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Used Epiphone Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel Outfit - Ebony
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Epiphone Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel Outfit - Ebony

Solidbody Electric Lap Steel Guitar with Mahogany Body, Mahogany Neck, Plexiglass Fingerboard, and 1 Humbucking Pickup - Ebony
13 Write review Item ID: EFCLEBNH
$349.00

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Epiphone Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel Outfit - Ebony
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Reissue of an Early Epiphone Lap Steel

The Epiphone Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel Outfit is a reissue of one of the company's most popular vintage designs. The "1939" looks just like an original due to its 1-piece mahogany body, "Circus Tent" control knobs, traditional fretboard markings, and vintage-style metal Epiphone headstock badge. And you'll also love the modern conveniences built in, such as a powerful Epiphone 500B Blade humbucking pickup and inset non-slip rubber pads. The Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel brings you back to a golden age of the early electric guitar.

Related Videos: Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel Outfit - Ebony

Historically important design

The Electar "1939" Century Lap Steel was originally designed by Herb Sunshine, one of Epiphone's earliest salesmen and electronics developers. He was also the man responsible for the Electar name, which the company gave to their whole line of electric instruments and amplifiers. This design was one of Epiphone's first solidbody electric guitars, predating their traditional solidbody electrics by over 20 years. Sweetwater is incredibly proud to offer you this historically important instrument.

Vintage-correct appointments

Much of the Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel recalls the construction and aesthetics of Epiphone's original lap steels. Your tone will exhibit plenty of sustain and warmth thanks to a 1-piece mahogany neck and body. The volume and tone controls further enhance the lap steel's identity with their "Circus Tent" knobs. And the look is proudly completed by the plexiglass fretboard's traditional "1939" Art Deco Replica inlay design and the metal Epiphone badge on the guitar's headstock.

Modern updates for today's player

Vintage design can be a wonderful thing, but you need modern features that ensure your Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel will perform up to your standards every time you play it. You'll love the powerful signal and clarity you receive from the guitar's Epiphone 500B Blade humbucker. The lap steel will stay securely on your knees thanks to rubber non-slip padding inset into the back of the instrument's body and neck. And transportation will be safe and easy with the included gig bag.

Epiphone Electar Inspired by "1939" Century Lap Steel Outfit Features:

  • Reissue of a vintage Epiphone lap steel
  • 1-piece mahogany body delivers a warm and cutting sound
  • Powerful tone from an Epiphone 500B "Blade" humbucker
  • Plexiglass fretboard with traditional markings
  • Vintage "Circus Tent" control knobs
  • Traditional metal Epiphone headstock badge
  • Gig bag included

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Tech Specs

  • Number of Strings: 6
  • Left-/Right-handed: Right-handed
  • Body Type: Solidbody
  • Body Shape: Electar Lap Steel
  • Body Material: 1-piece Mahogany
  • Color: Ebony
  • Neck Material: 1-piece Mahogany
  • Neck Shape: Square
  • Radius: Flat
  • Fingerboard Material: Plexiglass
  • Fingerboard Inlay: Traditional "1939" Art Deco Replica
  • Number of Frets: 28
  • Scale Length: 22.5"
  • Nut Width: 2.5"
  • Nut Material: Aluminum
  • Bridge/Tailpiece: Aluminum with nickel-plated steel cover
  • Tuners: Deluxe
  • Bridge Pickup: Epiphone 500B "Blade" Humbucker
  • Controls: 1 x volume, 1 x tone
  • Case/Gig Bag: Gig Bag
  • Manufacturer Part Number: EFCLEBNH1

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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5

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Nice antique style modern lap steel! Affordable price! Great service!

