The Fender Champion Lap Steel Guitar ( 1950's vintage ) : eBay Guides

 A 1950s Fender Champion lap steel will make a great investment,as well as be a great sounding instrument; if it's in good condition.  Here's what you should you look for. #1. Do the electronics work properly?  This includes the  pick up, volume,and tone controls. More later on this important factor. #2. Is it  physically in good shape?  A few scratches,and scrapes are no big deal; but cracks in the wood are.  Is the neck straight?  It will not play in tune up, and down, and across the neck if the neck is warped. #3. Is it all original? Does it have the original single coil Fender pickup ? Thats the most important original part it MUST have. If a tone,or vol pot was replaced, that's not too important to me. Are the tuners,and tuner buttons still viable? This is no deal breaker to me. AllParts  make exact replicas.This is an easy fix,but not having originals may very slightly decrease the  value. The dates of some Fender parts can be verified with code dating. I will refer you to Gruin's guide to vintage guitar for code dating. #4. Does it  have a case, and is it in decent condition? Again, not a deal breaker for me; but this is subjective. The cases themselves sell for a lot when you can find an original thats available to buy.

 My evaluations are primarily as a player. As a collector, your evaluation should be more critical regards the instrument having all original parts.

                                      The Fender Champion was first introduced in late 1949 as a student model.

                                                                   This is my 1953 Fender Champion           

 The ergonomics of the  Champion is certainly one of  its strong points. It has a practical shape for ease of use. It just fits comfortably in the lap. It also has a  full scale length.  Meaning all notes are available,a full three octaves. This makes the high harmonics possible. 

 As long as the one you're looking at meets the criterion laid out in my 1st paragraph, the Champion can be  a great investment; as well as being a lot of fun to play. There are a limited number of them in existence, and its loved by vintage fanatics like me. It will  hold,or increase in value with time.What is the exact value? They seem to be selling for $500. to $550. in generally good condition. In excellent all original condition , $800+. 

 _ In the six months that have elapsed since I wrote this guide back in late summer of 2006; the average price I am now seeing these Fender Champions sell for has gone up a bit. I am now seeing them in good original condition sell for $600 plus.  In really excellent all original condition,as high as $1000. Good investment indeed!

 Sometimes you have to read between the lines to figure the condition of an advertised vintage instrument. How many owners has the one you're looking at had? One original owner is the best answer. Where has it been stored? In a dry environment, or in a damp basement causing rust that will degrade,and damage the electronics in the instrument?

  Pre-1965 Fenders in general have a clear sound, rather than the thin sound  I hear from all the modern Fenders. Tha'ts not to say the older Fenders sound thick like a Gibson ES-335. Rather they have an ability to create sustain that projects a full resonate tone; and yet still maintains that clean, clear sound. Some how  it seems  full , yet bright sounding! That's the mystique of the vintage Fender.

 The 50's Fender Champion fits this pattern. The Fender lap steel certainly became the paradigm which all the other lap steel manufacturers emulated when the commercial success of the Fender Sound became evident. Rickenbacker ,for example, by the mid fifties re-voiced their previously deeper,mid range emphasizing  pick ups  to sound more like the brighter toned Fenders. Fender was ,and still is, popular in the country music scene of course. From the Telecaster twang, to the Fender steel guitar's clear,clean whine ; when used with a carefully controlled volume pedal? Country IS Fender!

 So...do I like the 1953  champion lap steel I own? Absolutely! Its one of my all time favorites! I put it in open E 6th tuning for a combination of western swing, and jazzy blues capabilities. I play E6th  low to high: B,C#,E,G#,B,E

 The Champion's body  has a shape that is  not at all awkward to hold, like some of the cool looking art deco designs from this era. It seems to be made of a slab of some decent quality perloid coated wood. Mine has a great neck,its straight as an arrow! Some people seem to think because its a... slide... style instrument having a straight neck is unimportant. WRONG! Its very important! For multi-string lines the intonation has to be right on or you're going to be working too hard to try to make it sound in tune all over the neck.

I'd call the Champion a mid weight ,not too heavy,but not a light weight like the magnatone.It won't slip off your lap too easy in other words.

