New Pedal Steel Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Pros; fairly well made from a nice piece of American swamp ash, it sounds good, and plays as it should, great price. Cons; I don't like the set of the bridge posts. Worst part; made in China…slytone1

Nicely made. I did change strings as suggested by instructor. Has a nice case and everything went together well. Will be a challenge to learn…a lot to concentrate on while playing…good fun for an old man's brain..records1320

I bought this as a Stupid Deal of the Day. I wasn't expecting great quality — just a serviceable instrument. Alas, even there I was disappointed. There were minor annoyances like absolutely no documentation — no manual in the box; no manual on-line; nothing. I still don't know what the little allen wrench that came with it is for. When I picked up one of the legs it fell apart. There is a press-to-fit collar that holds the screw which allows adjusting the length of the leg. It wasn't actually pressed onto the shaft it was supposed to be attached to. A little brute force (before I attached the leg) solved that one. The real problem, however, came when I managed to assemble it anyway in spite of these minor glitches. Within moments of me setting it up on it's legs, one of the legs fell off. Actually the metal plate into which the leg screwed fell off. Luckily I still had all the packing material because I hadn't actually managed to completely unpack it. I called Musicians Friend. They were very helpful and immediately sent a RMA and a return label. Back it went.Bill, W.

Excellent product, I found it to hold tune and appears fairly sturdy. Strings are adequate for practice will experiment with others later, but not bad. I ran this through my Fender Deluxe reverb and found very little hum. Practically none and this surprised me as it is a single coil pickup. My only grip is the legs, I could not even get them to screw in, but then I didn't plan to use them in the first place, this instrument is best in your lap. The legs will come in handy if there is a noisy cat in the alley, or I need something to sink a boat (they are fairly heavy and seem decent, except, they are impossible to screw into the dang guitar!) Overall I would highly recommend as a first lap steel for sure.Mike

I've played electric/acoustic/bass for over 25 years, but got curious to try a lap steel because I've always loved the sound; I know what a quality instrument should feel like, and this definitely met or exceeded my expectations. I tuned up to C6 easily, and the single-coil pickup gives a nice bright tone that is consistent in volume from string-to-string. I haven't noticed any hum from the pickup at normal practice volume, and no grounding problems. I expect I'll change the strings soon, but that's a personal preference. A few people mentioned tuning problems; the tuners aren't the best, but I'd suggest pulling on each string when you first get it, to get any extra slack out of them. After that, mine holds tune perfectly fine. It packs up really neatly in the included gig bag, which does hold the detachable legs as well. The gig bag doesn't have much padding, but should be perfectly fine for storing the guitar when not in use. If you need to gig with the instrument professionally, I'd suggest getting something more solid, but this is a fantastic option for someone looking to learn on, or for studio use where you're looking for some different tones.Sam A

This guitar comes with a gig bag and legs. It has a sweet tone that will gives you the enjoyment and fun of playing a steel guitar.quane

Nicely built lap steel. Great sound. Way too much fun. If you are going to play country or Hawaiian you will need C6 strings made for that tuning. These wont work at all.wy03bay

Bought this for my wife as a second lap steel. I have bought the Recording King products before. This unit was not set up. The strings were floppy loose, that is okay as I restrung it. While putting new strings on I noticed the tuning machine were loose. All of the screws were stripped out and would not tighten. Started to send it back and decided to repair if and was successful. If we had not wanted to use it immediately, it would have gone back. Overall we like it and will continue to shop Musicians Friend.GWF

I'm also a dobro player. Had issues with getting the dobro loud enough for church praise band without feedback so I bought the Asher lap steel. Same scale length and string spacing as dobro and came with strings suitable for dobro tuning, Perfect fit. The tone is great with the neck pickup and neck/bridge pickups on but to my ears the bridge pickup alone is very thin and tinny sounding. Quality control issues: First thing I noticed right out of the box was that two of the tuner buttons rattled when I played it. Should be an easy fix by tightening the screws on the tuner buttons but these don't have any at all. Not sure how the buttons actually stay on. Anyway I used a little super glue on the two rattlers and that fixed the problem. I'll probably upgrade the tuners at some point but for $900+ after taxes I shouldn't have to. Also the plate around the output jack was loose and I had to tighten that up. No big deal but still…. Re stringing is a puzzler with the wrap around bridge. On the lower strings the ball end of the string wedges up against the plastic ring around the pickup making them difficult to change. There suggestion is to take the provided allen wrench and rais the bridge to make the strings easier to remove. Really? Raise and lower the bridge everytime you re string? Why not move the bridge pickup 1/8 up away from the bridge? It certainly isn't going to hurt the bridge pickup tone any…. Anyway, it is a good instrument that I plan on keeping forever, just keep in mind that it won't be perfect. Oh, the gig bag is very nice. Sturdy and nicely padded.cb56

