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Topic: My new, not-quite lap steel |
Michael Devito
From:
Montclair, NJ, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2004 8:34 am |
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| Picked up an interesting guitar last week. Was checking out stuff in a little store in PA, saw a little supro regular guitar with a lap steel pickup on it. It's 1957 vintage, "60s" model name painted on the body. I've always been curious about supro lap steels, but had never played one. Plugged this thing in, and whoa! What an amazing sound. It was tuned to open D, but apparently went out of tune enough that it was actually open C. That thing was shaking the walls. I promptly emptied out my wallet and took it home (not all that much in the wallet anyway). This pickup is really something, could easily blow out amp speakers if you let it. Now I know why Ry Cooder put one in a regular guitar. It's now my slide guitar secret weapon. Looks like a funky little toy 'til you plug it in. I think I'm going to have to look for a supro lap steel now. Have to hear more of this sound. |
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2004 9:07 am
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The Supro "60" was the only Spanish-style guitar originally equipped with the Supro/Valco/National string-through pickup that is so common on lap steels. They aren't nearly as easy to find as the lap steels, though.
The "60" was introduced in 1955, and renamed "Ozark" in 1958. (The "Ozark" name also appeared on an MOTS Supro solid-body in the early 1950s.)
Despite what you may have seen on a Pepsi commercial during the Super Bowl, Jimi Hendrix's first electric guitar was a '58 Ozark, not a Telecaster. |
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Michael Devito
From:
Montclair, NJ, USA
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Posted 7 Mar 2004 5:15 pm
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| Thanks Russ. I certainly never knew there was such an instrument. I'd seen an Ozark model, which if remember correctly had one regular, under the string pickup ... looked like a humbucker but was actually a powerful single coil. The Ozark and the 60 have the same body and neck setup. It's a very light and resonant body, imparts a noticeable ring to the sound even unplugged. Other than the amazing string through pickup, I think that light body is what makes it sound so good. |
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