 It has the wide string spacing which I prefer. Its easier to control,and separate without  accidentally hitting the wrong note.It has the full scale length which makes it possible to play the highest harmonics, and harmonic slides.(The harmonic slide is where you pluck a harmonic one octave (12 frets) above the note you have your steel over. Then slide the steel up the neck. )

 (The song  Sleep Walk  has the most famous example of a harmonic steel slide in it. Sleep Walk gos further by dropping,AND raising in multiple steps,all from one harmonic note! Four separate notes are sounded all from one harmonic slide! One note struck, and four notes sounded. I included this song, in the original tuning as it was recorded , in my Book/cdr  "Vintage Lap Steel Guitar Rags,Jumps,& Stomps." ( That title is out of print, and not available as of early 2010.)

 The Fender Champion  tuners look exactly like Klunson deluxe, but mine are not labeled with any name. Klunson, or Allparts will have exact replacements if needed. If the tuning buttons  have turned yellow,and look shrunken, then they have dry rot from age.The tuning buttons will in that case need replacing soon, if not now. That's an easy do it yourself fix.

 The volume control is placed in a perfect position for vol. swells. This is the technique where you play a note with the vol low ,then after striking it,bring the vol up by wrapping your little finger around the vol's knob.Most steel players use a volume pedal instead,but if you like the vol knob swell technique,the placement of the control is excellent!

 The Champion has the string loading through the body design which I prefer. Its not only easier to restring a guitar through the body,its a structurally logical design. Some of the old lap steels that use the bridge itself as the sting hold/loader are by now lifting right off the body due to the tension of the heavy gauge strings often used on a lap steel. The old nationals are famous for this problem of the bridge lifting/pulling off the body from the string tension.No such problem with the Champion!

 The right hand rest is made of metal,which may seem unwise at first,but every one I've ever seen is still intact. Many of the old lap steel's pickup cover/hand rest's were made of plastic.Plastic breaks, metal is not so easy to break. The pickup itself is famous of course,a hand wound single coil.* please see footnote at end of this guide . It has - the- sound the vintage lovers, such as myself,are looking for. See my earlier statement on the sound of the Champion.

 If you are looking for a straight ahead blues lap steel, the Fender Champion may not be the best first choice for you.  That doesn't mean you can't play blues on one. It means its not the Fenders strongest suit, in my opinion. Some I know disagree,and consider the Champion the perfect blues lap steel.

 For classic blues I like the thick low down sound of an old Epiphone Electar, or  maybe a pre WWII Rickenbacher: Many of the early edition Rickenbackers ,made before their pickups were re-voiced in the mid fifties, sound great for blues. ....Note : the name change to Rickenbacker from Rickenbacher sometime around 1949. 

. When it comes to blues;I usually save the Champion for the jazzy blues ; where I want a fairly clean sound.

 The serial numbers on the Champion are found on the earliest models: 1949 Champions bridge-plate, the 1950-55  on the bridge-plate near the bridge. I am NOT an expert on serial number identification, but I will here present lists commonly accepted in hopes it may help. Number range: 33-860.......1950-1952, 0005-0746.....1950-52, 0748-1331.....1951-52, 1343-2885.......1950-54, 2911-5368......1951-54 . Obviously this is not an exact science. I have one Champion right now that has a serial number in the 6000 range, so assume from that indication it is a 1955 model. The Champion was discontinued in late 1955. The numbers with dates here presented were complied by various highly regarded researchers. Code dating may be found on the vol and tone pots, and I refer you to George Gruhn, and Walter Carter for that. See "Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars".

 So if you want the real deal in the old school western swing  Bob Wills  type sound? or a  jazzy brighter blues sound? Go get ye a Fender Champion,or maybe a Deluxe, or a Stringmaster on E Bay!

 If you want to learn how to play Blues,and Country on the lap steel;and learn some of the old classics such as: Sleep Walk,Cold,Cold Heart,Steel Guitar Rag ? Consider buying one of my lap steel instruction packages available here on E Bay. Thanks if you do! ( As of spring 2011, I am out of most of my books, with a small number of the straight blues titles available. I will be completely out by late summer/ Fall of 2011. When sold out, that will be it for my educational series on lap steel. In advance I thank all who bought one of my limited edition book/CDs, and hope my guides on lap steels live on after my E Bay sales are over.)

