The Mason, Artist and Twang... Vintage Lap Steel Guitars in Canada

While looking mainly for catalogue acoustic guitars I do stumble on interesting electric guitars and other instruments that I will bring up from time to time. Today I want to cover three Canadian manufacturers of lap steel guitars and their associated amplifiers and a couple of other products too… photos and sources will follow each manufacturer.

The Mason

Mason lap steels and amps are in great enough numbers in Ontario that it is likely you will see one if you are at all involved with vintage guitars in this province. They have a distinctive 50s jet age appearance with Hawaiian palms on the speaker grills of later model 5’s, there were two models; the mentioned model 5 and the model 6 and by all accounts they can be an excellent combo with the amplifier producing loud, distinctive tone qualities. The maker of the amplifiers was the Galt Musical Instrument Company (Galt being an historic name for the city of Cambridge Ontario) and they were sold by or through the Ontario Conservatory of Music. Although I have not found documentation yet it appears that the company must have operated from the 1950s until at least the early 1960s. Most of the information I have been able to find about this company and it’s instruments comes via Folkway Music in Waterloo, Ontario. These instruments appear to be not only Canadian but regional; the transformers were made by Hammond in Guelph, Ontario, they used speakers made by Marsland in Waterloo, Ontario, additionally the amp cabinets, cases and possibly the guitar itself were made by Holman in Guelph, Ontario. This last one is particularly interesting to me because as far as I know, Holman Luggage in Guelph bought at least the guitar portion of R S Williams and Sons in 1952. That so far is pretty much what I have found, although I am still attempting to contact the Conservatory as they do exist today and local historical societies etc. If I find anything more I will bring it here.

Demonstration by Elderly Instruments

Folkway Music, Waterloo, Ontario: https://www.folkwaymusic.com/museum/amplifiers-/1954-mason-5-amp-steel-1118

Guitars Canada: https://www.guitarscanada.com/threads/looking-for-some-info-galt-musical-instruments-the-mason-5.53952/

Telecaster Discussion Page Forum: https://www.tdpri.com/threads/nvad-late-50s-galt-musical-instruments-the-mason-model-5.578928/

Steel Guitar Forum: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=235992

Antique Radios Forum: https://antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=364431

Elderly Instruments: https://www.elderly.com/

Artist

I have even less solid information for this brand. It is extremely interesting however, “Artist” itself appears to be a brand that was possibly owned by R S Williams and Sons in Toronto (this would be in much the same vein as “Barclay” [USA] vs “Barcley” [Canada] as there was also an “Artist” brand in the US). Now this is mostly circumstantial evidence in that the “Artist” moniker was used on a number of R S Williams products sold with the family name associated such as strings, guitars, resonator guitars, the reknowned Hensel “Artist” (also “Minerva”, “Imperial” found on the same model of guitar which would support the idea that Artist was a brand along with them) and it appears… lap steel/amplifier packages. So, I would assume if this is correct and since the logo on the one example is identical to the logo I have seen on R S Williams’ guitars and resonators, these were most likely sold through the Bellevue music school in London, Ontario and R S Williams’ catalogue in the 1930s and 1940s. The only definite clue I have as to a manufacturer is a nameplate in one of the amplifiers that reads “Maui Electric, Toronto (Ontario)”, I have not been able to find anything about that company as of yet. The most interesting thing I think is that The Mason seems to start right around when I would guess from the styling and the company association (if correct) the Artist’s history would likely end. R S Williams sold their stringed instrument business to Holman Luggage in 1952 and that’s pretty well when The Mason appears and Holman is making the case and cabinet for it. At any rate, as you can see my information is somewhat nebulous and spotty and much of it may not be correct.

Artist Amplifier Made by Maui Electric, Toronto

Twang

This instrument was made by IC Sound, a company that was physically based in Quebec but had a shipping box office in the USA that was displayed in their print ad. I have been able to track down a small synopsis of the company’s history written by the founder, Glenn Deacey, himself:

“After about 1 year of working after school for my father’s company assembling/testing annunciator circuits, I started fabricating foot pedals for fellow students & others at about age 14. Due to budget constraints, I acquired the cabinets from Army surplus & the components from old tube TV sets. I made everything from Fuzz boxes to Wah Wah pedals, the latter being the most labor intensive. This was during high school from 68-71. I continued making pedals & repairing/modifying guitars & amps throughout the seventies while working day jobs until 82 when I went full time in the business with the creation of IC SOUND. The first product was the PLD-1 Headphone Amp with built-in distortion & 2.5 watts of power, enough to drive a 4 x 12” speaker cab! This was followed by the “Twang” Lap Steel with singing distortion due to it’s on-board mini amp, and a series of 6 guitar/effects related books sold by mail order along with a number of effects kits. Then came the “Tube Wizard” in ’86 and the “Demon” in ’89. Due to unfortunate circumstances I had to close the company in 1990, however by ’93 I resurfaced servicing everything from guitars/amps to recording studio equipment for a multitude of clients including Canadian rock icons “April Wine”.”

… he also mentions a website and a project but the website doesn’t exist anymore. I have found that there used to be a Twang in the gear collection of the band Sonic Youth and founder Glenn Deacey presented one to blues/rock legend Johnny Winter.