c.1950 Electromuse Lap Steel

Well how about that? Before cleaning, setup, etc. this "paddle" lap steel showed plenty of play. And of course? Because it sounds great! Warm, big, rich, and bluesy (or honky) if you want it to be. I replaced the decrepit original tuners with some period-looking Kluson replacements, cleaned it all up, and set it all up. Gotta love it. Sounds really good for lower (open D, open E) tunings. With treble turned up it gets a good growl going.

The clear plastic (plexiglas?) "fretboard" and nut are pretty cool.

Nice little self-contained electronics. I'd be way tempted to find a wrecked one of these guys, pluck out these electronics, and put them into some sort of Spanish-necked electric guitar. Pots are nice and clean and the output is nice. Controls are vol & tone. Strings are 56w-13 D'Addarios.

"Eye-Beam" Electromuse-branded pickup.

Doubles as a paddle when you're really, really up a creek.

And a cute plastic "Nick Manoloff" Hawaiian-style bullet slide.

This plastic-style slide actually mellows the rattling of straight wound strings like a charm, which is I suppose its appeal. Also lighter-weight than my old Oahu bullet slide... when that thing goes rolling by you'd better watch out for any acoustic instruments in the room!