Honestly… This instrument is very nice for someone learning to play lap steel. Drop the conservative amount now and as time prevails upgrades can be made to make this guitar road worthy. The tuners are cheap and are not going to withstand someone who is gigging. And of course… The pickups aren't going to give you that HOT sound most desire. These are an easy fix and you will be left with a great steel that will withstand many great performances. I would highly recommend the Junior to anyone that is still developing technique and style. Hope this helps…TOE

good solid feel. Decent tuners well worth. the price paid. I wish it shipped with the hard case…even if it added to the price. Being a dobroplayer, bluegrass style, the feel is very close to the same. this works out well with a gospel group im now helping out. where behind the barn dobro sound just don't fit. my guitar is teamed up with a Fender mustang 3…. man what a pair! 🙂 I am sure this guitar will handle the road just fine! 🙂Jerry Douglas want to be....

While Ive been a professional musician for over 35 years as a guitarist, Ive never played lap steel, so I wanted a good first guitar that was solid yet affordable. This is it! Easy to play, sounds good, stays in tune. A great learning instrument that can also gig when Im proficient enough to do so. Thanks Rhonda Music!allerando

Be aware this will need some work. Raised pickup with more foam, leveled saddles, re-cut grooves, lowered bridge with pan head machine screws in place of adjustable posts. After all of that, it works great.melody1876

I have been a pedal steel player for many years. In my old age, I have become interested in the lap steel. It is a much more complex instrument than I expected. The Gretsch Electromatic is probably the nicest looking steel in it's price range, but there are some problems right out of the box. Keep in mind that I am talking only about my instrument. I cannot speak for others. First, the fretboard is plastic, and held in place with screws. The intonation is off slightly, (which can easily be compensated for by bar adjustment) and the fretboard, not being glued down, was bowed up off the base approx. 1/4 of an inch. This condition was easily taken care of with a little Super Glue. Next, the bridge cover had to be removed in order for me to hand block the strings. The bridge is very simple, but it looks okay, so that's not a big thing. And then there is the issue of the volume and tone knobs being too close to the position my right hand naturally takes when I play. This also interferes with string blocking. I am playing this instrument through a Boss ME-80 and into a Peavey Classic 50 2X12. I am very pleased and surprised at the wide range of sounds this little steel makes. The finish is blemish free and beautiful. It weighs less than I expected, but it stays nicely in place on my lap. All said, I am looking forward to the journey ahead, and learning to play the Lap Steel. The volume and tone both are responsive, and it sounds great. I can live with a few imperfections for what the Electromatic costs. I learned long ago that steak costs more than hamburger. I think it was a good buy.J Lindley

There are a gazillion of these everywhere on line. I bought one long ago for around $299 and that was too much I sent it back. The fret board is the cheapest PVC plastic. The looks is pretty good. That is about it. Five hundred bucks is way out of line. Recording Kings are a better instrument for half the price.wy03bay

It has nice tone with a few limitations. The tuners are very poor quality, it is Chinese made. The bridge is fixed, so there is no chance of fine tuning intonation or string height. If you lay the bar on the strings on the higher registers, the second and third lowest strings don't touch the bar without placing pressure on the bar, adding to the intonation problem. The finish is absolutely beautiful, high gloss and nice color. That being said, it could use moleskin or felt to keep it from sliding around on you lap. I used black adhesive backed felt, worked perfectly.cheswinster

I bought this as a practice amp along with a 108 cab. My live rig involves a lot of pedals including using an fx loop and there are very few practice amps out there with a loop. I love the twin volume switches for boosting, and it sounds great clean as well as driven. Having a DI out makes it more versatile but bear in mind you’ll need a longer than usual speaker lead (I found out after that Orange make a 20’ speaker cable: worth buying. I should point out that this can get very loud so good for small gigs too. Only two issues, I would like an extra switch to turn the loop on and off (like I have on my Marshall origin) and I have found it gets quite noisy with the fx loop connected. This may be down to my cheap power brick on my pedal board but never had this issue with my Marshall. There are other pedal sized amps out there but this is one of the cheapest and definitely worth the money. Slightly more than a tiny terror but that doesn’t have the fx loopDaniel C.

