The black stuff is asphalt based pitch. It was a common potting compound well into the 1960s. Some heat will soften up that Gilsonite asphalt. Late 1942 or 1943 and the nameplate was NOT removed. This model was not a great selling item by late1941 when the US entered WWII. The name plates were gone from Rickenbacher's inventory stock and metal was now in high demand for the war effort, so you got the water slide decals on these. The bodies were back stock in the factory and they lasted until 1943. The paper further reduced feedback. The pitch seals off the solder so it won't corrode, and it dampens the guitar also to reduce feedback. I use a hot air surface mount rework station to melt that old asphalt. A soldering pen you hate would also work. YOU CAN START THAT BLACK STUFF ON FIRE SO NO OPEN FLAMES OR TORCHES!

“Maybe he was a session musician and wanted to cut his plug-in time in half” 😂😂😂

Don't you know? It's the famous Rickenbacher "Resinator" guitar 🤣

My '39 Supro 60 lap steel came with the factory cord attached like that. I replaced it ( dry rot cracked) with a new one but am changing it to barrel jack this week. The cord being attached drives me crazy after 10 years of dealing with it.. lol. Another wickedly awesome video !

"With my luck it's a combination of lead and asbestos" had me bust out laughing, tears in my eyes!

The pots and tar along with the grommets are all vintage radio materials, the tar or pitch as it's also known was used to submerge capacitors in bakelite pots and it was used to wrap around transformers as a insulator.

I think the main thing I love the most about this man,...is his obvious passion, love, and respect for every single instrument that lays upon his bench. Some might say,..."well,... he is so careful as to not have to pay for broken things outta pocket." But I would say,..." he loves these instruments more than money." That would be my guess. Another intriguing and beautifully performed repair.

Neither of mine had black goo inside. One of them was emptied of its paper, the other had shredded newspapers inside. I was able to date it to mid 1941due to scraps of articles I could read about what was happening in the war.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the paper stuffing was used to kill unwanted resonances from the metal body, along with the black substance.

Beautiful! Not often do I see an instrument I had no previous desire to have, and then moments later, I feel as if I need one in order to survive...

that sticky goo is probably asphaltum, the concept behind paper was to cut down on feedback. both of mine are stuffed with newspaper.

I can’t be the only one that holds my breath while he’s doing precision work 😂😂😂

That's instrument maker's asphalt. Brass instrument (trumpet, french horn, etc) makers use an asphalt compound to bend tubing. It comes in flakes like raw shellac. It's melted down and poured in the tubing and allowed to solidify before making tight bends to prevent the tube from collapsing during bending. It's then reheated and poured out to be reused.Any instrument repair guy would have had the stuff on hand back in the day... Here, if Ted won't mind I'll link a vid that shows the process somewhere around the 15min mark. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/kL2Xp5enyNfVZIk.html

To be simultaneously as entertaining as informative is a real gift; you’re one of the best on KZfaq, bud!

I'm not a fan of "3 in 1" 3 components= penetrant , lubricant, but 3rd part is a varnish. Its meant to fill spaces between worn parts but it also turns into a Glue with time. I used to repair typewriters and "3 in 1" was a death blow to old manual typewriters.

Shiny. Maybe it needs a cord retraction device, like moms vacuum from the 1960s.

Thanks for that :) ! For the pots, you certainly know but there are some plastic "wrenches" to protect finish.

The black stuff looks like tar. Edit: if I know correctly, tar was also used as a potting compound for transformers (I think McIntosh still uses it for their output transformers).

Black Gold, Texas Tea (dried)... well the first thing you know, ol' Ted's a millionaire. The kin-folk said "Ted, move away from there!" Said "Californee is the place you oughta be", but Ted stayed put in Ontario Canadie!

3:30 those cords came standard on many lap steels, I own two and have seen several more of cheaper models. Brilliant commentary below-a real brain trust in repair. Thanks everybody!!

Nicely done! I love the little bit of history that you give us as you are inspecting and disassembling these instruments.

An excellent video. The content is of the highest quality. A fascinating exploration and a real education. Thank you for uploading.

I love the way you take things step by step and figure out exactly what the problem is and what you feel is the best solution!! Love your videos, please keep them coming

Beautiful Instrument!! Wonderful and informative repair!!

Probably your best video so far. Camera angles, voice over, lighting, editing all as good or better than anything on KZfaq. Thanks!

