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Post by Stevie on Aug 8, 2017 11:40:56 GMT
Obviously, no connection with this seller or item, and given my current employment status- not a prospective purchaser either! Has anyone else seen or heard anyrhing about these? I'd sooner have a P90 but that's hardly relevant given the foregoing. Also, I wish I was still "on the bench" because I'd be making one for sure! I no longer have access to the machinery required, even indirectly. pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=292205878870&alt=webMM please wade in and delete / remove /edit as you see fit. I didn't think it trod on the toes of your product lineup, but respect your interests nonetheless. www.industrialguitar.com/e&oe...
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Post by creolian on Aug 8, 2017 17:25:18 GMT
Nice looking instruments but I have a fear of galvanic corrosion with things made of al u min I um Considering a vintage eh150 can be had for not much more spendoolies... www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-eh-150-lap-steel-1936-sunburstI have one and there is just nothing comparable to the sound of the Charlie Christian pu.
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Post by Michael Messer on Aug 8, 2017 17:52:20 GMT
That Gibson is a really good deal, especially for UK buyers. It works out at £690.00 GBP. Import duties would bump it up a bit, but it is a very clean instrument. I think the Fouke aluminium lap steel is interesting, but with all those rivets it would be an uncomfortable guitar to play. The idea of a Rickenbacher-ish looking lap steel is cool, but I don't think the design and hardware are quite right. I was surprised at the tone of the one with a resonator. It was plugged in, but still had a good clean resophonic sound. I love aluminIUM guitars. I also love that we say IUM and you say UM. In 1812, its discoverer, Sir H. Davy, first called the metal, aluminium, but then modified the word to aluminum, which was continued as the American spelling. Here's a few nice aluminium lap steels. I have played one of these as my main lap steel for the past 27 years. Shine On Michael
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2017 19:31:45 GMT
I once owned a Kramer bass guitar with Aluminum neck... it was always going out of tune, and the conventional wisdom was the aluminum coefficient of expansion is high. Is that true...observed with the Aluminum lap steels?
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Post by creolian on Aug 8, 2017 19:53:36 GMT
Oy Vey! I was trying to defer to the proper English, Honest Injun ! I should clarify that it's not so much aluminium that concerns me, it's the mix of metals and in particular those rivets ( I think they are hex head steel screws ). Suceptibility to galvanic corrosion depends on the mix of metals, the alloys used and environmental conditions... I'd never drink a margarita around one of these. Aluminium comes in many grades / alloys... Everything from beer can to aerospace. I'm tempted to ask the mfg if its something they've considered. All best, J
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Post by Stevie on Aug 8, 2017 22:02:11 GMT
Spot on with galvanic corrision Jeff. OTOH, about 15 years ago I "Trigger's Broomed"* my 1970 pedal cycle changing all the hardware to aloominum alloys. I couldn't get an ally seat post to match the old Reynold's frame tubing, so Kenny on the lathe at work turned up one just for me from aerospace dural. I naturally expected corrosion from the steel to dural interface, (and a resultant not entirely unexpected surprise!) so I pumped "Durolac" / "JC5-A" compound down the seat post tube and on the seat post itself. Of course it all just seemed to pump out as I assembled it. That niggled me but I ignored it reasoning I could drill it out if necessary. Last year I tried it and it came out easily after all those years in a damp shed, the last two years with a leaking roof too! I'd be the first to go along with accepted dissimilar metals theory, so I cannot explain the foregoing, but it does show that there is an exception to most rule(s).
Some folks on here swear by attaching a 1/4" TS socket to one of the "F" holes to facilitate a pickup connection on tin cans. I immediately questioned that approach, but they seem to get along just fine regardless.
Maybe they put Helicoils in for the screws? I would have. I wouldn't expect this to sound like Bobby Ingano on a Fry Pan Richenbacher any more than I could aspire to play like him, but I fancy it would still sound great. Also agreed regarding the Charlie Christian pups, although I do rather see them as an ancestor of the P90 thr(o)u(gh) the P13. Too bad it's not a repro Horseshoe.
*Don't ask!
e&oe...
