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Topic: 1950 Supro Lap Steel |
Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 2 Mar 2020 4:07 pm |
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So I bought a 1950 Supro Comet Lap steel on Ebay.I'm reliving my early steel years. I had a 1962 Commet in white that I loved that was stolen during load out at a gig around 1980.
I like the string through pickup and kinda wanted to learn about what makes them tick in any case. Learn I will - It goes open intermittently. That's Ok that's my forte.
Things I like about the guitar-
The wood body slopes away on either side of the neck so i's difficult to dent it with a bar.
The string through pickup gives a nice fat sound. It's dual coil with adjustable pole pieces.
It's finished in MOTS, mother of toilet seat. I'm thinking it will be more valuable in the future since the era was quite short lived due the process being dangerous. It has held up well and is visually stunning.
The black and cream color scheme is cool. I love the look and function of the low profile black tone and volume knobs
The back is felted so it sticks to your lap.
The old case is funky/simple/effective.
The integral pickup/bridge/sting ball end catch/tone control plate is a work of engineering genius as far as I'm concerned. In fact the entire plate serves as the core of the pickup greatly increasing it's inductance, hence very few turns of wire were required to get such a powerful sound.
Here are some pics after the following was done,
New tuner knobs, rust removal, new pots (old had dead spots) replaced some broken pole pieces, cleaned and polished the MOTS.
Amazingly that attached power cord is in good shape - I'm debating what to do about it. If I could find a really thin 1/4" jack I'd replace it, but I'll probably leave it. The cord is very flexible and high quality.
I got obsessive as usual and researched the chronology of the model and how it changed. They were made right up to 1968. I believe 1956 was the last year of MOTS and a new body shape whereby the neck was thinned out.
1950 and before - no black plastic pickup cover. Initially I thought it was missing but note there are no studs for mounting one. I wrote up a year by year chronology of the model based on web research if anyone is interested.
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 3 Mar 2020 12:43 am
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I guess about now you are thinking, man, that was money well spent. Looks great Jim and good job cleaning it up. I see it is in your kitchen. Don't let your wife know how good you can clean things up, you wont have time to hear how it sounds. BTW, can we hear you play it when you get your chores done? 
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Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2020 2:21 am
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Bill, I'm working on a pickup winding jig so I can rewind the pickup. This obsession has displaced the lap steel obsession for the time being. (Nothing's ever simple it seems).
Anyway when finished I can likely post a link to a sound bite. |
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Posted 3 Mar 2020 5:36 am
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Jim - that’s a beauty. Nice score! I have a 64 Jet Airliner and I am amazed at how strong the pickup is with such a low-wind bobbin. Keep us up to date on your progress! (And yes, I’d love to read the history you’ve compiled, when you have a chance)
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Peter
---------
www.splinterville.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@splinterville6278/videos |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 3 Mar 2020 5:49 am
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Lotso people don't realize the inductance of a pickup as well as it's resistance affects the tone/amplitude for the most part.
The inductance will be proportional to the number of turns multiplied by the mass of the core (pole pieces). The Tonealigner pickup I used to make sounded good to me at 11 millihenries whereas the Supro measures a wopping 21mh with ~ 1/10 the number of turns.
Here's the chronology of the Supro Commet from what I've gathered by looking at photos.
Supro Chromnology
1949, 1950
no pickup cover
straigt body
black and white logo at top
white or black knobs
Integral cord
MOT finish
open tuners
1951-1953
pickup cover
straight body
color logo at top
Black embossed Supro logo with lightning bolt on lower bout
white or black knobs
integral cord
MOT finish
enclosed tuners
1954-1955
pickup cover
straight body
color logo at top
black knobs
unusual Jack no cord
Mot finish
enclosed tuners
1956-1958
pickup cover
tapered body
color logo moved to lower bout
black knobs
unusual Jack no cord
white finish
enclosed tuners
peghead black interior
1958-1968
pickup cover
tapered body
color logo moved to lower bout
black knobs
standard Jack
white finish
enclosed tuners
peghead black interior
knobs were black our white in the early 50s. What's nice is the manufacturing date of the Commet is easily dated by its' serial number. |
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Steve Marinak
From:
Man O War Cay, Abaco, Bahamas
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Posted 14 Jul 2020 4:14 pm
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Jim, I just got this guitar today and found your previous post doing some research. I took apart the tuners, cleaned them, had to install one button. The metals were somewhat rusty. Cleaned metal, body, etc. Volume Tuner sprockets, button shafts and string posts look to be made of brass; gear and plate is steel. Pot cuts out right before full-on. Knobs are a Turtle Shell color. Serial number implies 1949. Do you know what pots are under the plate?