Rickenbacker (pronounced with a “back” and not a “bach.”) was originally named Ro-Pat-In Corporation, and designed and produced the first commercial magnetic pickup, along with Paul Barth… the horseshoe. This was invented by Rickenbacker’s founder George Beauchamp. Prior to this Beauchamp invented the resonator guitar and founded National. The resonator was developed with John Dopyera, who later left National and started Dobro. Adolph Rickenbacker ran a metal stamping shop and stamped out the metal bodies for the National guitars, and later guitars like this. He’s always credited with inventing the Frying Pan, but that was Harry Watson, an employee at the company, now named Electro Sound. He made the first Frying Pan out of wood, and it was just something to hold the horseshoe pickup. Before building their own guitars Ro-Pat-In sold Harmony guitars with the horseshoe pickup. Another fun fact, Italian luthier Roger Rossmeisl who designed the classic Rickenbacker electrics also designed the Tele Thinline and Coronado.

"Whatever this is" is probably pitch. It is a resin that is derived from coal tar or birch tar. It has a melting point somewhere between 65 and 150 Centigrade. It was popular as an insulator and as a 'potting' material.

I love your dry humour and rhetorical questions keep up the good work I learn something every episode thank you much love from Australia 🌈😇🙏

Maybe the black stuff is reactor corium, Chernobyl's elephant foot style. Every self respecting guitar shop should have a Geiger counter. I know absolutely nothing about lap steel but am slightly surprised it has protruding frets, thought those didn't need them. Altough after a minute of thinking - it was probably the best way to create durable and good looking markings where the sounds should be on a metal instrument.

What a beautiful old Rickenbacker!!!! You did a fine job on this one!!! It certainly is in better shape than most of these I have seen.

The black stuff sure looks like the pitch we heated and poured to make polishing laps in our optics fabrication shop. I think we mainly used "Gugolz" brand, and it was basically some kind of tree resin. Or, maybe it's some kind of asphalt .

Very enjoyable watch. I am quite old and have a number of items from my Grandfather in nickel. I think it looks nice; this guitar certainly does. As soon as I saw the black material inside I thought "Pitch". A number of commenters agree. Think "handy thermoplastic non-conductive filler". It was used to seal large 1.5 v dry cell batts back in the day, among many other uses.

the gunk reminds me of the "pure evil" from the movie Time Bandits...or the kryptonite that Richard Prior made in Superman 3

A Bowie knife! I'm laughing so hard enjoying your story. You have great writing talents!

Ted, thanks for the video, this one of the best musical instrument videos that i have seen in 5 years, Cousin Figel

Great video, Ted. A rare instrument and your rare style are a perfect match!

Thanks for the video! Coincidentally I finished restoring a 1939 NS100 just 3 weeks ago! Differences in mine: 1) There was the usual jack on the treble side, not a hard-wired cable. The guitar also had a plugged hole on the bass side where a 1938 version's jack would have resided. Maybe mine was from early '39 and transitional? 2) The wiring scheme was way different from yours, and quirky; more like a 1938: The 250K volume pot was wired as a *rheostat* (only 2 terminals used) ACROSS the pickup. The jack was also in parallel with the pickup. The rheostat acted as a variable load across the pickup, ranging from dead short to 250K. The tone control was also wired as a 250K variable resistor in series with a .05uF cap (common setup on most guitars), with the R-C pair also in parallel with the pickup and output. Not the best of wiring schemes because the volume control by itself would act as a treble cut due to the extreme amount of loading in mid to low volume positions. So, you end up having a guitar with, in all practicality, TWO tone controls!! 😞 3) I didn't have any pitch inside the guitar. Instead, there was a mass of plaster of Paris filling the cavity from just south of the pickup down to the tail. The plaster didn't interfere with removing the pots. Was this intended to couple the bridge to the back, dampen vibrations or just provide mechanical stiffening under the bridge? I have no idea. Other owners haven't reported the plaster. 4) I had some tissue right under the pickup and controls, but also there was a squirrel's nest of shredded newspaper, 3/8" wide and a page long extending all the way into the neck cavity. Wadded up, it's nearly the size of a football! Unfortunately, I didn't have the patience to find matching strips, paste them up and read the LA Herald Express from the month the guitar was built.😃 Even in the absence of a newspaper date, I'm pretty sure mine is a '39. 5) Tone control is white, volume is black. What did I do with it, and am I going to rot in hell?: 1) The pots were SHOT. Dead. Kaput. There was a distinct gritty feel to both the volume and tone, and there were places along the pot where it would either open up, or act as a short. No amount of cleaning would restore it. (sealed pot bodies, too, darnit). I replaced both pots, rewiring the guitar in the process to the more conventional post-1940 scheme with the 250K volume pot acting as a real pot (jack is fed from the wiper), and the tone circuit is fed by the pickup (or high terminal on the volume pot). Result: the guitar maintains its tone over a wide volume control range. Oh yeah, one more thing: the wire colors are reversed from conventional audio gear: black is hot, yellow is ground; sort of like residential wiring.. 2) The dampening material really is important. Without it the guitar sounded like it was being played inside a culvert. I opted against stuffing back the old newspaper (I'll keep it in a bag for history's sake). What I did was to have a friend make approximately a half-dozen "beanbags" made of a flimsy slippery cloth stuffed loosely with fiberfill insulation (like they use for sleeping bags). The bags were approximately 3-1/2" square and VERY compressible. I stuffed the bags, sparingly, into the cavity. The beanbags got rid of the worst of the trashy clanginess, but not totally muting it. i imagine I can fine-tune the response by adding/removing beanbags, or shifting them around in the cavity, but I don't have the patience to do that right now (that would require unstringing and restringing after every attempt); I'm having too much fun playing the guitar as it is!! Overall result: I LOVE this guitar. I've been learning Hawaiian lap steel over the past year and a half, and this instrument NAILS the sweet Hawaiian tone. It's probably not quite as appropriate for country or rock because it lacks much of an edge to the tone; it would get lost in the mix. I also own a '38 Bakelite B6 which, until a couple weeks ago was my favorite. The B6 sounds smoother overall but the NS100 has a very distinct personality because of just the right amount of high-end resonance. It's sort of midway between the Bakelite and Frypan in treble response and is my favorite lap steel! --Aloha!

