I suppose it’s easy to forget the origins or the modern electric guitar. After all, the first real electric guitar is still open for debate, all though I guess we can all safely assume it’s the Slingerland Songster Model 401 by now. Which is perhaps striking, since that guitar was preceded and followed by ‘electrified’ lapsteel guitars. Lapsteel guitars, or simply lapsteels, are instruments that are a bit like a regular guitar but with the action quite a bit higher so your slide doesn’t hit the frets all the time. There are a couple of acoustic slide-guitars, like the Weissenborn (with its unique hollow neck construction) as well as the dobro or any other resonator guitar. Yet, electric slide-guitars are also in the plenty and from what I’m seeing, most of those aren’t really equipped with pickups good enough to fully capture the amazing tones of the instrument. So… Here’s my low-down of my favorite pickups for a lapsteel guitar.
p90
Some lapsteel guitars are fitted with a p90-ish kinda pickup. Often, they look like a p90 but they don’t sound that nice. Fit a p90 in your lapsteel and you’ll be rewarded with a sweet yet raunchy tone. Some p90s are of course hotter than others, but my personal favorite is Vintage Soapbar, or even the Antiquity p90 for when I’m in a ‘vintage correct’ mood!

Broadcaster For Tele
Some of the first mass produced electric slide guitars, lapsteels and pedal steels, were made by Leo Fender in the 1940s and the pickup used was, basically, a tele pickup (but with a different baseplate). So, if you want a lot of twang in your slide tone, take the Broadcaster pickup; it’s twangy yet sweet, it’s not hot but has enough balls to give you the power in the low end…
Antiquity For 1950 Fender Lap Steel
In the Antiquity-series of pickups we have a dedicated lapsteel pickup too! This pickup is a bit less twangy than the usual tele lead pickup and will offer you a clean, chimey tone but with enough power in the low end for the pickup to not sound harsh. So; if you want a period correct pickup, with all the historically correct appointments you should and could expect from a pickup, this pickup is the perfect choice.
Charlie Christian 
Ah, the Charlie Christian… Elusive, exclusive, exotic; this pickup in it’s ‘Swingster’ mount could fit a p90 rout (perhaps with a slight modification if you’re unlucky). But the tone is amazing! The Charlie Christian pickup will yield a smooth, clear tone but with so much sweetness, it’s uncanny. A lot less raunchy than either a p90 or Tele pickup, but for some styles and needs, very useful.
Hot For Strat
This is an interesting choice; a strat pickup in a slide guitar! The SSL3 Hot for Strat is a powerful, strong pickup and has the raunchyness of a p90 while maintaining the clarity of a Fender-style single coil. In a slide guitar, the results are very usable. Just listen for yourself!

Seymour Duncan Acoustics
Since Seymour Duncan also makes pickups for acoustic guitars it’s not difficult to imagine someone sticking one of those pickups in an acoustic slide guitar! Just as these pickups work miracles with acoustic guitars, slide guitars can be amplified very naturally with any of Seymour Duncan’s acoustic guitar pickups. Don’t believe me? Just take a look…

DTar For Slide
DTar is a sister company of Seymour Duncan. There are a few options available to ‘electrify’ a lapsteel, for example the D-Tar Sadducer, which is an under-the-saddle transducer. You can hear how a lapsteel and the Sadducer work together in this clip:

D-Tar offers so many options, you can write an entire article about the D-Tar. In fact, there’s an amazing article written about it. Click here to read more about it.
There are many humbuckers available for your lapsteel guitar, frankly too many to list! But some great choices are readily available. What to think of the time tested and immensely sought after ’59 if you’re in need of a vintage voiced, PAF style pickup? Or if you’re in need of a more nasty tone than the ’59, but with a sweeter top end, the Pearly Gates? So many great choices, so many great tones.