The British Steelies Society

Having had a very fine, but cheap lap steel from this very forum, and discovered a liking for the instrument, I found myself in California last month and popped into Sylvan Music in Santa Cruz, just to see what was new. It's a great shop and there were four or five old lap steels on display. This one didn't have a price, so I had a go anyway and talked myself into buying it.



So far it's been fantastic. Came with a case, a Bakelite tone bar and that authentic smell. I reckon it's early '50s.

Forgot to add, it's original apart from the tuners, which had disintegrated. These chrome ones were OK, but stiff where they'd been knocked about, so I've just got some white-button Klusons (three on a strip) that I've added. Looks the part now.

A Harmony H-5: "Tone Emphasizer" (P13) pickup, plastic fretboard. Most probably made in 1951; so nearly as old as me
Regards, Tony.