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Author
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Topic: MOTS Defined!
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Michael Miller
Member From: Keswick, Virginia, USA
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posted 14 January 2003 10:29 AM
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Is this cool or what? Some call it MOT "Mother-of-toilet-seat", a pearlescent nitro-celluose covering used on these popular steels during the late forties into the fifties. Actual herring fish scales were ground up into the lacquer material to give it the beautiful opalescence effect.
http://community-2.webtv.net/stringmeistr/TheSteelGuitar/page6.html |
Michael Miller
Member From: Keswick, Virginia, USA
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posted 14 January 2003 10:35 AM
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It all starts here.
http://community-2.webtv.net/stringmeistr/TheSteelGuitar/index.html |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 14 January 2003 11:59 AM
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Nice find Michael. Does any body know if you can still find gray MOTS, and how one would go about covering a lap steel with it? ...Thanks |
Joey Ace
Sysop From: Southern Ontario, Canada
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posted 14 January 2003 01:46 PM
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Here's my MOTS National. |
CrowBear Schmitt
Member From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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posted 14 January 2003 02:01 PM
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Kool site Michael 
Stringmeistr has done a very nice job
------------------
Steel what? |
Doug Beaumier
Member From: Northampton, MA
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posted 14 January 2003 07:52 PM
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I know you guys love your guitars... as you should! But MOTS never appealed to me. I guess beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. [This message was edited by Doug Beaumier on 14 January 2003 at 09:36 PM.] |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 14 January 2003 11:03 PM
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I'd like to make an 8 string lap steel that looked like a late model Dickerson/Magnatone same cut and everything, but with a Ricky pickup that was made just for an 8 stringer. The gray MOTS would give it that cool Retro look, heavy on the shaved fish scales! Please tell me there is some place on the planet where you can still buy the stuff!
Come on fellas, I'm serious. I've looked around but have not found anything on the history and application of MOTS. I think it's a lost art.[This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 14 January 2003 at 11:10 PM.] |
Russ Young
Member From: Seattle, Washington, USA
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posted 15 January 2003 12:39 AM
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Try sending a note to Marc Schoenberger of National Guitar Repair ... I seem to recall him saying he has worked with MOTS. http://www.roots66.com/ngr/ |
Michael T. Hermsmeyer
Member From: Branson, Mo 65616 USA
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posted 15 January 2003 02:11 AM
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I would like to know if this stuff is still available too. I would like to restore my $25.00 Supro who's value I cut in half when I removed the chipping and flaking MOTS and refinished it Fire Engine Red. I would like to get it's value back up to my original cost. LOL.Thanks, God Bless,
Michael T. ------------------
UTILITY MAN PRODUCTIONS
'73 EMMONS D10 FATBACK, '92 EMMONS D10 LASHLEY LEGRANDE,
'85 DOBRO 60DS, '95 DOBRO F60S,
'95 MELOBAR CUSTOM, 1955 FENDER TRIPLE NECK STRINGMASTER. EVANS, FENDER, PEAVEY,
and MESA BOOGIE Amps. |
Dave Boothroyd
Member From: The Malvern Hills
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posted 15 January 2003 04:37 AM
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I don't know if you can get the Pearlescent Celluloid sheet, but the same effect is still used in spray paint form by the hot rodders and custom bike people.
Go have a word with your local custom shop.
Cheers
Dave |
Alvin Blaine
Member From: Sandy Valley, Nevada, USA
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posted 15 January 2003 08:28 AM
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You can get the Celluloid sheet for recovering Drums in almost any color.
Drum Coveringsat this web site are $79. for a 24x54 inch sheet. |
Michael Brebes
Member From: Northridge CA
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posted 15 January 2003 09:21 AM
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Unfortunately the drum covering won't work. The MOTS material was very thin so they could heat it up and actually shrink it onto the guitar (or toilet seat). I've got a Dickerson in the lovely green MOTS and you can see how it's actually shrunk onto the wood after they put the pickup in the body. They attempted to cover the edges on the underside of the guitar by applying some kind of grey paint with fuzz. |
Michael Miller
Member From: Keswick, Virginia, USA
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posted 15 January 2003 09:28 AM
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If I am not mistaken, drum covering would look something like this:
http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/LM-BLUB.htm Not bad, but not MOTS. |
Alvin Blaine
Member From: Sandy Valley, Nevada, USA
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posted 15 January 2003 10:03 AM
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Here's the company that makes this stuff.
They will do custom orders if you want 60 or 70 sheets at a time.Delmar Products
And Carter uses drum covering on there steels.
I've seen a video of someone recovering a lapsteel with the thin drum covering and a hot iron.It can be done, I don't know how it would look after a few years, I haven't tried it yet. |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 15 January 2003 10:51 AM
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Alvin, thanks for the info. I just e-mailed Delmar Products Inc. Looks like you can go from a .015" - .250" gauge. It can be applied to "Cellulose Nitra", which looks like the "Nitro-Cellulose" stuff found on the lap steel site at the beginning of this thread. Very cool. Delmar has a picture of an electric guitar with it's covering on it, so it must be thin enough to work. How about a leopard skin Lap Steel, oh-yeah...! |
Gary Slabaugh
Member From: Scottsdale, AZ
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posted 15 January 2003 09:36 PM
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You could use the left over sheets on an AMC Gremlin and really make a statement. |
Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 16 January 2003 12:25 AM
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Delmar has got so many cool art deco patterns, it's hard to choose. If this works out I'll post the finished product. |
Mark van Allen
Member From: loganville, Ga. USA
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posted 18 January 2003 08:09 PM
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Has anybody tried this stuff on an actual toilet seat? That's what I want to hear about... |
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