National Double 8

[Eric Moon]

Hey all!

Just bought this guitar:
https://reverb.com/item/93407632-nation ... -lap-steel

Body is pretty mint, but all the electronics is suffering from 60 years in the cellar. The screws for the knobs are rusted in!

I'm hoping the knobs behind the pickup are like the balance knobs on Stringmasters, but they are completely frozen up and don't work.

I have not been able to find another instance of this guitar with the double pickups. Does anybody know anything about them?

Haven't had it apart yet, but thought I'd see if anybody can clue me into any of the inner workings.

Tone knob seems to be a short throw actual tone, rather than the three position switch I've seen on most of these.

Missing pickup covers, but I'll 3d print a set.

Excited to experiment with 8 strings after years with my 6-string oahu.

cheers,
-e

[Noah Miller]

The dual-pickup version was introduced about 1956. In the contemporary version of the New Yorker, the tone knob does indeed blend the pickups somewhat like a Stringmaster. From the labeling here, I suspect this is actually a rotary pickup selector switch.

[Tim Whitlock]

Try spraying it with lubricating electronics cleaner. Remove the knob and place a paper towel around the base of the shaft to keep the cleaner from getting all over everything. Then carefully spray the base of the shaft with cleaner and let it wick down into the place where the shaft meets the collar. Let it soak in for a minute and then rotate the shaft several times. I've done this many times with frozen pots.

[Michael Lester]

Eric... you bought it right.

I have a National Grand Console D8 that is a future iteration of your guitar.

A couple things... the adjustable screws in the pickups are usually frozen hard. They'll break under very little pressure.
The pickups are likely wound on a cardboard/paper bobbin. The paper breaks down and messes up the windings.
There may be ancient capacitors included in the signal chain in the volume/tone knob array that probably will need to be updated. I didn't remember to look to look at the jack in the Reverb photos - if it's one of the old 'phone' jacks that have a threaded collar - run away - it will fail when you need it most. Replace with a modern 1/4" jack.

The fact that you got legs with it is a big plus - many were sold without legs. I can't imagine holding on of these things on my lap or toting some kind of table around to hold it.

I highly recommend Scott Schwartz at Steeltronics for help with the electronics. He redid mine and it works great.

[K Maul]

Good that you got legs with it. They are heavy. I had a couple older single pickup versions. The tone is much darker than a Fender and I found it tricky for clean Country/Rockabilly style. For Blues with a little overdrive I liked them, but I prefer the Fender sound.

[Noah Miller]

the adjustable screws in the pickups are usually frozen hard. They'll break under very little pressure.

That happens a lot less often on these later pickups than on earlier ones with smaller screw heads.

The paper breaks down and messes up the windings.

No, it does not break down under normal circumstances. Plastic bobbins sometimes do, but these card-stock ones do not.

[Bill Sinclair]

I had a similar National D-8 with the two pickups and the pickup switch behind the bridge. IIRC, mine was a "61 model. I thought about replacing the switch with a blend pot similar to a Stringmaster but wound up selling that guitar before I got around to it. No reason why it shouldn't have worked. From Noah's post, it sounds like that's what National (Valco) eventually wound up doing. According to the serial number, your guitar is a '63 so maybe those are pots and not switches. Cool guitar. Keep us informed.

[Glenn Wilde]

Man, that is a cool one. Congrats and don't break those knobs!