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1938 National Dobro / Supro Professional Lap Steel W/ OHC With Rare 2-Tier Body Design
This Lap Steel is in great shape for being 80+ years old! The guitar is in Very Good condition showing some wear and the Case is also in Very Good condition.
All electronics, tuners and controls work as new.
"Finally introduced in 1936 was National Dobro’s first wooden Hawaiian Electric Guitar. These Hawaiian laps were built by National Dobro in Chicago. This had a squarish pear shape, rather wide and frumpy, with two sharp points for shoulders and fairly wide cutaways.
This was “…solid wood finish, in hi-lited mahogany,” which is basically a shaded mahogany sunburst. The top was bound. A square neck rose up to a squared-off flat three-and-three head, now with plate tuners with plastic buttons.
The 26-fret fingerboard (23″ scale) had dot inlays plus little numbers written along the treble edge for each fret position! This first wood-body looks to have some sort of elevated pickguard, also made of wood.
The old, improved Stimson pickup was housed under a large, two-part rectangular cast bridge assembly with a slotted cover revealing the pickup poles, and a slightly elevated back section with rear slots for attaching the strings. Two little wings were appended to either side of this rectangular housing, the treble side with a volume knob, the bass side with a screw-on microphone-type plug attachment (this would be favored over 1/4″ plugs on Supro laps for years to come). A square metal Supro logo plate was mounted between the end of the fingerboard and the pickup cover.
1930S STELLA LAP STEEL GUITAR
This army-green-metallic Stella lap steel arrived at the shop in just-about perfect condition. The wiring harness was good and even grounded, it plugged-in fine, and it sounded alright as-is. All I had to do was spray out the pot (to get it turning smoothly), flip the pickup and control plate around (so the jack was on the opposite side), and give it a light setup to get the strings closer to the poles. After that... ahhh, there's the sound!
It's got a pure, clean, bitey, but sweet voice. It's very much of its age -- and has a singing, clear quality to it that you only get from a good horseshoe-magnet pickup like this. Output is low -- but only around Danelectro levels -- and if you hit it with a medium dose of gain, it breaks-up just-so. At the end of the post you'll find some shots of the pickup itself.
This would've been made in the Schmidt factory in New Jersey and was probably built in the early-mid '30s as the company was sold-off to Harmony in '39 (at which point you see the Stella and Sovereign names on Harmony boxes). The finish is really hip -- the metallic green is offset by cream and red accents and red dots in the board.
Setup notes: currently it's strung with 46w-10 gauges and tune to open E. Heavier strings would give it a fatter tone, for sure. The bridge is adjustable to allow the player to get a little more height over the pickup poles if desired.
Scale length: 22 3/8"
Nut width: 2"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/4"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"
Body length: 13 1/2"
Top width: 9"
Side depth: 2 1/4"
Bridge: adjustable birch
Condition notes: it's all-original and in excellent condition, with only minor usewear throughout.
It comes with: its original hard case -- I repaired one hinge and it's working just fine, but it does have some wear and tear.
1930S STELLA LAP STEEL GUITAR
This army-green-metallic Stella lap steel arrived at the shop in just-about perfect condition. The wiring harness was good and even grounded, it plugged-in fine, and it sounded alright as-is. All I had to do was spray out the pot (to get it turning smoothly), flip the pickup and control plate around (so the jack was on the opposite side), and give it a light setup to get the strings closer to the poles. After that... ahhh, there's the sound!
It's got a pure, clean, bitey, but sweet voice. It's very much of its age -- and has a singing, clear quality to it that you only get from a good horseshoe-magnet pickup like this. Output is low -- but only around Danelectro levels -- and if you hit it with a medium dose of gain, it breaks-up just-so. At the end of the post you'll find some shots of the pickup itself.
This would've been made in the Schmidt factory in New Jersey and was probably built in the early-mid '30s as the company was sold-off to Harmony in '39 (at which point you see the Stella and Sovereign names on Harmony boxes). The finish is really hip -- the metallic green is offset by cream and red accents and red dots in the board.
Setup notes: currently it's strung with 46w-10 gauges and tune to open E. Heavier strings would give it a fatter tone, for sure. The bridge is adjustable to allow the player to get a little more height over the pickup poles if desired.
Scale length: 22 3/8"
Nut width: 2"
String spacing at nut: 1 3/4"
String spacing at bridge: 2 1/8"
Body length: 13 1/2"
Top width: 9"
Side depth: 2 1/4"
Bridge: adjustable birch
Condition notes: it's all-original and in excellent condition, with only minor usewear throughout.
It comes with: its original hard case -- I repaired one hinge and it's working just fine, but it does have some wear and tear.
Nancy H says, 'The lap robe is a favorite of mine and also [our cat] Mariah's since she only sleeps on wool. The popcorn edge turned out to be an easy and distinctive border. And the price for the beautiful yarn was quite a bargain at a church rummage sale.'
Moto Guzzi Ballabio.
It was really enjoyable. Lovely. And safe, when you just drive slow and low.
See video
The same sense of... relief? accomplishment? awareness of time? I felt last year post-eclipse I felt right here, at this moment. This was a hell of a thing to plan out, to hope it'd all work out right, and that I'd get to see what I came here to see. It worked, all of it worked and then some. I have so many stories to go with the photos and I'll get to carry both with me forever and ever.
Will I ever be back here? I honestly don't know. There's other places to go, there's rising currencies (Iceland has been recovering since 2008, the Great Recession is the only reason the place became affordable), and well who knows what could change in my life or what I'm able to do. If this was it, it was everything I wanted and it was perfect. The next day and a half in Reykjavík would be a glorified victory lap. I felt my accomplishment and my happiness right here.