. Can you still get those magnets from Rick A? I have a couple Supro steels that might benefit from that upgrade.

[Doug Beaumier]

I don’t know if Rick still makes/sells his NIBro magnets for these. As I remember, he made two batches of them, a couple of years apart. I bought a set from the first batch.

[Rick Aiello]

https://www.horseshoemagnets.net/home/nibro-magnets

[Doug Beaumier]

Looking good, Rick! I’m gonna have to buy a second set.

[Garry Vanderlinde]

Just wondering what "the right price" was?...prices are all over the place these days

[Doug Beaumier]

Just wondering what "the right price" was?...prices are all over the place these days

The guitar was on consignment at a local music store. The owner of the guitar originally wanted $500, but he reduced the price to $400. So on a whim, I offered $300 and the owner accepted it. I was not expecting that!

Asking prices for these old Valco lap steels are usually about $450-$650 nowadays. I don’t know if they actually sell for that though.

[K Maul]

https://www.horseshoemagnets.net/home/nibro-magnets

Rick - I emailed you about these through the website but got no response. I want to buy 4 sets.

[Rick Aiello]

Hi

I’m sorry … I never received any of your emails.

I’ll make you 4 sets this week …

My email is nibroinfo@gmail.com

[K Maul]

Thanks. I sent my previous email to this address that was on your website. I am doing again and I hope it works. Maybe you can PM me through this forum. Thank you.

[K Maul]

I just got the magnets from Rick and installed them in one of my Supro double necks. It took about 15 minutes to do both necks. Really beautiful, powerful clean sound coming from them now. The other magnets were weak in comparison. I no longer have a disparity volume wise. I have another Supro that I’ll do this to soon as I get back up to New York where I’m keeping it. Thank you Rick.

[Doug Beaumier]

That's awesome, Kevin

[Doug Beaumier]

It looks like this National had one of those "Stringtone tuning changer" devices back in the day. I've owned a couple of lap steels with Stringtone device, and IMO they didn't work very well. After flipping the lever to change the tuning, some tweaking was always necessary. It was easier and more accurate to re-tune using the tuners on the guitar. Just my opinion.

[K Maul]

I have one Stringtone that works quite well and a few others that are less accurate. I still find it quicker than using the tuners especially if you’re retuning three or four strings. I do a bit of tweaking between numbers. Here’s the Supro that I just replaced the magnets on. I have G,D and Bm7 on the bottom neck and the benders working E tuning with F# on 4th string.

[Doug Beaumier]

Great to hear that your Stringtone works well. Keep it going!