First off, I would like to say that I have literally owned and tried every single direct amp/cab sim option on the market, both in a studio situation and a live gig/touring situation that required nightly in ear monitor usage. My one and only quest was to get as close to my tube amps, that I dearly miss being able to use, as possible! I have ditched every single unit after one or two gigs for the same reasons; too digital in response, and they just don’t feel good during a gig (which makes the whole gig a struggle in some aspect), and don’t handle analog pedals well. My search has ended with the Strymon Iridium! I popped this little monster on my pedalboard and off to rehearsals, and sessions I went! I have been able to dial in almost exact responses of a gorgeous fender style clean, and a Marshall style lead tone, in seconds. I also have been able to do my beloved overdrive and fuzz stacking to my hearts content and this little black box handled it with ease and felt realistic while doing it! I will leave with this; if you have been struggling like I have to confirm to the direct trend and need an immediate solution to take you as close as you could possibly get to recreating those killer tube amp tones on a nightly basis, definitely cut your journey down by thousands of dollars and countless irritating hours by just going to purchase the Strymon Iridium first! Thanks Strymon for a tremendously useful, well thought out tool for the gigging musician!!!Ryan Ridgeway

Nicely built lap steel. Great sound. Way too much fun. If you are going to play country or Hawaiian you will need C6 strings made for that tuning. These wont work at all.wy03bay

Bought this for my wife as a second lap steel. I have bought the Recording King products before. This unit was not set up. The strings were floppy loose, that is okay as I restrung it. While putting new strings on I noticed the tuning machine were loose. All of the screws were stripped out and would not tighten. Started to send it back and decided to repair if and was successful. If we had not wanted to use it immediately, it would have gone back. Overall we like it and will continue to shop Musicians Friend.GWF

Beautiful looking instrument well designed and easy to play ,with or without with the ashtray cover .Lovely warm tone made all the better with a little reverb.Is a nice weight to play on the lap rather than on a stand.A very classy lap steel.brianbarke

needed it to get in touch with my "da kine" roots. mahalo. sounds great, stays in tune, a pleasure to play and easy on my makas.Leighton

The hard part is finding one of these. I have had about every lap steel up to this price. But the Gold Tones have a really nice clean sound. I prefer Hawaiian and country sound. These are beautiful for that. It sits nicely on you lap and easy to play with the string spacing.walt

Sound: The sound of this guitar, with the JB bridge pup is totally awesome for hard rock and metal. Also, the SD cool rails in the middle and neck positions sound great. The neck pickup in particular really sings. The pickup compliment really makes this guitar outstanding. Features: Has a nice little wrench holder on the back of the headstock. Just keep a penny in your pocket in case you have to remove the wrenches from the holder as it is set up to tighten and loosen with a coin or a flat head screw driver. Ease of Use: There wasn’t really a learning curve for this guitar. Every feature on this guitar is quite intuitive. Quality: Very well made guitar. The Floyd Rose is great. Keeps it in tune better than any other system out there. This guitar comes with a FRT 1000 Floyd Rose trem. I think it’s fit and finish rivals that of the OFR. Anyway, it handles all the abuse I dish out on it, and stays perfectly in tune. Value: This guitar delivers everything that one would expect from a one thousand plus dollar guitar, and then some. Manufacturer Support: See my previous comments The Wow Factor: The finishes offered on this guitar are spectacular. I get so many compliments on the looks of my guitar. Overall: Wow, when I got my Kramer SM-1 the thing seemed too good to be true. The fit and finish was great. The nut was at the right height. The bridge height and the action was just right. I could pull up a mile. Beautiful color (orange). Frets were all level, and no pokey fret ends.As far as being too good to be true, well it did have a stupid flaw. Someone at the factory forgot to put a ground wire to the trem claw. I had to take it to the warranty repairman. Took the repairman 10 minutes to fix it. Four inches of wire and two blobs of solder was all that was needed. Warranty job, so fixed for free. Almost.After 6 months of ownership of this guitar, the warranty guy gave me a call to tell me that Gibson never paid him, and that he was going to submit the claim one more time, and that I was to pay him if Gibson didn’t. When I first brought the guitar to him for the repair, he wanted 50 bucks. I said hold on there man, this is a warranty job. He decided to do the job right then and there, even though he couldn’t get authorization that day.Anyway, I wound up having to call Gibson and told them what happened. They were apalled. Gibson customer service really isn’t that great. I’m still waiting on parts for another guitar from the for the last 6 months. Gibson did straighten the warranty guy out though, and they paid the repairman. Apparently the repairman didn’t submit the claim properly.Well aside from that one issue, the guitar is perfect. The blade pups for the neck and middle sound awesome and so is the HB bridge pickup. SD JB I’m told. This guitar, aside from my ground wire issue, was as perfect as perfect can get. If you are looking for a shred guitar, sheik one of these out. The placement of the neck in relation to the body just feels right, unlike my Jackson soloist, which feels foreign.Scott