Really entertaining. Thanks for doing this job and documenting it!

This is more like archaeology than guitar repair. A great history lesson too.

The paper is there to dampen resonance and reduce/control feedback. I've known lots of guys who've packed paper or batting into wood Rickenbackers and ES-335s for that very reason. Townshend used to do it with his various Ricks. The hardened black goo is probably there for the same reason...they wouldn't put that quantity in there just as an insulator. It's far more likely they'd just use a strip of fish paper for that purpose. Other's have mentioned instrument maker's asphalt used to help form the metal...that sounds reasonable as well, although I don't know why it would be added after the pots or why it was never removed. Mystery! Beautiful looking and sounding guitar! Ted, I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoy your videos...my favorite channel!

With regard to old electronics, I would have replaced the capacitor. They are almost always leaky and slowly become resistors. Great video as usual.

Great work. Beautiful guitar

I dont know why but when you pulled out the vintage tissue paper, I started laughing

Those horseshoe pickups are wonderful. One of those times where they just got the design right, like the tele bridge and the p-90👍

These Lapsteel are absolute beauty, well done the sound seems nice.

Thanks for this video. I have a NS 1948 model, and after having the nerves to open her up, i noticed that there where real newspapers inside the neck. The newspapers are from Los Angeles Times from Sunday , Mar. 24, 1946. I have heard it is done to increase sustain, however i doubt it helps a lot.....:=) , but she sounds beautiful....

"My luck it's a combination of lead and asbestos"! It shouldn't have but that made me laugh out loud. Thanks Ted.

One of your most interesting (to me, anyway) videos ever! Thanks!

Lovely instrument, and great workmanship getting her back up and running, Ted. I think that the black stuff is asphalt, I've seen raw asphalt before, and that's what it looks like.

It must be fun to get your hands on stuff like that. What a nice old survivor. You reminded me of Doc from the Seven Dwarves mining away in there.

I'm expecting the vintage Rickenbacker paper to show up now on Reverb for $500, and get featured on Fluff's Ridiculous Reverb series.

The paper is likely "fish paper". It's an insulator with a fairly high dielectric constant. It was very common in paper-foil capacitors. It also doesn't absorb moisture very well if at all.

What a lovely little bit of history you had on your workbench.

These are some of the first electric guitars as far as I'm concerned, what a gem!

Perhaps the “Asphaltum” was used when forming or finishing up the edges of the face so as not to break the brazed or soldered joint? That is a really beautiful piece of metal craft. Great vid! Thanks.

this was outstanding!!!!!!!! you are great!!!!!! thank you.

Maybe he was a session musician, in high demand, who wanted to cut his plugin time in half. Now that's some comedy gold right there!

I had a Stella Lap Top come through with a hard wired patch cord. Thank goodness, the retro tweed cords had just been reintroduced.

I'm thinking the hardened goop inside is the 1940s version of shrink wrap. It all made sense when you put the shrink wrap on the jack "in case things get spun around inside". Rachel was founded in 1957. Thats the company that made electrical shrink wrap tubing. So I'm thinking that was the way Rickenbacher dealt with this situation to avoid players being electrocuted with the all steal lap steal "in case something gets spun around in there..."

Given his background in making car sheet metal, it reminds me of early soundproofing applied to car joints to reduce rattling...

I believe your guess about it being asphalt/bitumen is correct. Probably what amateur "repair men" used before JB Weld. How strange. And the tissue paper? I gotta know why.

