What on earth is this?

[matthew everingham]

Does anyone know what this is? I can't find anything that looks quite like it. Oh and Hi, new here. Hopefully the gurus can shed some light.

[eschertron]

I can tell you what it is and does from a functional viewpoint, but who made it - and when - is a different question.

It looks like a clamp-on magnetic pickup for turning steel-string acoustics into electrics. There's an attached tone (?) control and some wire that should end in a 1/4" phone plug for connecting to an amplifier.

You and your rare finds are both welcome here, by the way

[matthew everingham]

Interesting

I can tell you what it is and does from a functional viewpoint, but who made it - and when - is a different question.

It looks like a clamp-on magnetic pickup for turning steel-string acoustics into electrics. There's an attached tone (?) control and some wire that should end in a 1/4" phone plug for connecting to an amplifier.

You and your rare finds are both welcome here, by the way

Thanks, i thought it was an acoustic pickup. It appears to have an insert for a 2.5 or 3.5mm i'e my speaker jack fits into it which i found odd as i wasn't aware speaker to quarter inch leads were a thing in general. I also see no real place for a battery or power which is even stranger.
Cheers for the reply

[Enzo]

Wouldn't need a battery, if it is just a pickup. Looks old. I had such a thing on my Gibson J50 decades ago.

!/4" male to 3.5mm male cords are common enough, I used to stock them on my peg display, along with RCA to 1/4 or whatever.

[mozz]

I had one very similar to that 40 years ago, was marked Lafayette.