The British Steelies Society

Here's a few pics of my babies:

60s Melody, VERY short scale and sliding pickup (?!?). Made in Germany and sounds really sweet, I had to drill an extra hole for a 1/4" jack and I removed the original pot to throw in a double pot for volume and tone.



60s Herrnsdorf 8-string, very weak pickup, weirdest contraption I've ever seen, it's underneath some sort of plastic case. I'm having that rewound.


60s German no-name 8-string with a bowling ball finish that's swollen in some places. Sounds amazing but they installed a 6-string pickup so the first and eight strings sound really weak, I'll have to do something about it.



60s Fender Champ, 100% original with the original blonde finish, I only wish it were an 8 string! Plug into an old Fender amp and it sounds like those old country records. Original blonde case... to die for.

Hi Mr Tapas!
That's a lovely collection you have there. Where do you find guitars like that?
Regards,
Keith

timefortapas wrote:60s Melody, VERY short scale and sliding pickup (?!?). Made in Germany .....................................

FWIW - Framus made a "Les Paul-shaped" guitar back in the 60's with one sliding pickup! Is it a German thing?

Keith, you can find them on ebay germany/uk and there's usually a few up there in the 100-200 euro range. it's hard to find cheap ones that are in tip top shape, so need to have your soldering iron and screwdrivers ready if you want to spend less than 100/150 euros.

vintage european made lap steels are cheap and they sound really nice, Framus and other better known brands are more expensive but stuff like Hernnsdorf comes up from time to time

the sliding pup is quire rare... I've only seen them in Dan Armstrong guitars...

Sorry to drag up a 2 year old thread but you didn't happen to take any pictures of what the Herrnsdorf pickup looked like under the cover did you?
There;s a discussion going on about them over on "Lap Steel Lunatics" on Facebook.