Has anyone here made a lap steel guitar ?

Pickups, wiring schemes, switch techniques and onboard active electronics for guitars and basses
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Lucifer
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Post by Lucifer »

My mate showed me a lap steel guitar that he'd made. It looked pretty simple, so I decided to have a go.

I found an offcut slab of oak on eBay, 45mm thick, 95mm wide, and 920mm long - almost perfect for what I needed, except it was a tad too long - the final guitar is about 800mm long.

With a load of old guitar bits (Tele bridge plate/pickup, and Strat tuners, volume pot, neck plate and slanted jack socket) and a few other odds and ends, I had enough for the project.

I made the 'fretboard' out of a piece of perspex shelving, 75mm wide, and I scored this with the fret positions (lots of places have this info on the web).

The final touch was a "Tree of Life" fretboard transfer, bought on eBay.

The picture shows the finished guitar, all except the Strat jack plate which is mounted on the right-hand end, out of sight.

If you're looking for a guitar-based project that is not too difficult, I'd recommend building one of these - there's lots of info on the web for building, tuning and playing.

All I've got to do now is learn how to drive the thing !
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Post by phatt »

Hey I love it,, pure simplicity :applause:

Clever finger board trick,, reminds me that I meet a chap in the store the other day who was trying to perfect a led display in a similar rig.
The flashing lights came out the edges of the finger board in sync with the music played.

I wish to one day have a tinker with a real lap steel ,, the ones with 10 strings and pedals or whatever that come on the stand. (showing my ignorance :oops: )
Sadly in my part of the world Country is not so common but Just like Main stream music,,, some Country music is very clever but not all.

Top effort :thumbsup
Phil.

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Post by deltafred »

Thanks for sharing this Lucifer.

It looks like a great first guitar build project because you have non of the neck, fret and action problems normally associated with guitar building. You can be up and running in a fraction of the time while your enthusiasm is still on a high.

Anything played with a slide is good in my book. I must give this a try as I have most if not all of the parts in my junk box and chunks of wood in my garage.

phatt - what you are thinking of is a pedal steel, way more complicated than this.
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Post by Lucifer »

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your kind comments.

A great site for instructional videos on how to play, for anyone who wants to get up and running quickly (like me) is: http://www.sierrasteels.com/lessons/lap-lessons.html

Although Phatt has identified Country as a main user of this type of guitar, I'm thinking more along the lines of Dave Gilmour/Pink Floyd.

I'd love to see any guitars that you guys build.
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Post by deltafred »

Lucifer wrote:A great site for instructional videos on how to play, for anyone who wants to get up and running quickly (like me) is: http://www.sierrasteels.com/lessons/lap-lessons.html

I'd love to see any guitars that you guys build.
Thanks for the link, I will check that out.

I will hold off building one until I complete a couple of other guitar projects, but will definitely post when I do build one.
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Post by tasteless »

Hey , That's nice !
I've always been rather partial to a natural blonde ( Guitar that is ! - As far as the ladies go , I'm really not that fussy ).
You forgot to mention one little detail - How does it sound Man ?

I've wanted to build one ever since I wired one up for a mate.
Got a nice bit of wood put aside for it But , I've never had the push that I need to get started - Maybe this thread will inspire Me.
I think the main deterent has been the notion of learning another tuning ( And the fact that I'm not a very good slide player ).

It hasn't been that long since I bought a cheap mandocaster.
Just having another stringed instrument , with another tuning - Can be so inspirational.
Looking at chords upside down and back to front has sparked some new ways of looking at guitar voicings and arrangements.
Adding a lap steel to the equation could either be revolutionary Or turn My hair grey.

Have You decided upon a tuning yet ?

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Post by deltafred »

I watched the first instruction video, which is for an 8 string, the technique is the same, just more strings.

For tunings I found this

http://www.well.com/~wellvis/tuning.html

He mentions Bob Brozman, a great slide player who sadly passed away on 24th April 2013. I vaguely recall seeing him a few years ago, I say vaguely as we had spent most of the afternoon in a bar, I do remember he was very good though.
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Post by Lucifer »

Hi Tasteless,
That's a good question, as I'm having to think about the answer.
Erm . . . in a nutshell . . . it sounds like a slide guitar - you use a steel tone bar on steel strings, with steel finger picks, so your tonal parameters are more-or-less fixed - unlike all the tonal variables on a normal guitar such as pickup type, neck material, playing style, etc. Having said that, I'm looking forward to putting it through my Catalinbread Echorec and possibly a few other effects to see what different sounds I can create. Like any new piece of gear, if it stimulates new ideas or moves you in a slightly different direction, then great.

Hi Deltafred,
Thanks for the link on different tunings. Such a variety of possibilities !
I'm just going to stick with the C6 tuning for now - I don't have visions of ever becoming a professional slide player who can sit in with any band and play in any possible tuning.
Interesting you should mention Bob Brozman - there's a tone bar called the Broz-o-Phonic in his honour. It's supposed to be the best you can get, which says a whole lot about the man.
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Post by deltafred »

The tunings vary for what sound/style you want, IIRC C6 is more for C&W (not really my thing TBH).

I mainly use DGDGBD or EAEAC#E (open G or A) for paying country/delta blues, Robert Johnson, Son House, etc. That's what I started with several years ago and am familiar with it now and is my goto tuning. Dust my Broom is a classic open D or E riff, played at the 12th fret.

Open G or A does not have the root on the 6th string (which has it's pros and cons).