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Post by mitchfit on Aug 8, 2017 23:44:04 GMT
until i just did some research, i believed the mythology the different names on both sides of the atlantic was due to newly formed ALCOA printing up very many company letterheads using the "um" as opposed to "ium". the story went they stayed with that rather than buying more.
turns out the transition came about ih the UK, many, many monns before:
Different endings
Most countries use the ending "-ium" for "aluminium". In the United States and Canada, the ending "-um" predominates.[23][94] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as "chiefly British".[95][96] The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."[97][98]
Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his book Elements of Chemical Philosophy in June 1812: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[99] In September 1812, fellow British scientist Thomas Young[100] wrote a review of Davy's book, which was published anonymously in the Quarterly Review, a British literary and political periodical, in which he objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium: "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[101]
The -ium suffix followed the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, element names ending in -um were not unknown at the time; for example, platinum (known to Europeans since the 16th century), molybdenum (discovered in 1778), and tantalum (discovered in 1802). The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide (as opposed to aluminia), as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.
The aluminum spelling is used in the Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal in 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[86] he filed between 1886 and 1903. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that aluminum became the standard English spelling in North America.[citation needed]
at one time, it was the most expensive metal in the world! mitchfit
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Post by creolian on Aug 8, 2017 23:55:29 GMT
I envision an orange and green Bob Jackson with a 531 decal on the seat tube. I was being a devil's advocate as its probably not going to be an issue with these instruments... but aluminum does have its shortcomings in our salt air environs. I have seen outboard marine engines transformed into junk for a lack of anti seize compound. *thank goodness for google... Would have never known but it seems I've Triggers Broomed all my life ! J
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Post by Stevie on Aug 9, 2017 7:18:46 GMT
Pure Aluminium is not very common at all because it is so soft that it is of little structural use. I've seen at first hand the extensive damage caused by coffee dregs (in particular) on Aluminium alloys used in aircraft galley construction, although that is more down to abuse.
I read somewhere decades ago that Aluminium is the most common metal on Earth? Since the globe is mainly a molten iron core, that seems untrue to me, but if it was indeed the most expensive then that was more a function of early difficulty in its manipulation into a usable commodity.
Just think; until the recent passenger airliners "Dreamliner" and A380, aircraft construction was (with the notable exception of The Concorde) predominantly of Aluminium and we send aeroplanes into really hostile environments every time they take off. Of course they are subject to rigorous protection regimes involving treatments and regular inspection. If the Aluminium has hard chromic anodised surface treatment, there is little or no risk of galvanic corrosion, especially in a guitar. The question remains regarding the diligence of such niche market start-ups to deploy such protection. I think I'll hold onto my money and breath for now and let others be guinea pigs.
Now for some devil's advocacy from me: In volume production terms, those instruments are too expensive. They, like so many other items on our planet are priced at a level that the seller(s) think(s) the market will withstand. That is the way of the western world because we are driven by the profit motive. Where does one draw the line as to what seems reasonable and what seems profligate? The answer lies in our hands and is based upon us marching with our feet.
Look at it this way: what would you rather try to bring to the market at what is a very similar price point: an MM Lightning or one of the lap steels that this thread is indirectly considering?
Ha!
e&oe...
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Post by Michael Messer on Aug 9, 2017 7:45:36 GMT
Interesting. My cast aluminium National lap steel is 81 years old. When I got it 27 years ago it was covered in black gloss paint which I removed with Nitromors stripper. It has not been coated with anything, it is just bare aluminium. I have played it regularly ever since. In most situations, apart from under very hot spotlights, it stays in tune. It is a wonderful guitar. I have often thought of getting it resprayed, but I have been saying that for 27 years!
Shine On Michael
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Post by Stevie on Aug 9, 2017 13:13:25 GMT
I really don't think that I would have it painted, but inside you know that too.
As may be evident, I have a hankering for an aluminium lap steel, but I have to call time on GAS.
e&oe...
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Post by bonzo on Aug 9, 2017 15:04:46 GMT
What devil has got inside you to make you call time on GAS? Lol! Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by Stevie on Aug 9, 2017 17:43:45 GMT
30
e&oe...
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Post by Michael Messer on Aug 9, 2017 18:29:12 GMT
Steve, if I lived down the road from Rik Besser I would have it done in one of his wonderful frosted duco finishes. I would probably also get Rik to duco my Volvo. Hmmm there's a thought
Shine On Michael
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