The British Steelies Society

Hi
I am currently restoring a Silvertone steel guitar, the same as the one in the photo, it came with a modern lead and jack socket attached directly to the pickup via a hole in the body, can anyone tell me if the original would have been a jack socket please?

I am not sure about this particular model but some did actually come like that. A lot of people for convenience have fitted a jack socket but does it spoil the originality?

Hi Bilko,

Nice steel you got there!
This looks like Silvertone's answer to the Gibson EH100/125 lapsteel.

As far as I'm aware these steels (unlike the gibson) did come with their own inbuilt lead extension rather than a modern day jack socket.
There's a brief video on youtube with a very similar steel. The last image shows a coiled up lead to the left of the guitar which would suggest your jack socket is not original. You can view the video here:



Mick makes a good point, having a jack socket is far more practical than the built in lead. The inbuilt leads tend to be rather short lengths. Additionally, given the age of these instruments the built in leads are often in bad shape (if working at all) - which is understandable given that most inexpensive jack leads don't make it past the 10 year mark.

I've never seen anyone convert a steel from a jack input back to a built in lead but I'm sure if you have your heart set on returning it to its original set up then it would be possible.

Good luck with your project and keep us updated on your progress!
Thanks,
Joe.