National Lap Steel Factory Painted Faux Wood Cast aluminum 1930's
$1,299.99No sales tax for customers outside California.
This National lap steel from the 1930's is the coolest in the shop currently, and the only one with real gold leaf on the body.
The cast aluminum body, color scheme and design jump right out at you. The body is painted in a faux wood grain, resembling rosewood.
See the four knobs? This interesting setup is different than you might think. The small, metal knobs raise and lower the pickups. The bass side knob raises half of the pickup blade, and the one on the trebles side the other - a very cool feature! The other two knobs are volume knobs, split in the same way as the height adjustment knobs - one for the low three strings and one for the high three. There is no tone control, but you won't miss it with this variability.
We were thinking that the case might not be original to the steel, but it sure looks like it would be. The thing that made us scratch our heads is the fact that there are two compartment lids in the case. One is flat to lay behind the neck. If it were in place as intended, the steel wouldn't fit - the neck would need to be offset from the back of the body at that spot. Otherwise it is the exact right shape and era, and poking around reveals that other steels like this one have the same case.
The steel is original except for the pots, which I assume were shot. This is a reasonable move to keep a nearly 100 year old instrument working as it should.
- Color: Painted Faux Wood, gold and aluminum
- Weight: 9lbs 12ozs
- Fretboard: Rosewood
- Inlays: Mother of pearl dots
- Frets: Original
- Fret count: 26
- Nut: Original aluminum
- Nut width: 2 1/4"
- Scale: 25"
- Total length: 37 9/16"
- Lower bout: 10 1/2"
- Body depth/thickness: 1 9/16"
- String gauge: C6 Set
- Hardware Color: Chrome
- Bridge Pickup: National
- Bridge Pickup Reading: 2.78k
- Pickup Original?: Yes
- Bridge: Original
- Tuners: Original, #3 has a wobble
- Pots: Replaced 1377731
- Knobs: Original
- Case: Period correct HSC
- Notes:
Shipping policy:
Shipments will require signature on delivery, no exceptions. If there is damage, the buyer must retain all packing materials intact and picture them immediately and send them to sales@maharsvintageguitars.com. Less than 1% of our shipments are damaged in transit, and we are committed to making sure your item arrives safely, but we are taking these additional measures to make sure you are happy with your purchase.