c.1950 Magnatone Electric Lap Steel Guitar

This is a customer's instrument that was in for some "dolling up." I also made sure the nut slots didn't rattle, strung it up for E7 tuning (low to high BDEG#BE -- though in the clip above I have it in standard open E), cleaned up the pots, and installed a set of repro Kluson-style tuners since the original Klusons were pretty "the worse for wear."

From a product design perspective, this little Magnatone lap steel is very cool. It's got an integral "hand rest" below the pearloid, the pickup (single coil) is covered under pearloid and that metal cover, and the whole thing is super lightweight and has a sort of early-Fender kind of tone to it. It's clear-toned and California-ish sunny.

The pickup itself is also quite hot.

The "full width" nut is a nice addition.

I love the rosy pearloid.

The control cavity plate was missing so I used some scrap pickguard material to make this cute little thing. A bit of steel wool rubbed in a circular motion gave it a vintage look, too.

The repro Kluson tuners don't 100% match up but they work 100% better than what came with this.