Open D (DADF#AD) or E does have the root on the 6th string, the patterns are the same as open G/A just shifted down a string with the root on the 1st string as well.
Politics is the art of so plucking the goose as to obtain the most feathers with the least squawking. - R.G. 2011
Jeez, she's an ugly bastard, she makes my socks hurt. I hope it's no ones missus here. - Ice-9 2012

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Post by sbjkd »

Hi. Good job. I play steel guitar. I made my own out of Jarrah, which was a mistake. It turned out great, but I keep taking it apart and making improvements. I now want to ad a P90 in neck position. The ones with lots of strings and pedals are called pedal steel guitars (psg). They also have knee leavers to change string pitch. The single neck models are tuned to E9, but you can also tune them to C6. Double necks have the first neck as E9, and 2nd as C6.

You can build them yourself, but it is almost impossible. It took one of mime apart, and I had to make a massive diagram before doing so. It is hard to get parts, but start with Brad's Page of Steel, Tom Bradshaw, also the Steel Guitar Forum.

Before you do that, go to youtube and check out the sound of Rusty Young playing his Goldtone Lapsteel, and his psg. He plays like Hendrix. He can play country, but usually plays rock. you would think that it was a usual electric guitar until you see him. You might want to try building an 8 or 10 string Lapsteel first. PSGS have huge, powerful pickups. They are very hard to play. If you search, you will find people like me. who have decided to fix up old PSGs, but have given up. You can pick these up cheaply I'm selling my vintage, professional, MSA Classic cheaply, which just needs to have it's new pickup re-installed. I picked up another one very cheaply and never got around to putting in the new pickup, which I have. I cannot see how you could make one, unless you are an engineer, or have been playing for 20 years. I've given up playing mine now, as it is just too hard. They are a great idea though. I will help you as much as I can.

Feel free to email me at sbarton@internode.on.net. I have lots of great links, which I have found during 15 years.
Cheers,
S

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Post by ik6gpy »

Here's the one i made (before i put the knobs in place):

italian Walnut with Spruce "fingerboard", Mahogany frets and dots, Beeswax finish, Tone-Pros wraparound bridge, Emg-Sa pickup with onboard SPC mid boost. Instant Pink Floyd Pulse tones. I use it in every gig with my Floyd Tribute band and it's a joy to play.
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Post by Lucifer »

REALLY Nice !! :thumbsup
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Post by deltafred »

deltafred wrote: I mainly use DGDGBD or EAEAC#E (open G or A) for paying country/delta blues, Robert Johnson, Son House, etc. That's what I started with several years ago and am familiar with it now and is my goto tuning. Dust my Broom is a classic open D or E riff, played at the 12th fret.
Just revisited this thread as it has popped to the top of the list.

What a load of old bollox, I must have been drinking when I posted that. :oops: If it is at the 12th fret it will be whatever key your guitar is opened tuned to.

That looks really nice ik6gpy.

I still haven't got a started making one but I have added a carbon fibre rod and a piezo pickup to my half sized Spanish that is strung with 12s for delta blues slide playing. Not surprisingly the neck had a bit of a bow in it.
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Post by aquataur »

Yes I´ve made a lapsteel. Behold it at my web pages (link below).

Making a lapsteel is easy, because you don´t have to worry about a well playable fretboard :D
If you are the penny pinching kind, go and buy an instrument. They are machine-made in China and you cannot compete with them price-wise. However, if you want quality, go and make one yourself or you pay a multiple in the shop.

have fun,

-helmut

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Post by DrNomis »

A friend of mine, who I met at the Happy Yess club, made a couple himself, he used a couple of pieces of 1/2 inch threaded steel for the nut and the bridge, seemed to work fine for him, you can pretty much use any hard material for the slide, glass tends to ring better and produce a bit more sustain, I've got an old cigar box which I might use to make a lap steel guitar at some stage..... :thumbsup


Oh yeah, I just remembered that I have a set of 6 Schaller 3-A-Side Locking tuners which I might use.... :thumbsup


How hard would it be to play something like Led Zeppelin's Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp on a Lap Steel guitar?, assuming you got the tuning right?..... :hmmm:
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Post by aquataur »

DrNomis wrote:How hard would it be to play something like Led Zeppelin's Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp on a Lap Steel guitar?, assuming you got the tuning right?..... :hmmm:
The tuning is not a problem. Steel guitar playing and also slide playing are a matter of extensive left and right hand damping technique. As a player of the "standard" guitar you´ll have your problems there.

I don´t know the tune you are referring to, but I have seen Pink Floyd´s guitarist playing a lap steel. He is not lightning fast at it (like none of the old guys were compared to today´s speed freaks) but very soulful. He does not use any cliché´s borrowed from C&W or Hawaiian, in fact I never knew that was not played on a standard guitar until I saw it on a video.

May I suggest you get yourself a cheapo used 6 string lap steel or even one of the trashy new ones from China and get strung.

-helmut

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Post by deltafred »

DrNomis wrote:How hard would it be to play something like Led Zeppelin's Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp on a Lap Steel guitar?, assuming you got the tuning right?..... :hmmm:
You would be better trying "In my time of Dying", Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp is more of a thrash on open tuning than lap steel style. Don't recall the original key but I play it in open G (DGDGBD).
Politics is the art of so plucking the goose as to obtain the most feathers with the least squawking. - R.G. 2011
Jeez, she's an ugly bastard, she makes my socks hurt. I hope it's no ones missus here. - Ice-9 2012

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