Supro Frying Pan Lap Steel 1935

Supro Frying Pan lap steel from somewhere around 1935, when Supro was still in Los Angeles and contracted with an aluminum casting foundry down the street. They moved to Chicago in 1936 to be in the same neighborhood as Sears and Montgomery Ward to enhance their retail presence. After the move, they lost the aluminum foundry in LA and started building lap steels out of wood like nearly everyone else. At least that's the story I've been able to piece together.

Anyhoo, this is an old one. Cast hollow aluminum.
Single volume control - later they added a tone knob.
It's by no means a collector piece. A long-gone owner stripped the original gold lacquer finish, probably because it was coming off anyway. No Supro labels remain. But there is a serial number stamped on the back of the headstock: A4435. The 44th week of 1935 sounds about right.

This thing was played. Check out the thumbprint stain on the upper body near the neck.
The guy I bought it from said a building contractor friend found it in a junk pile collected from an old house he was contracted to demolish.

Probably a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, since that's where rosewood came from back then.

Tuners have been replaced with StewMac tuners.
Felt on the back has been replaced - changed from worn-out-pool-table-green to black.

Original early-magnetic-era pickup that still works fine (see pics).

23” scale.

A piece of almost-forgotten musical history, ready to carry on.

Set up and strung now for Open D tuning.

Offers are welcome!

Questions are encouraged before offering or buying!

Shipping to CONUS only.

Thanks for looking!

Mike