Overall: after a thorough check of the guitar:the temolo system is of very poor quality.the knife edges of the tremolo system were badly bruised, as were the posts. the drive-in sleeves were very rusty and not hammered in properly.the mechanics were not properly attached and reils showed an idle travel of half a turnthe frets had strong scratches all over the fingerboardthe electrical system was laid in a mess, 4 cables came loose during the preliminary inspection, the 5-way switch had a loose contactall of the excavated shafts were not sanded, the electrical compartment was not shieldedwhy did i keep the guitar? because I am able to fix everything. and if i pull off the pu, it stays under 650 dollars for a lacquered body with a neck, that's oki installed a schaller lockmeister tremolo, schaller mechanics, a completely new electrical system, the frets dressed and polished, the shafts ground, the electrical compartment insulated, the misalignment on the nut fixed, a string retainer installed, new buttons installed.now i have a guitar that keeps the mood, sounds great and is the way it should be. I invested around $ 550 for this. so in total the guitar cost 1,600 dollars. I would have liked to pay directly if the manufacturer had offered it.I can't give you a recommendation out of the box because the guitar is not playable like this. maybe i get a lemon, but ther is no quality controll at all.Dirk

Beautiful looking instrument well designed and easy to play ,with or without with the ashtray cover .Lovely warm tone made all the better with a little reverb.Is a nice weight to play on the lap rather than on a stand.A very classy lap steel.brianbarke

needed it to get in touch with my "da kine" roots. mahalo. sounds great, stays in tune, a pleasure to play and easy on my makas.Leighton

The hard part is finding one of these. I have had about every lap steel up to this price. But the Gold Tones have a really nice clean sound. I prefer Hawaiian and country sound. These are beautiful for that. It sits nicely on you lap and easy to play with the string spacing.walt

Beautiful looking instrument well designed and easy to play ,with or without with the ashtray cover .Lovely warm tone made all the better with a little reverb.Is a nice weight to play on the lap rather than on a stand.A very classy lap steel.brianbarke

needed it to get in touch with my "da kine" roots. mahalo. sounds great, stays in tune, a pleasure to play and easy on my makas.Leighton

The hard part is finding one of these. I have had about every lap steel up to this price. But the Gold Tones have a really nice clean sound. I prefer Hawaiian and country sound. These are beautiful for that. It sits nicely on you lap and easy to play with the string spacing.walt

When you buy a pedal for 50 bucks it's kind of a roll of the dice, I've bought cheap pedals before and its about a 50/50 chance of getting a good one, not so with the Steel Singer, it's a winner and 50 bucks is a deal. The overdrive sounds range from mildly gritty to heavy grind and everything in between, it's a very versatile pedal and will stay on my pedal board.sliderdawg

I haven't yet built it, but it looks like it'll be a fun project. All parts included (except 2 x 4), and instructions seem pretty straight forward. I'll probably buy more of theses (to build & sell).jham8704

I haven't made it yet as I'm working on making a good body for it. But the instructions are in a large format making it super easy for someone my age to be able to read. Everything is well laid out. Will enjoy building it.derekkmartin

I upgraded the wooden parts with some shaping. Havent plugged it in to test it out. Great instructions that allow for customization.gonzo59870

I’m a guitar player, new to pedal steel. I experimented with a few tunings and settled on C6 tuning. The nut and bridge needed a bit of filing to keep he thicker strings in place, but that’s an easy and expected fix. The sound is pure lap steel. No build issues or quality issues at all. Very happy with the Epiphone Electar. 5 stars!Len D.

A lap steel isn't the most sophisticated of instruments admittedly, but this one does the job – I bought this as a backup for my Goldtone LS-6. String spacing is very comfortable (wider than the Goldtone), tone is sweet even if the pickup is a little underpowered and it looks the business. Scale length is much shorter than I'm used to but that's not an issue.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I have a few lap guitars. Just saying. Take the pickup cover off first. Next throw the strings away and get some C6 strings. If you want to play in standard tuning get some standard lap strings for that tuning. The nut slots may not be deep enough on 1 and 2 strings. Just take a small file and give them a couple swipes and quit complaining. The pickup is not super hot but is OK. I sounds nice. It is very comfortable to play with the wider body. It sits nice on your lap. As for string spacing in my opinion this is what a lap guitar should be. Not like about every lap guitar out there with standard guitar spaced strings at the nut. Of all my laps up to this price point and a bit more I will never sell this one. The gig bag is flimsy. I got a bit thicker one for it.AZ Lap Guy

It’s an acoustic circuit in a box “ steel string “ old name for the acoustic guitar ! , it’s got an ovation sound when you think of it , ….listen ?Mike Dutill