Gibson Lap Steels/Pedal Steels

This is a really old, but really great, lap steel guitar. It has a lot of similar qualities to their electric guitar Rickenbacker counterparts. It is a US company. The controls on it include a volume knob and tone knob. This is one horseshoe magnet pickup, which is really old-school. There are 23 visible frets, but if you're good, you can go almost as high as you want with the slide (at least as far as the pickup). UTILIZATION This is sort of irrelevant on this guitar, as it's a lap steel, but there are 23 visible frets and it's easier to go at least 4 notes higher than that if you have great intonation and intuition. Getting a good sound out of this is great, just make sure you have amps that are sensitive to it's needs. It is great for playing a lot of different styles, I've seen blues players use these and really wail, I've seen country players get smooth, great tones out of it. I've also seen guys really rock out with some awesome solo performances. SOUNDS With even a light overdrive, you can get a tone pretty close to David Lindley's on Jackson Browne's album Running on Empty. If you aren't familiar, that is a pretty incredible sound. Granted, you won't sound exactly like David but you get the idea. There's a ton of great sounds to be had here, the pickup is so hot that you won't really want for much. Even clean you can bring the house down. With a lot of restraint and lowering of volume you can get great country tones, and with the right reverb Hawaiian tones are easy. I haven't found anything I don't like the sound of with this guitar. OVERALL OPINION I love this lap steel, probably the best one I've ever played. I think most people would agree. It's going to run you a lot for a vintage one, but there are decent newer ones that aren't too hard to find. They aren't exactly the same but they still sound great. Highly recommended.