Fender Triple Neck

[Gary Hockin]

I have a Fender String Master triple neck. I was given this by the family of a lap steel and console player named Howard Taylor. He played in USO bands that toured the country in the 40’s and 50’s. My wife worked in a local shop that catered to tourist in Northern Minnesota. She was a singer song writer that performed all her own material. The owner of the shop asked her if she would run the shop and bring her guitar and perform to draw in foot traffic while waiting for customers. Howard stopped into the shop one day and talked of old times and said he had a Guild 12 string guitar like she was playing. My wife asked him to grab the guitar and play something. He could remember cords but his fingers just could not push hard enough. The shop my wife worked in was in a local state historical building. I was working fixing and painting all the windows in the building for the local Historical society. He would stop by every so often and talk about playing steel in a USO band that toured the country at USO dances. He said he learned Hawaiian style lap steel to start. He stopped in all summer and told us many stories. He passed away in his sleep that fall. The next summer when my wife came back to work in the shop, his sister, who he lived with, came in and asked if we would want some of his old music gear. We found he had 3 lap steels that family members wanted. They were a couple Oahu’s and a maybe a Silvertone. The rest of his gear we could have. He had 2 old tube amps, a Silvertone 1333 and Montgomery Ward JDR8421. He also had a Fender String Master Triple neck.. The Fender String Master Triple neck has the name Dick Stubbs on the side. I do not know how Howard ended up with Dick Stubbs Triple Neck. Here area few pictures of the Fender.

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[Gary Hockin]

I always wanted to restore this massive steel, but life has a way of stealing time away from the fun things you want to do. When I first picked it up I plugged it into an amp and the pickups on the two complete necks worked. The other pickup had very similar resistance readings as the working pickups. We looked around the house but never found the legs. Is there some value to this triple neck?

[Gary Hockin]

Anyone have an idea about what year it is?

[Tim Whitlock]

It appears to be '50 - '55 Fender Custom T8. It's pretty beat so I don't think it has much value in its current condition and it would be hard to restore. You might be better off parting it out. Pickups, assuming they are all working, maybe $150 each. Tuning pans about the same. Control knobs, switches, pots and hardware, maybe another $200. The fretboards have been painted over, so probably unsellable.

[Gary Hockin]

Thanks for that info, Is there someone on the forum that restore them and might need the parts, maybe work out a trade. My wife and I enjoy road tripping. I would be willing to delivery the console if someone wanted to work out a trade.

[Michael Kiese]

Thanks for that info, Is there someone on the forum that restore them and might need the parts, maybe work out a trade. My wife and I enjoy road tripping. I would be willing to delivery the console if someone wanted to work out a trade.

Aloha Gary,

I PM'd you.

Mahalo,

Mike