Time To Pick This Up Again

 My 1946 vintage Regal lap steel guitar in Sunburst with matching amplifier. It was my Mother's. She started playing when she was 8 which would have been 1946. It spent a couple of decades in the attic of my parent's house. I have messed with it off and on since I was a teen.  Several years ago I restored it to what you see in the following photos. I replaced the strings with a set of John Pearse Am6 which gives it the "Hawaiian sound." I want to play blues on it, so it is going to get a new set of John Pearse "Open D" strings set #3160 from SteelGuitarShopper.com. It uses lighter gauge wire for older or delicate instruments.

The original case. The loose fasteners were all repaired

Dig that purple soft fur inside

A closeup of the headstock and original Regal decal. The original tuning keys were Mother of Pearl, but had crumbled away to nothing. I replaced them with faux Mother of Pearl for the original look. They simply press onto the spline of the tuner set.

The next photo is the business end. I disassembled everything, cleaned the pots, rewired and re-soldered all the connections. No more static or hums. I polished all the bright work and the pickup. While it was down to the bare wood body, I gave it a wipe down with Murphy's Oil Soap. It made the Sunburst finish pop. It also got a new 10' cord with gold-plated plug ends. The original was made of stiff wire and used telephone switchboard plugs. I kept it along with some other old parts.

Now I have seen these guitars for sale online anywhere from $299 to $800 depending on condition. The condition of mine put it with those at the higher end. I have never seen the matching amplifier that I have which still sounds great. I saw different Regal lap steel model with a matching amp and I believe it was like $1500 for both. I have no desire to part with any of this. After my demise, my wife can do whatever she wants with it.

The amp with its fitted cover on the left

The rear. The rubberized cord is like new

 

And finally, the stack of original music books she had. On the right were song sheets she bought at the local music store with pop songs and Christmas carols. Up on the top left folded up is her music stand.

I don't have any interest in playing the Hawaiian music that was popular when my Mother was young. Hawaii was not yet a state but was a cool and exotic place so everyone was into it. Her music class was quite large. I have a photo somewhere and there were like 20 kids in it. 

This is the video that got me interested again. I never knew my guitar could make such wonderful sounds, and so easy to play! He explains the tuning which is D-A-D-F#-A-D but his guitar is more modern than mine and can take the heavier strings of like a John Pearse #3150 Open D Heavy. I am also considering a different slide bar in place of the solid round stainless bar I have now. I like this Dunlop 928 Ben Harper Signature Tone Bar but I may be able to pick one up locally. It seems easier to hold and control. Maybe later add some effects like distortion and reverb.

Don't expect to see any music videos for a long time if at all. I haven't touched it in a long time, and with the cold dry air my fingers are cracked and painful.