ROBERT LURVEY: My name is Robert Lurvey. I'm from Springfield, Missouri. I'm a collector. I currently have almost 2,300 instruments in my collection. Steel guitars is my primary collectible and I currently have little over 450 steel guitars. I've been doing it since 1985.

This is one that I've only seen a few times. It's like the third one I've ever seen. It's called a Troubador. It's made by a company called Sound Projects. I don't really know too much about the company but I'm going to assume from construction this is around the '30s, probably mid '30s, maybe late '30s. This is flat in the back, cast metal, and of course the cord is just about shot but this is just a cool collector's piece, and that's what I do is I collect steels.

I'm probably the largest steel collector in the world. I apparently have over 450 steels in my collection and this is one I didn't have so I'll take this one now.

This one's a Rickenbacker. It's a Model G which is a gold. They made a silver Hawaiian. This was the fancier one and had gold plating, probably made in the '50s, early mid '50s. This is a highly desirable piece to collectors because of course the sparkle and shine all over. It's a plexiglas back painted gold.

I can show you this but I know nothing about it other than it says [PH] Sidel Harp on it. Back in the '20s and '30s, a lot of different instruments were made that were similar to this, and people wou go door to door selling these things and then selling them for like a buck or two or three a piece, and try to sell lessons with it.

This one here is known as a National New Yorker. I think I dated it around 1938 as I recall. This is a seven-string. This is one of the keys. Steel players like to have seven- and eight-string guitars rather than six strings. They play a lot easier and deal a lot more versatility as far as tuning. This is nice because it also came with a matching amp, and you really don't see this amp very much.