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Steve Marinak |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2020 10:30 am
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Interesting your knobs are translucent red. Mine are black and I concluded they were original but mine is 1950. Perhaps they were red in 1949.
I replaced both my volume and tone pot. Both had blank spots in the carbon track.
I'm pretty sure the tone pot is a reverse audio taper but not absolutely sure - my pickup went open before I got a chance to try the new pots. I'm still trying to complete making a pickup winder.
Here's what I bought from Stewmac to restore mine. Note the tuner knobs are a prefect mtach.
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Steve Marinak
From:
Man O War Cay, Abaco, Bahamas
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Posted 15 Jul 2020 10:35 am
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Thank you Jim!
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Steve Marinak |
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Greg Forsyth
From:
Colorado, USA
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Steve Marinak
From:
Man O War Cay, Abaco, Bahamas
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Posted 17 Jul 2020 1:04 pm
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Jim, let me know how the pickup rewind comes along.
I got mine as far as I can take it with my skills. Cleaned the pots today, both sound clear now, no issues. So it's fully working. However, I was hoping for a little more ooomf from the pickup. I don't know how these are supposed to sound, but I thought it was supposed to be a strong pickup. Maybe I'm used to my Rickenbackers....
If the rewind helps, maybe I could send you my pickup to be rewound as well.
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Steve Marinak |
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Steve Marinak
From:
Man O War Cay, Abaco, Bahamas
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Posted 17 Jul 2020 1:06 pm
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Oh, and yes, you were right. The tone knob is reverse. I forgot to look at the wiring to see if they just flipped leads, or if it is a "reverse audio taper". But the spin is opposite the volume.
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Steve Marinak |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2020 2:17 am
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| Steve, my inclination about the reduced pickup strength would be that the magnets have lost some or most of their magnetism over time. Google restoring pickup magnetism. Either that or you may have a pickup whereby only one of the side mounted magnets is a ceramic magnet and the other is a wood dummy. |
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Don Barnhill
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 Jul 2020 11:00 am
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One of my favorite lap steel guitars. Here’s a picture of my 1953.
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2020 3:20 pm
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| Wow Don, that's in beautiful shape. That's a good year - the balack Supro Logo on the lower bout, the pickup cover and the fact the body shape is as it was originally. |
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K Maul
From:
Hadley, NY/Hobe Sound, FL
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Posted 3 Aug 2020 6:13 pm
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I have two double sixes. I don’t know the exact years but one is MOTS with a screw on connection which I bypassed and the other one is painted white with a regular quarter inch jack. They both scream. I have not had to do anything as far as re-magnetizing pick ups.
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KEVIN MAUL: Airline, Beard, Clinesmith, Donner, Evans, Excel, Fender, Fluger, GFI, Gibson, Hilton, Ibanez, Justice, K+K, Live Strings, MOYO, National, Oahu, Peterson, Quilter, Rickenbacher, Sho~Bud, Supro, TC, Ultimate, VHT, Williams, X-otic, Yamaha, ZKing. |
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Don Barnhill
From:
California, USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2020 6:45 pm
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| Jim Pitman wrote: |
| Wow Don, that's in beautiful shape. That's a good year - the balack Supro Logo on the lower bout, the pickup cover and the fact the body shape is as it was originally. |
Thanks Jim. I believe I’m only the 2nd owner of this super clean Supro. |
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Jim Pitman
From:
Waterbury Ctr. VT 05677 USA
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Posted 4 Aug 2020 12:51 pm
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Kevin M, I owned the single 6 version of the dual you have. It got stollen while loading out of the Hardwick Legion in VT about 20 years ago.
I believe that Supro design with the tappered neck came about in the late 50s. |
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