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Topic: Magnatone: What's The Scoop? |
Bob Snelgrove
From:
san jose, ca
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Posted 14 Sep 2004 12:29 pm |
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I love my little MOT Magnatone. It has great resonance and a classic "hollow" Hawaiian tone even not plugged in! Are these considered great guitars for Hawaiian music? I almost prefer it over my Stringmaster because of the string spacing and bigger distance between frets. I seem to be able to get a smoother vibrato on the Magnatone because of the fret spacing. The Fender is more touchy to pitch change while doing vibrato because of the spacing. The scale lengths are both about 22 1/2". How can that be?
thx
bob |
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Paul Warnik
From:
Illinois,USA
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Posted 14 Sep 2004 1:53 pm
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Bob S-The little Magnatone laps are  I have had a few of them-One of them was the better model inspired by Paul Bigsby with the 24 1/2" scale |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 14 Sep 2004 7:14 pm
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| I also like the Magnatones. I have a T-8. These guitars have a good tone for Hawaiian music. Many of the steel players on Hawaii Calls used them. Some say it's because they got them for free; but, regardless of that, the Magnatones were heard around the world, producing the signature sound of Hawaii Calls. The great Barney Isaacs used a D-8 through a lot of his career. I heard from the grapevine that Alan Akaka has it now???? |
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Bob Snelgrove
From:
san jose, ca
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Posted 14 Sep 2004 7:34 pm
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Are there any Hawaii Calls recordings around?
thx
bob |
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Bob Markison
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 14 Sep 2004 7:54 pm
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Agreed - Magnatones are nice - just spotted a couple for sale by Phil of Phil's guitar: http://www.philsguitars.com/laps.html
I bought a nice Ibanez AF120 Artstar jazz guitar a few years ago from Phil when he had a shop in So. SF. Phil is a fine guitarist and a very honest and helpful dealer with fair prices. Regards. - Bob |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 5:43 am
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http://www.hawaiian-music.com/index.html
Click on the Hawaii Calls Radio icon, then click on the hyperlink to start the show.
Each month a new show is posted. These are the real McCoy's...the original shows...as they were heard back in the day! This is my all time favorite program!  [This message was edited by Jeff Strouse on 15 September 2004 at 06:45 AM.] |
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Bob Snelgrove
From:
san jose, ca
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 5:48 am
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Thanks, Jeff!
bob
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Bob Markison
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 6:11 am
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| Jeff - Great link! thanks! The whole family is listening at breakfast right now - fine way to start the day. Have a good one. - Bob |
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Bill Leff
From:
Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 6:33 am
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| And I believe Phil of Phil's Guitars is the brother of Ken Emerson, the excellent lap steel player. They played together as the "Emerson Brothers" in Hawaii many years ago. |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 8:46 am
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| That art-deco red Aloha steel on Phil's page is quite a beauty. A little steep for my pocketbook though. |
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Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 9:50 am
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...
Last edited by Jeff Au Hoy on 13 Sep 2019 3:00 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jeff Strouse
From:
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
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Posted 15 Sep 2004 12:47 pm
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I'll agree with Jeff on that one...I have both, and the Webley Edwards LPs are much better than the "Memories of..." CDs that are currently available...Those are compilations.
What I like best is hearing the original programs in their entirety. The quality isn't "state of the art" (through Real Player), but heck, AM radio was far from state of the art, too. Atleast we have these original shows preserved for historical purposes.
Most of what I've seen on the Hula Records website are shows from the 50's and 60's. I'd love to hear some of the programs from the 40's and 30's. It makes me wonder if that very first broadcast in July of 1935 was recorded on tape. Then we'd probably have a definitive answer on whether or not it was Alvin Isaacs, Sr. who opened the first show!  |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 16 Sep 2004 7:05 pm
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Jeff S.
The 40s era shows with David Kelii were recorded somewhere/somehow and are available (at least) off market. Well worth seeking. |
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Denny Turner
From:
Oahu, Hawaii USA
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Posted 19 Sep 2004 3:21 am
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A search here on the SGF for *MOTS Magnatone* and *MOTS Maggie* should return quite a bit of discussions about those fine little Steels. Several years ago I stopped toting the Rick Console 518 I had been playing at gigs and started taking a little blue MOTS Maggie to gigs, and especially to casuals and jam sessions; But several months ago acquired and started using a solid mahogony wood Magnatone of the same design except that the pickup is exposed under the rectangular hand rest rather than enclosed like on MOTS models. Although I would surely select another Steel for some particular applications, ...those little Maggies are great sounding, great playing and very convenient Lap Steels.
Regarding fret spacing: The fret spacings are all the same on any Steel of a given scale length. If the fretboard of one Steel of a given scale length seems easier to play than another Steel of the same scale length; It could be due to different line-of-sight eye paralax alignments with the height of the strings over the fretboard and/or how well the outside strings line up over the outer edges of the fretboard. ------- Another factor could be one Steel feeling more comfortable being placed on or over the lap in a different position than another Steel, ...upsetting a common paralax view of the fretboard the eyes like (and need) to see. It's good to find a comfortable playing position and keep it the same via registering a common fret (somewhere between 12 and 15 works good) in alignment with the belly-button, providing a common paralax view of the fretboard; and even though different makes / models of Steels will have a different look / paralax, ...it's still good to register a common fret to the bellybutton even for different Steels, because even the differences will be better viewed from a common placement of the Steel fretboard for the eyes. Likewise, it helps eye paralax (and fingering) to have the arms and thus the instrument in the same position rather than reaching farther out to one instrument than the other. ------- Higher contrast colors such as black frets on white fretboards can also sometimes be easier seen and registered upon for some folks than light colored frets on light colored fretboards. Some fretboard position markings can also seem more visually effective than others.
.....for what all that goo-goo is worth or not!
Aloha,
DT~
[This message was edited by Denny Turner on 19 September 2004 at 04:42 AM.] |
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