Selmer vintage lap steel with integral case

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I've not seen another guitar like this before, and I suppose a lap steel (or console guitar) would be the only kind of guitar that would suit this format. It's a Selmer-branded lap steel which is actually built into its own case. That is to say, the case forms part of the guitar body. All you need to do is open and detach the lid, plug the guitar in and you're ready to go.

Selmer were a musical instrument manufacturer established in the early 1900s and based in Paris (surely their best known guitars were the gypsy jazz guitars as played by Django Reinhardt). By 1928 they had aquired a semi-independent UK branch. From the 1950s and through to the 1970s some of Selmer UK's own-brand guitars were produced by Germany's Höfner especially for the UK market. With the logo on this particular example proudly proclaiming "London, England", it's possible that this is a Höfner-made instrument. Unless you know differently...

Unfortunately the eBay auction for this guitar has already ended, although it did not sell despite a starting price of £175 (which I'd say was cheap for a vintage lap steel, and a possible Höfner-made one to boot). If you are interested, keep checking those auctions as maybe it will be re-listed at some point.

G L Wilson

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