I have a 1950 model G which is essentially a silver hawaiian with a lucite fret marker board, and clear lucite knobs and a gold tuning post cover plate . All the newspaper and black shit in there is to dampen the metal. These things are insanely resonant and will feedback at higher volumes.... I must say that it doesn't do the best job but its mostly tame when standing away from a loud amp. I've had a 47 bakelite as well and that was the complete opposite, not as resonant and oddly not as fun to play. Nice video man, always learn something from you!

with my luck it's led and asbesto's. OH MY GOSH MAN THAT'S GOT me rollin'

I enjoy all of your videos, but I especially enjoyed this one. Quite different from the norm.

wow! what a fantastic looking instrument! almost like a trophy for musicians...

That black stuff inside the guitar looks like Creosote, one of the substances that was used to preserve telephone poles. It also looks like tar. I love the way that Hawaiian guitar looks and sounds - It's a real beauty. I think the owner is going to be very happy with the work you did.

Geez that story sounds like the voice over narration for a National Film Board animation. Well done.

😎🎸👍🏽 ENJOYED VERY MUCH. Thanks as usual. 👏🏽👏🏽🙏🏽🎯

I use Lighter Gauge strings & raise the tuning up a Minor Third to Eb6 Terz Tuning so I can get a brighter sound.

Watching the paper come out was like watching clowns come out of a clown car, when will it end...

That gunk is probably tar from the La Brea Tar Pits! haha

That black stuff definitely looks like pitch to me. Which would mean that unless your workshop is already so cold that your fingers are going numb, it's technically still a liquid, just very, very viscous. It'll crack and shatter, but it'll also flow and even drip, over a period of years. There's an experiment in Australia that's been going on for over a century at this point, and they've had nine drops fall from the funnel so far. Nobody's ever witnessed it happening, though, and even the webcam they've had pointed at it for the last twenty-odd years tends to fail at exactly the wrong moment.

Just outstanding! (I bet that stuff is asphaltum or some closely related form of mineral pitch.)

Just discovered your channel. Subbed. 👍🏻

I really like your content brother. Keep it up, we enjoy it out here. Nice variety

I take that “black stuff” out of basses all the time. They used black weatherstripping foam as a spring behind pickups. It disintegrates and turns to black melted goo that turns solid and crystallized. It’s very common in old guitars.

I use C6 tuning on my acoustic lap steel the bass strings CEG are a C chord and the treble strings ACE are an Am chord, the relative minor to C. It’s a neat tuning because you can essentially play in any key.

I am wondering if it was some form of shielding.I have a collection of early and late lap steels.My collection goes from 1935 to the presant.I also build my own,which i am half way through at preasent.I live in NZ and have played laps for about 60 years.I also do all my own repairs snd set up.

Lol, you seemed way more cautious than usual with that thing, I don't blame you.

Instant Hawaiian steel sound with that tuning. It takes a minute to wrap the brain around it, but oh so fun. Cheers from Kauai 🤙🏽

Always interesting. Love the storytelling too. haha

This is one of your best videos

Some very nice soldering at 15:15 Ted, nice and shiny.

The tone on this thing is really nice!

I have the same instrument with a green finish. It was stuffed with a newspaper from 1947 if I remember correctly.

I have several lap steels , but this is the first time I've seen this model, very impressive for sure. Ahh, someday with luck🤞, good stuff thanks.

Definitely a type of bitumen that was heated and poured in initially. Probably to give more weight and stability after the instrument was purchased.

good gracious... you pulled some steel guitar stories out of your arse in this one!! LOVE IT!! thanks for bringing us along!!

Wow that is a cool looking instrument!

That is a dinosaur!! Once again I'll reiterate, Your attention to Every detail is so very nice!!!

14:04 that's a grommet specific divet. Grommets work best when supported (or those old ones did, which were a lot softer than modern ones) so they don't move about too much and self slice on the metal through the motion. The recess provides the grommet with that support so all the grommet works against the cord. I think the grommet, bitumen and config might be OG to this unit.

Thanks for keeping in the tedious stuff. It sure is a part of the process.

The Frying Pan was the very 1st Electric Guitar & it was actually a Slide Guitar.

I had a 1938 Model "59" in Ivory crinkle paint. The way I knew it was 1938 was the date on the newspaper stuffed inside the body.

The paper that was removed was to stop the vibrating string feedback in the steel case to the magnetic pick-up. Reverberation will distort the string amplification and output..

Just a guess. Could the black plastic be a guard for any electric shorts? The guitar is metal... and wires do rub thru eventually... Awesome guitar.

They guitar intro reminds me of that show of Rick Steve's traveling through Europe 😆

Love this dudes humour and the comments

Reminds me of my youth. I did all my guitar repairs with a hammer and chisel. Or a dull screwdriver.

Very beautiful on the outside, very weird in the inside. I 'd be scared that something might jump out and eat me !😅