OAHU restoration UPDATE

[Alex Cattaneo]

This project certainly took awhile to complete, but I’m very happy to announce that this instrument has been successfully brought back from the dead! Here are the details and some pictures for the curious .

Part 1: The easy stuff

First, I glued the binding and got some replacement tuner buttons. I had to purchase a heat gun, but I’m glad I did. Once I cleaned the tuner posts, it was easy to heat them up and install the new buttons. Then I replaced the jack plate. So far so good.

Part 2: The pickguard

That was more problematic, and the most expensive part of the restauration. The pickguard holds the pickup and the electronics in place, and I couldn’t get around it: I needed a new one. I was extremely lucky to have George Piburn’s help. I shipped him the original and with the help of 3D printing, he made a very precise and exact replica. Once I received the new pickguard, I felt like I was very close to playing my new old lap steel. Boy, was I wrong.

Part 3: The bridge

The way this instrument is designed, the bridge is screwed into the body with two screws. It’s a cheap piece of pot metal, and its hollow underneath. So instead of having nice flat surface resting on the body, it’s just a thin lip right at the edge of the cavity. It was a mess down there, with both holes in pretty bad shape. As soon as I started putting tension into the strings, it was obvious the bridge would not hold. So I needed a solution; I didn’t feel like filling the holes and re-drilling would be enough. A new bridge? Couldn’t find anything compatible, and Goldtone didn’t have that part in stock. Also, while the strings were on, I noticed they were very close to the pickup. So I thought a base plate under the bridge would serve two purposes. It would anchor the bridge with additional screws AND shim the bridge to raise the action. So I had a friend on mine make a base plate which I screwed directly into the body. Then, the original bridge sits on top of that plate. Worked like a charm, and now I know I could confidently string it anyway I want to. The bridge is rock solid, although I was worried it might be too high.

Part 4: more problems

With the bridge now firmly in place, it was time to finally play this thing! The electronics were completely redone, new CTS pots, new wiring, and I found some awesome looking knobs in my friend’s old parts drawer. So now, how does this pickup actually sound? Well, not very good. The first string comes out nice and strong, but the third string has no output whatsoever. And it’s very noisy. I had some options, but they were not cheap: either a new Lollar Chicago steel pickup, or sending the original to be refurbished or copied. At this point, I was looking at a final bill that would surpass whatever the guitar is worth, and starting to feel a tad discouraged.

But just as I was about to put the whole thing on pause, I caught a lucky break. I found a listing online for a “Goldtone 6-string lapsteel with a replacement Lollar pickup. Original pickup included in the sale”. So I wrote to the seller and asked if he would be willing to sell the original pickup separately. He was! Incidentally, the seller was a fellow Forum member who was sympathetic to my restauration project.

So, last night, I installed the new pickup and played the guitar for a glorious hour. It’s alive! Sounds amazing, especially with a RAT distortion pedal, hahaha!

A few minor issues remain: the b string seems hotter than the other ones. Hopefully I can adjust that with the individual poles pieces of the pickups. Also, I don’t like the tapper of the tone pot. I used a 250k linear taper with a 047 resistance. Open to suggestions! The tuners are bit squeaky, probably due to the lack of bushings. There is a buzz on the lowest string that I can’t figure out.

So that’s the story of my OAHU Tonemaster resuscitation. It’s a cool little guitar with a ton of mojo. I already have an Asher Electro Hawaiian in open D, so I’m thinking A high bass for this one. We’ll see!

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[Alex Cattaneo]

To see where I started from, the original post on this story is here:

viewtopic.php?p=3240128#p3240128

[Joe Burke]

Nice one Alex! I look forward to hearing a clip!