* The vintage single coil pickups on these old fenders is what the real appeal is all about. A single coil is a single slab of wound wire around a magnet. These old ones were hand wound giving each a somewhat distinctive sound,as the exact number of windings varied. The old fenders strong point  was considered a weak point by some. That is, the open nature of these pickups tend to create feedback, and is susceptible to hum . The feedback I love! It can be controlled,and used! The hum can also be controlled with Hush technology. The humbucker was considered a solution. Some of us consider the solution to be the problem .

Without getting technical on the vintage single coil makeup,here are a few things to look out for when you consider buying an old Fender. Over time their magnets loose some of their power. This allows the string to vibrate more freely. That's a good thing. Too much of a good thing happens though when they loose too much of their power. THESE OLD PICKUPS CAN GO DEAD! I would never buy an old Fender without knowing the pickup was still functioning. Here's one thing to check. When the tone control is brought  to the off position, does the volume go dead?  That can indicate  pickup damage,and,or that the tone pot needs replacement..The pickup can still function,but may be weak,and tinny sounding.

 Dead pickups measure no resistance on a meter; or measure an extremely high resistance,or the meter moves all over the place. I'm not a tech, but have worked with many for MANY years,and I listen. So heres a few simple things to ask a seller.Does the volume control work? Does the tone control work? If you turn the tone control to the off position,does the pickup go dead? If there is no sound with the tone control off,it can indicate  there has been a chemical reaction between the magnet,and the chemicals on the insulation around the pickup, and that has damaged the pickup.

  I recently purchased what was presented in an eBay listing as a 99% original 1955 Fender Champion, in the summer of 2010. The only part of the Champion that the eBay seller admitted was non original, was the tuners. The seller in fact claimed the pickup was absolutely all original, and raved about how great the original Fender Champion pickups sound. Well at least he was correct that original Fender Champion pickups sound terrific, but the problem was the pickup in the one he had was a rewound pickup. As soon as I got it, and picked it up, I was concerned. I have had many of this model over the years, and immediately could tell the weight was wrong, it was too light. When I plugged it in, and turned up my vintage Fender Twin Reverb, I knew for sure the pickup was non original. It sounded thin, and just didn't have the full thick, yet bright tone I know the Champion should have. It was loud enough, yet not as loud as all the other Champions I've owned, but more important, it just didn't have the mojo. Looking closely at the pickup, I saw teeny specks of black glue that apparently had been used to re-seat the rewound pickup, around it's edges. It appeared to be an original pickup, but was not. I contacted the seller, and politely explained the situation, and asked for permission to return for full refund. I would have liked to dissect it, but was afraid I might not be able to return it if I did. The seller claimed ignorance of the altered electronics, and offered full refund when I returned it.  I had in my stock another Fender Champion of the exact year, 1955, that I have had in my collection for a long time, and I weighed it. The all original Champion came in at slightly over 5 pounds. The faked up Champion weighed in at only 3 & 1/2 pounds! A full pound and half too light, and it sounded too light. I plugged them in back to back, and what a difference! The Champion with the rewound pickup sounded anemic, weak, with limited tonal capabilities as well.  So look for signs that the pickup has been altered. The pickup should not look new, and should certainly not have fresh black goop around it's edges. The Champion out of the case, by itself, should weigh in at approximately five pounds. I am sure this a rare occurrence, and don't want to scare off people from buying a vintage Fender, but  fore-warned is fore-armed.

 One final warning if you already own one of these old Fenders. NEVER TRY TO ADJUST THE POLE PIECES. They are non adjustable,and trying to adjust them can destroy the pickup by tearing the windings.

 I've heard it said that after 30 or 40 years pickups will loose too much strength to be worth bothering with. I believe that is overly pessimistic.I have some 1930s lap steels that still sound strong,and function perfectly! Just use the above warnings as a guide as what to look out for, that's all.

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