Well, my old 1950s Commodore lap steel has been a little recalcitrant lately so it has earned a spot on the bench...
Interesting... it's a cast aluminium body with red celluloid glued onto it.
.. with a wooden base and wood behind the "headstock", secured by pins that have been bent at 90⁰ and hammered home!
You see here the huge, steel tailpiece with some of the chrome plated tinware used as decoration.
The pickup from above. Fully handmade by a Taihape panelbeater called Bunny Milne. The pole pieces go through the coil and screw into the body through a sole plate which is insulated...
The pickup exploded. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Bunny had wound his own pickups, eh! Chunky coil, with an impedance of 7.4kΩ...