1937 Vega Lap Steel

ARCHIVED • SOLD

1937 Vega Lap Steel

Serial # 35285. During the later half of the 1930's, many instrument companies were doing all they could to dive into the fray of the newly created electric guitar market. Vega, a highly regarded Boston manufacturer of banjos, guitars, and mandolins introduced its line of lap steels - of which unfortunately little in known - during this era. Their instruments featured two-point wooden bodies, with large nickel-plated brass plates that housed the pickup and bridge/tailpiece assemblies. Of significant interest is the pickup Vega designed; with its two large horseshoe magnets, double coils, and twelve non-adjustable pole-pieces these were the world's first manufactured "Humbucking" pickups, although that name was not to be coined by Gibson for some 20 years to come! Who knows, perhaps Seth Lover had one of these early Vega steels in is design-shop! The pickup sounds very good, with a strong output and a tele-in-middle-switch-possition kind of tone. It's equipped with volume and tone controls, adjustable arch-top bridge, and original Grover G-98 tuners. The instrument is fairly well worn but is in fine working order, thanks to a new tone capacitor, output jack, and tuner bushings; and there is a non-original (capped) hole in treble side of the metal cover-plate when we suspect a tone control was once installed. The icing on this particular cake is the super-cool original hard shell case that's housed this steel all it's life. With its original Vega nameplate, handle, and ruby red velour interior, it is a gorgeous accent to and otherwise unbelievably cool steel.
SOLD
1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel
  • 1937 Vega Lap Steel

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