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PSA: 1940'S K&F Student Lapsteel On Reverb


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No affiliation.  BTW, K&F stands for (Doc) Kauffman and (Leo) Fender, in case you didn't already know.  I did some Google searches (articles and photos) about these steels as well as checked my Gruhn's Guide, and this lap steel appears to be VERY early...but like everything about 'collectible' instruments, take all info (including what I mention here, as I am no expert and I could be wrong) with a grain of salt, and use due diligence.  I was tempted to snag it (especially at this price), but I'm more interested in lap steels that I can use without fear of beating them up even more, or (especially in the case of the pickup--they have a reputation for the innerds to collapse from age) breaking down, rather than going after 'collectibles'.  If you're into historical stuff, this might be of interest...besides, lap steels are just about the most affordable 'vintage' electric instruments out there anymore, why buy a new lap steel when there's literally TONS of old/vintage lap steels around?  I've seen Chinese-made Fender authorized 'reissues' of these lap steels (they were being sold by Fender about five years ago or so) that were recently being sold used on Reverb for higher prices than this one, no joke.

https://reverb.com/item/17528468-k-f-lap-steel-guitar-1940s-grey

The shipping on this lap steel seems to be high to me ($89 from Nebraska to the Mid-South), but the listing says that the seller is open to offers, if you want to try to bring the price down.

This lap steel has an early model Fender 'Pat. Pend." 'Direct String' (AKA 'boxcar') string-through pickup, which IMO appears to be correct for 1945-1946, and the chrome on the top of the pickup is worn and bubbled/blistered.  It also appears to have it's original, very worn gray crinkle paint finish.  There is no peghead plate or K&F plaque on front of the headstock...and it appears to me to have never had either one (there are no screw or nail holes on the front of the headstock), which might be appropriate/correct for the very earliest models.  The nut has been replaced, according to the Reverb description; at least some later K&F lap steels had a nut mounted to the neck with two screws, before the peghead plate/nut combination was introduced; again I see no screw holes around or under the nut area, though it's possible that they might be under the current nut.  Body may or may not be pine, paint and stenciled 'frets' are very worn on the top of the lap steel, bottom side paint appears to be less worn-looking.  Tuners are open-back strip tuners with the gears riveted to the strip instead of screwed on, and they look to me to be correct for the time, from what I've seen of 1940's lap steels.  The screws holding the strip tuners to the headstock appear correct, but the screws fastening the control plate to the body are Phillips types, and appear to be later replacements.  Knobs are not original (finding old and/or replacement radio knobs similar to what Leo and Doc used are not hard to find or get), and the wiring and pots have been replaced, according to the description.

 

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