Fender Model 26 Deluxe Lap Steel Electric with Matching Amplifier Guitar (1946)
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Item # 12149
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Fender Model 26 Deluxe Model Lap Steel Electric with Matching Amplifier Guitar (1946), made in Fullerton, California, serial # 522/B-79, natural finish, hardwood body and cabinet.
This set is one of the earliest products of the young Fender electric Instrument company, a "De Luxe" A/K/A Model 26 lap steel and amplifier set from 1946. These steel/amp sets were the first products to bear the Fender name, following directly on the short-lived K&F line. Doc Kauffman, Leo Fender's partner in K&F was unsure of the future of the business, so Leo gave him a punch press and soldiered on! This 3 tube, amp and lap steel set was the new Fender-branded product designed primarily for teaching studios, their biggest market.
All Fender amps trace their lineage back to these first 1946 "Woodies". The new trio: Princeton, Deluxe (also referred to as "Model 26") and the Professional were a step-up in design and construction from the earlier K&F amps. Built with elegant, simple hardwood cabinets (inspiring the collector's nickname "Woodie"), their ruggedness, sound quality and reliability far surpassed most standards of electric amplification of the time.
Released in the spring of '46 and lasting only about a year and a half, the three models shared a design look and some circuitry. The hardwood cabinets came in "gleaming blonde maple", "black walnut" and "dark mahogany". Their plush grille cloths came in red, blue and yellow/gold, with matching material on the rear lower panel. The front has three metal strips running vertically over the speaker opening. The thicker center strip is flanked by two thinner ones, which Fender claimed added "flash and brilliance to their already sparkling appearance". All were topped with a wooden handle and the upper-tier models had rear-facing control panels with a new logo reading "Fender Electric Instrument Co., Fullerton, California" accompanied by the K&F lightning logo.
This, the Model 26 Deluxe, was the midline model of the three and was billed as basic professional level model. It sported a push-pull 6V6 design (like its successor, the Deluxe) putting out around 14 watts into a single 10" speaker, in this case an early Jensen permanent magnet design. The control panel on the back features three inputs total, two instrument and one microphone, with one volume control for each designation as well as a master tone control doubling as a power switch.
The "Model 26" designation disappeared almost immediately but the "Deluxe" name would carry onwards in a long line of iconic amps over the several decades, with its tweed-clad "TV-front" successor just around the corner of 1948. Indeed, as guitar author Tom Wheeler notes in "The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps", "Princetons, Deluxes and Pros would be cornerstones of the line for much of the next 60 years." This early model is the lodestone from which all of would spring, a sublime if humble-looking piece of the earliest Fender grail.
The matching Deluxe lap steel is also a rare early Fender product, with Leo's original "Direct String" pickup mounted on a sculpted hardwood body with volume and tone controls. This last set it apart from the "Student" model that only had volume! These are nicely laid out and fall perfectly under the fingers when playing. The original small pots are dated to the 38th week of 1946. Construction is very simple with a thin natural lacquer on the one-piece body and some fascinatingly crude hand routing under the metal coverplate, done after the body was finished! The headstock is covered by a chromed plate with an etched "Fender Electric Instrument Company, Fullerton California" lightning bolt logo, a basic design carried into the 1950s. This sits above an etched and painted chromed fingerboard, the headstock sporting typical period openback strip tuners. The steel carries a very early serial # B-79 on the back edge, making it as one of the first 100 or so ever made.
Height is 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm.), 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) width, and 7 3/4 in. (19.7 cm.) deep.
This is a beautiful, very nicely preserved and original example of one of the earliest Fender amps we have ever seen. The cabinet is in fairly good shape considering the amp is celebrating its 76th birthday! There's some typical wear and minor scuffs, but the very thin "gleaming blonde maple" finish is largely intact. The chassis shows some typical corrosion overall with the panel itself in excellent shape with only minor wear overall. The plush red grille cloth is mostly untarnished save for one minor puncture and the protective metal strips are in great shape as well with just a few minor scratches along the edges of the larger center strip. The rear panel cloth is in fabulous condition as well.
Electrically, the amp remains nicely original. The Jensen 8-inch field-coil F8R speaker is original, bearing the code 220-616, dating it to 1946. The original cone has received some TLC and sounds great! Both the power and output transformers appear original, the former bearing the marking 5097A. Both pots appear original as well. The amp has otherwise received our typical maintenance and servicing, including replacement of electrolytic caps, a grounded 3-prong power cord, cleaning of all sockets, pots and jacks and biasing to spec.
The accompanying steel also has some general wear, mostly to the top finish from a picker's fingers long ago. The chrome has some wear spots but is generally well preserved. Whatever flocking was once glued to the back has long since flaked off. The original pickup has been perfectly re-wound by Tom Brantley; many of these early pickups require this today. It sounds great and the work is pretty much undetectable. The early-style pots and wiring remains original, as do the tuners with a couple of buttons appearing replaced.
