I have played guitar for decades, but have never tried to play lap steel before. So I wanted an inexpensive lap steel to try if I could play it at all. I have a very good Recording King banjo, so I expected this lap steel to be ok.
First, let me say that all the Recording King lap steel guitars are the same instrument, just different finishes. So you might want to read the reviews on the other ones as well.
Next, I suspect this is a standard chinese instrument that is sold under different names, "Johnson" is one. So there has not been much Recording King design into this.
I think this lap steel was strung with ordinary guitar string gauges. Which made it impossible to tune to C6 that I wanted, the strings were much too thin. So you better order some extra lap steel strings. I bought the LaBella C6 string set which seems to work just fine. I also bought a Shubb steel bar.
The bushings for the strings thru body are not recessed. So they will scratch a table. I fixed that with a drill press.
The bridge is a simple metal one, and I noticed that the strings did not align with the pickup pole pieces. I fixed that by filing notches to the bridge to keep the strings in place and aligned with the pickup.
On the rear there is a cover for the electronics (two very small pot-meters and a condenser). One of the screws holding this cover did not meet any wood in the guitar. I had to glue in a little pice of wood where the screw could go.
All in all a decent lap steel for the price, although it needed some adjustments, repair and string change. And to my big surprise, I was able to play it from the first day using my general knowledge of scales and harmonies. Great fun.