the first guit-steel?

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

here's a 1937 Gibson guitar/lap steel combo that was apparently their first solid-body electric guitar as well. anyone ever seen or own one of these?

I was under the impression that Junior Brown invented the guit-steel but this was built 15 years before he was born!
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Ken Pippus · From: Langford, BC, Canada

Beautiful. And extraordinarily awkward to play. Can see why the concept didn't take right off.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

I noted this piece in the Duchossoir book as I was researching my EH150 Double neck (steel guitar -- 7+8).
Aside from the ergonomics of holding this, I also see that like my particular model, there is neither a neck switch nor a mute. As resonant as the body is, an unmuted neck is going to ring a lot. Horizontal on a stand or lap you can drape a towel. I don't know how you deal with it, holding it Spanish style.

scott murray · From: Asheville, NC

good point Jon. I'd have to think the two knobs are volume for each neck, no tone control.
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1965 Emmons S-10, 3x5 • Emmons LLIII D-10, 10x12 • JCH D-10, 10x12 • Beard MA-8 • Oahu Tonemaster

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

A quick skim of this brief chapter in the book -- no, it would have used the same master volume/tone scheme as the double neck steel. Although more advanced electronics and/or a rotary mute evolved on the steel guitars, I'd have to think that these guit-steels were so one-off, were made in such small numbers and, ultimately, they probably were not playable enough to warrant evolution.

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

It required some special posture to play

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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Hard to get excited about the cookie-cutter stringed instrument factories of today and their so-called "custom shops" when you find out what was going on in Kalamazoo (and elsewhere) before WW-II. Gibson also marketed the first commercial pedal steel guitar -- the Electraharp:

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I've not seen one of these. I assume this was at a guitar show?

Yeah, this kind of stuff is awkward to play - these kind of things pretty much need a special stand to play. Every time I've seen Junior, he had such a stand. I'd go for it in a heartbeat if it was priced at a level I could deal with. I imagine something could be done to tame the two-necks concurrently-on situation without defacing the instrument.

Chris Templeton · From: The Green Mountain State

I've never seen one of these. Beautiful and heavy.
I wonder If Junior Brown has?
Regi Wooten, who taps a lot, uses a fluffy hair scrunchee on on his guitar, to mute any strings sounding from unwanted frets, while tapping.
On my 11 string Tapper, I drape a cloth over the lower frets to mute the unwanted strings.

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Excel 3/4 Pedal With An 8 String Hawaiian Neck, Sierra Tapper (10 string with a raised fretboard to fret with fingers), Single neck Fessenden 3/5
"The Tapper" : https://christophertempleton.bandcamp.com/album/the-tapper
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