STRING INSTRUMENTS
LAPSTEEL GUITARS

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Brother John Lap Steel

Hand made by Martino Lunardelli

K&F, 1945

In '39, Leo Fender opened a radio repair and record store called Fender Radio Service, in Fullerton, California. Here he brought together sound electronics and music, and later became acquainted with Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman. Virtually all musical instrument manufacturing stopped during World War II and most companies did not resume until '46, often using parts leftover from before the war. It was just at war's end, in '45, that Leo Fender and his friend Doc Kauffman decided to start the K&F Company to build and sell K&F-brand lap steels and amplifiers. Wary of the long hours and worried about losing money, Kauffman left the partnership in '46 and Fender Electric Instrument Company was born. Fender's Organ Button, Princeton, Deluxe, and Dual 8 Professional lap steels and the now-legendary tweed-covered amplifiers were introduced in '46.

K&F, 1946

This one also has stenciled fingerboard markers that says on pg. 32 of ELECTRIC GUITARS AND BASSSES A Photographic History, was baked on in the kitchen oven of Leo Fender's home, according to legend.

Dobro 30'-40'

Epiphone Electar 7 strings, 1940

Epiphone Zephir Electar, 1941

Gibson EH 100, 1939

Gibson EH 500 (Skylark) Korina, '60

Fender Dual Professiona 1947 - 1948

Gibson Ultratone 1953

National New Yorker '30

National White '30