1945c. Orpheum Steel

No Serial number, circa 1945, judging by the Kluson Pat # tuning machines.

There's cool, and then there is spectacularly cool! What could be better than a steel guitar that glows in the dark?! This instrument actually lights up, so you can see where you're sliding in those dark clubs and atmospheric practice halls. The instrument's frame is Oak, but all the upper parts are various colored pieces of Plexiglass, and transmit light from two small lightbulbs positioned under the metal rectangles you'll find at each end of the fingerboard. Plexiglass was patented in 1933 and used extensively by the military during WWII; in the early post-war years Plexiglass (or Lucite, the DuPont trademark we're familiar with) became a fashionable design element in a great variety of consumer goods. Have a good, close look at this instrument - the fingerboard, nut, bridge, tailpiece, volume and tone knobs, and tuning machine buttons are all made from the stuff! It's fantastic! The lights still work, and the steel functions perfectly. All you need is a Plexiglass slide bar!

With the original hard shell case.