mretrain's Reviews

Different than the late ‘50s Supro Ozark, but a great slide guitar in its own right

When I heard about Supro was reissuing the Ozark a few years ago, I didn’t have high expectations, mainly because they weren’t using the original string-through lap steel pickup. Popularized by players like Ry Cooder and David Lindley, this pickup is characterized by its articulate, singing tone and powerful sustain thanks to the unified magnetic field created by the magnetic coil below and magnetized steel plate above.

The Ozark reissue, however, has a Lace Aluma 90 (Alumitone) pickup that is a completely untraditional pickup. Lace? All I knew about Lace was Lace Sensors back in the ‘90s, when Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy didn’t sound as good as they used to, but were at least free from pickup noise onstage. I knew absolutely nothing about Lace Alumitones other than the fact that they existed and looked weird, i.e., non-traditional.

However, playing the Ozark reissue made me realize what a brilliant design choice this was. Would it be “cooler” if they had used a Lollar or Mojo version of the Valco lap steel pickup? Most definitely, but the Aluma 90 sounds great and is made for slide. The lack of magnetic string pull like in traditional pickups, and only having one pickup, allows for tremendous sustain, and the Aluma 90 has great articulation and focus. I’ve read comments where people said that it doesn’t sound like the old Valco pickups. Well, frankly, some of those Valco lap steel pickups didn’t sound too great. I’ve heard some that sounded weak, thin, and brittle, while others I’ve heard sounded like Jesus laid His hands on the guitar and made heavenly tones issue forth. The Aluma 90 is closer to the latter; it sounds really, really good. It makes sense that it’s a good pickup for slide because a lot of those lap and pedal steel players love the Alumitones. No kidding, with a good vintage-style amp you can really nail those Coodercaster tones.

So yeah, I’m impressed with this guitar. Supro did a great job with the design; they thought outside the box and did something truly unique that sounds great, even if it doesn’t tick all the “vintage” boxes.