This set is a fabulous example of nearly pre-historic Fender history, from the very beginning of Fender's legacy of great amplifiers. And, incidentally it sounds magical! Very Good + Condition.
This set is one of the earliest products of the young Fender electric Instrument company, a "De Luxe" A/K/A Model 26 lap steel and amplifier set from 1946. These steel/amp sets were the first products to bear the Fender name, following directly on the short-lived K&F line. Doc Kauffman, Leo Fender's partner in K&F was unsure of the future of the business, so Leo gave him a punch press and soldiered on! This 3 tube, amp and lap steel set was the new Fender-branded product designed primarily for teaching studios, their biggest market.
All Fender amps trace their lineage back to these first 1946 "Woodies". The new trio: Princeton, Deluxe (also referred to as "Model 26") and the Professional were a step-up in design and construction from the earlier K&F amps. Built with elegant, simple hardwood cabinets (inspiring the collector's nickname "Woodie"), their ruggedness, sound quality and reliability far surpassed most standards of electric amplification of the time.
Released in the spring of '46 and lasting only about a year and a half, the three models shared a design look and some circuitry. The hardwood cabinets came in "gleaming blonde maple", "black walnut" and "dark mahogany". Their plush grille cloths came in red, blue and yellow/gold, with matching material on the rear lower panel. The front has three metal strips running vertically over the speaker opening. The thicker center strip is flanked by two thinner ones, which Fender claimed added "flash and brilliance to their already sparkling appearance". All were topped with a wooden handle and the upper-tier models had rear-facing control panels with a new logo reading "Fender Electric Instrument Co., Fullerton, California" accompanied by the K&F lightning logo.
This, the Model 26 Deluxe, was the midline model of the three and was billed as basic professional level model. It sported a push-pull 6V6 design (like its successor, the Deluxe) putting out around 14 watts into a single 10" speaker, in this case an early Jensen permanent magnet design. The control panel on the back features three inputs total, two instrument and one microphone, with one volume control for each designation as well as a master tone control doubling as a power switch.
The "Model 26" designation disappeared almost immediately but the "Deluxe" name would carry onwards in a long line of iconic amps over the several decades, with its tweed-clad "TV-front" successor just around the corner of 1948. Indeed, as guitar author Tom Wheeler notes in "The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps", "Princetons, Deluxes and Pros would be cornerstones of the line for much of the next 60 years." This early model is the lodestone from which all of would spring, a sublime if humble-looking piece of the earliest Fender grail.
The matching Deluxe lap steel is also a rare early Fender product, with Leo's original "Direct String" pickup mounted on a sculpted hardwood body with volume and tone controls. This last set it apart from the "Student" model that only had volume! These are nicely laid out and fall perfectly under the fingers when playing. The original small pots are dated to the 38th week of 1946. Construction is very simple with a thin natural lacquer on the one-piece body and some fascinatingly crude hand routing under the metal coverplate, done after the body was finished! The headstock is covered by a chromed plate with an etched "Fender Electric Instrument Company, Fullerton California" lightning bolt logo, a basic design carried into the 1950s. This sits above an etched and painted chromed fingerboard, the headstock sporting typical period openback strip tuners. The steel carries a very early serial # B-79 on the back edge, making it as one of the first 100 or so ever made.
Height is 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm.), 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm.) width, and 7 3/4 in. (19.7 cm.) deep.
This is a beautiful, very nicely preserved and original example of one of the earliest Fender amps we have ever seen. The cabinet is in fairly good shape considering the amp is celebrating its 76th birthday! There's some typical wear and minor scuffs, but the very thin "gleaming blonde maple" finish is largely intact. The chassis shows some typical corrosion overall with the panel itself in excellent shape with only minor wear overall. The plush red grille cloth is mostly untarnished save for one minor puncture and the protective metal strips are in great shape as well with just a few minor scratches along the edges of the larger center strip. The rear panel cloth is in fabulous condition as well.
Electrically, the amp remains nicely original. The Jensen 8-inch field-coil F8R speaker is original, bearing the code 220-616, dating it to 1946. The original cone has received some TLC and sounds great! Both the power and output transformers appear original, the former bearing the marking 5097A. Both pots appear original as well. The amp has otherwise received our typical maintenance and servicing, including replacement of electrolytic caps, a grounded 3-prong power cord, cleaning of all sockets, pots and jacks and biasing to spec.
The accompanying steel also has some general wear, mostly to the top finish from a picker's fingers long ago. The chrome has some wear spots but is generally well preserved. Whatever flocking was once glued to the back has long since flaked off. The original pickup has been perfectly re-wound by Tom Brantley; many of these early pickups require this today. It sounds great and the work is pretty much undetectable. The early-style pots and wiring remains original, as do the tuners with a couple of buttons appearing replaced.
This set is a fabulous example of nearly pre-historic Fender history, from the very beginning of Fender's legacy of great amplifiers. And, incidentally it sounds magical! Very Good + Condition.