Bought this lap steel for 25.00

[Bill Moore]

Several years ago, I found this lap steel in a flea market for 25.00. It was missing the tuners, strings and nut. The finish was a really beat up sunburst type. It had a decal on the headstock which said "Guldan". Anyway, I knew it was no collectors item, so I refinished it, the body turned out to be some pretty nice maple, and replaced the missing parts. Total investment was about 45.00. I finally decided to learn to play it, I'm using Scotty's C6th book to start. It has a great sound, every thing works like it should. The pickup seems to be a single large magnet, wrapped with wire. It puts out about the same volume of sound as my Telecaster. The pickup mount is cast aliminum with a brown crinkle finish. I wondered if anyone had knowledge of these guitars. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Bill Moore on 14 July 2000 at 06:49 AM.]</p></FONT>

[Brad Bechtel]

I haven't been able to find out any information about Guldan lap steels. For $25.00, though, how could you go wrong?

------------------
Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[Ian McLatchie]

Bill: This looks like a real odd-ball instrument, cobbled together from parts from various sources. The body seems to be the same as that of pre-war Gibsons and Gibson-made instruments such as Kalamazoo and Cromwell. The bridge and knobs look like Harmony. The brown crinkle pickup mount I know I've seen as well, but I can't remember on what instrument. There were many such hybrid instruments made in the Chicago-Detroit area, where Gibson, Harmony, Valco and Kay were all located. Interesting guitar, and some bargain!

[Bill Moore]

Ian and Brad,thanks for your replies. I'm wondering if the style of the pickup, a single big magnet for all the strings, gives a hint as to when it may have been made. Is this a common type of pickup, found on other guitars? The knobs are brown bakelite. Thanks again.

Bill