1930s Oahu (Kay) Deluxe Lap Steel Guitar

Judging by its features and comparing the instrument to period catalogs, it seems like this Oahu was made around '39 to '40. It's almost identical to the "most-seen" 229K model lap steel from their catalogs but it has fancier trim by way of tortoise celluloid binding on the top and back edges and the cool, gold-highlight decals on the top.

It's also completely original (and has its original case) except for the tuners, which are later (1950s) units. The pickup is a simple single coil design with individual Alnico polepieces -- much like Gibson's individual-pole lap steel pickup at the time and also early Fender pickups. It has a snarly, direct, clean, Fendery sound that feels a lot more modern than the other lap steel pickups made in the '30s which tend to be mellower and sweeter.

These Oahus were made by Kay for the company and also have Kay's long scale length -- 25 3/4" -- which makes the handling quite different from the average lap steel which usually runs 23" at the most. There's more string "snap" and presence with the longer scale, I think.

Other cool features include an aluminum "pyramid" bridge, wooden wrist-rest/pickup cover, neck-through mahogany construction, and cool "radio dial" pot rings and bakelite knobs. This is a classy steel from an age when these instruments were in the limelight.

One other weird feature is that the backplate has a slider switch on it -- that's an on/off for a control that drops overall volume X-amount. I'm assuming it was very useful at a time when a lot of amps were simply "full volume" on/off and volume was controlled by the knob on the guitar.

All I did was restring it, spray-out the electronics with cleaner, and adjust the setup just a hair. It plays well and is ready to go.

Repairs included: minor cleaning, restring, minor adjustments.

Body wood: solid mahogany (center neck and two body wings)

Bridge: aluminum

Pickups: 1x Alnico-pole single coil

Action height at 12th fret: n/a
String gauges: 46w, 36w, 26w, 18, 14, 11 (open E tuning at the moment)

Neck shape: squareneck

Scale length: 25 3/4"

Nut width: 2"

Body width: 10"

Body depth: 1 1/2"

Condition notes: it's all original and in good shape (with minor scuffing and scratching and handling use throughout) save that the tuners are later (1950s) replacements.

It comes with: its original hard case in decent shape.