| Author |
Topic: Early 60's Airline Lap Top |
Calvin Greenwood
From:
California, USA
|
|
|
 |
Jeff Highland
From:
New South Wales, Australia
|
Posted 16 Nov 2020 11:06 am |
|
Well It has the Valco/Supro string thru pickup so the sound quality should be good.
_________________
Duesenberg Fairytale
1949 Supro Supreme
1950 National New Yorker
2008 Highland Baritone Weissenborn
2020 Highland New Yorker.
2020 Highland Mohan Veena
2021 Highland Weissencone |
|
|
|
Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
|
Posted 16 Nov 2020 11:48 am
|
|
Be aware that many of those Airlines from Valco were built with an extremely short scale length -- somewhere around 21-inches. That's not meant to imply they don't sound good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPtT-fVtVQ |
|
|
|
Allan Revich
From:
Victoria, BC
|
Posted 16 Nov 2020 11:55 am Re: Early 60's Airline Lap Top
|
|
If you are looking for your first lap steel, you can’t go too far wrong with any of the mid-century Valcos. National, Supro, Valco, Airline, with the string through pickups, I think you’ll be happy with it.
_________________
Current Tunings:
6 String | D – D A D F# A D
7 String | D6 – D A D F# A B D
https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database |
|
|
|
David Ball
From:
North Carolina High Country
|
Posted 16 Nov 2020 12:00 pm
|
|
That's just like the first lap steel I got many years ago. It was a good one.
Dave |
|
|
|
Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
|
|
|
|
Calvin Greenwood
From:
California, USA
|
Posted 16 Nov 2020 12:57 pm Short scale?
|
|
What effect does a short scale have? I see the Airline has 24 frets. I currently play a National Resolectric slide. It is so heavy though I thought it would be a good idea to at least get started on a lap steel. I see most players use finger picks. I don't use them. Will that be problematic when the steel is on you lap? I use my fingernails for pic like effect. Thank you all for your replies!  |
|
|
|
Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
|
Posted 16 Nov 2020 1:44 pm
|
|
Of course, a shorter scale obviously gives, string gauges being equal, less tension. I usually find a shorter scale, all other things being equal, gives a more mellifluous, less sharp, sound. But that may have something to do with not controlling for tension by using heavier strings. Shorter scale makes the angle required for bar slants smaller, and hence easier (for me at least). The flip side of that is that, in absolute terms, placement of bar is a bit more pitch-critical on a shorter scale. It is often thought that longer scale gives more sustain - I think there are a lot of variables to that, however.
I can deal with playing without finger picks if the string tension isn't high. But I think it's worth learning to use thumb pick and finger picks, even if using fingers sometimes. For me, this all goes for slide guitar too, which I play a lot. In fact, I virtually never play either steel or slide guitar without at least a thumb pick. But sometimes I like the effect of the other fingers without picks.
No doubt - many people have different preferences on all this. |
|
|
|