My first (and continuing) impression of this instrument is "How pretty!" It is a fine looking piece, and it really resembles the original closely.It's well made, finished, and set up. It's nice that it comes with nonslip backing pads on it. I play on my lap, and sometimes they want to slide around. It came with protective plastic film all over to prevent scratches. It comes with a nice gig bag with a reasonable size pocket for picks, steel, tuner, cable, spare set of strings, etc. A previous comment said that the strings are unevenly spaced at the nut, and I recall a remark or two about the string notches in the nut being cut too small. The strings are evenly spaced when they're in the notches. The chromed angle steel nut has just tiny notches to hold the higher pitched plain strings in place. That works fine if you remember to seat the string on the notch. If you push it sideways near the nut, it will jump out easily. The larger wound strings sit in round notches cut to let them sit down in the nut so the tops of all strings are pretty well leveled. The stock strings it shipped with are about .011-.046", and they won't tune down to Open D as was mentioned. It can be played in Open E, but the bass string is still pretty slack. It turns out that the stock strings are PERFECT for High Bass G, standard Dobro tuning, GBDGBD low to high. Coming from a background of mostly playing bottleneck blues I've never played in this tuning, but half of it is the same as "Spanish Tuning" a.k.a. "Low Bass G," DGDGBD that's widely used in blues and rock. I'm finding stuff I like in it! You'll have to restring if you want to play the popular C6 tuning CEGACE. If you want to play in Open D you'll want to restring, and you'll want to spend a little time with fret files or needle files fitting the nut slots to the fatter bass strings. But if you're familiar with playing a dobro you're good to go right out of the box! If you want it set up with strings for a different tuning, I'll bet a phone call to Sweetwater could get that done for you before it ships. The "Epiphone 500B humbucking blade pickup" is a sealed rail type stacked coil Jazz Bass pickup, and it is PERFECT for this application! Don't worry about lacking treble with a bass guitar pickup, this thing sings sweetly in the upper registers! There is absolutely no need to change the pickup. If you're thinking of building your own lap steel, remember rail J-Bass pickups! One for a 5 string bass would be just what the doctor ordered for an 8-string! The hand rest over the pickup makes it look vintage, and I'm used to playing with one. Some want to palm mute, and if you do, just unscrew the hand rest and set it aside. Alas, my little Electar Tube 10 combo is out of commission due to a freak short from a badly done solder joint when it was built back in 2000 (it shorted the high voltage on the 6L6 to the heater circuit!)and I haven't got it completely sorted yet, but the repro Electar lap steel sounds terrific through my Epiphone Valve Junior combo, Crate VC-508, and most especially through the Fender Pawnshop Excelsior I bought new from Sweetwater! I generally prefer the tone switch on "DARK," it sounds smooth and sweet, but if you click it on "BRIGHT" you'll get all the treble and presence you can handle out of that big 15" speaker! Too late to make a long story short, but I love this guitar! You'll never find better, more personal customer service than you'll get from Sweetwater!
by John Culp from Bristol, Tennessee, USA on
Music background: Amateur, bottleneck and lap slide guitar, choir bass singer, have dabbled with lots of other instruments.

Plays Great

After replacing the strings with a heavier .013-.056 set, deepening the nut slots slightly with a file and removing the pickup cover, as recommended by other reviewers, this piece plays and sounds great.

The guitar has a quality look & feel, simple and functional. It's got a cool retro vibe with the circus tent knobs and simple shape. The tuners are better than expected for the price, not the best but they hold tension fine. It sounds excellent clean or distorted. I have not opened it up to look closely at the components and wiring, I'm sure it's more on the cheap side, but it sounds great and the controls feel solid.
by Rich from Long Island on
Music background: Guitar player 50+ years.

Retro 1939 Epiphone Electar Lap Steel Guitar

This lap is just the ticket for the look and sound I sought after!
by Eddie Martin, Jr. from Viburnum MO on
Music background: 63 years as semi-pro musician

Solid, Basic Instrument

I've never been slide/steel player but I've always been interested. The price of the "Electar" was almost to the nickel the amount of a gift card that I got for Christmas, so I decided to give it a shot.

Honestly, lap steel guitars are pretty basic contraptions. Other than the cheap, plastic knobs on this thing - I can't find any significant advantages or differences between it and more expensive models. It's like Dustin Hoffman's character said in "Wag the Dog" - "... there's no difference between good flan and bad flan."

I've experimented with several tunings, as there seems to be no industry standard per se. Lately, I have experimented with an open E tuning. I have no real talent or skill just yet, but I have been able to make some music-like noise. I'm sure I'll get better as I can't possibly get any worse. Dogs howl and cats run, but I'm having a good time with this thing.

Basically a 2 X 4 with strings and a STRONG pickup. If I don't get significantly better in a reasonable amount of time I can always stick some wheels on it and take it to the skateboard park. Does Sweetwater sell kneepads and helmets?
by "Rusty" from GA on
Music background: Just north of mediocre

Great value!

can you spend more money on a lap slide? No doubt. But why throw money away when this lap slide does it all. Im originally a Weissenborn player but bought this Electra to play in a blues and rockabilly band and I'm not disappointed. Plugged it in and went berserk playing along with my favorite bules artists. Buy it, you can't go wrong.
by Joe Davis on
Music background: self taught bules, rock, rockabilly and whatever.
See also: Solid Body Guitars, Epiphone, Epiphone Solidbody Guitars
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