LAP STEEL GUITAR-MADE & PLAYED
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Lap Steel Guitar-Made & Played
Could easily have bought a lap steel guitar but with a bit of time on my hands I decided to try and make one. And you learn a whole lot when you try and make things. So I made a rough plan and a list of what I’d need. Found some nice mahogany and cedar for the body at a very nice timber recycling centre in Abingdon (England) and gradually put together all the needed bits and pieces and then hand built the guitar from scratch. The nut was made from a solid brass strip and the “fretboard “ was made from beautiful black ivory with the markers cut from disposable wooden “picnic” knives and dowels. It has a P90 pickup and I built the simplest of circuits (1 volume and 1 tone control). Lap top guitars have special string sets and the strings ride about 1cm above the fretboard. The overall tension may be higher that a regular string set? It’s tuned to a typical tuning for these guitars (C6 : CEGACE). It was a great moment to tune it up and plug it in. Oh I love the sound. Now to learn to play it reasonably well. My first goal is to play Johnny and Santo’s Sleepwalk. When I do, I’ll post a follow up video to show how it’s all been going.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Marvelous, mate. First rate work on the craftsmanship and composition!
Thanks for your kind words. I'm really pleased with the guitar...just wish I could paly it better...practice, practice, practice.... All the best, Rob
Very very Good all around ! The build is great, I like the 2 different woods and unique design, Your song is cool and so is your singing, I have nothing negative to say at all, I have been playing guitar since 1957 and still have my own band, I built a solid body "Birdseye maple? guitar and I have been collecting everything that I need to try building a lap steel, I always like the C6 tuning on a steel guitar, You did great Rob ! Cheers, Roger
HI there and thanks so much for your generous comments. I just love to play this guitar and I'm getting used to finding the notes and using the major/minor C6 tuning. There are loads of different tunings for these guitars and I think there's even a thick volume of alternatives. I'll be sticking to C6 as it's hard enough to think about the intervals. Do get building your lap top steel. I think the string through design helps to improve the resonance but you need to be careful to leave a sufficient distance between where the strings emerge from the top of the guitar and the saddles. Lap top steel strings are quite heavy gauge and the lower strings are not wound so are not very flexible. I found it quite easy to put a kink in a string as I threaded them through. Also, you might like to think carefully about the pick up position. Most have the pickup close to the bridge but maybe moving it closer to the neck might produce a warmer and slightly louder sound? I've been thinking of making a second one with two pickups with the idea of producing a kind of strat-type quack (out of phase) sound. So good luck when you get started! My next project is a 4 string cigar box type guitar to play slide on. It's off to the wood store again!!
All the very best and happy new year to you
Rob
Great video! Very helpful information! Subscribed!
Hi randomdude12370, thanks for the nice comment and glad you found the video helpful. You thinking of making one yourself? Also, thanks for subscribing! All the best, Rob.
Not sure if it is the camera but that guitar sure has a wild bow along the string line. Has anyone noticed that? Maybe it's me and my eye sight playing tricks otherwise for a home built guitar it is quite nice and sounds good. Bein happy and proud with what you build is the main thing overall is what I always say. Well done. Many happy years playing it.
If you'll look closely at the string, you can see that they're also bowed along with the neck. Also look at the window at the right of the screen. Apparently, the distortion is caused by the camera lens.
Yep it's just a fisheye lens, look at the window on the right, it appears curved as well
Hi and thanks for your comment. Yes , there is a "big" fish eye lens effect that makes the guitar look so bent BUT I think there is a slight bend shape caused by putting the two woods together. I thought they might be completely dry but I'm sure they wouldn't have been kiln dried as I bought them from a lovely timber recycling charity in Abingdon. So I think that's set up a tension between differential drying/shrinking rates. However, while this would mess up a normal guitar, it's no problem with a lap top steel as the string height is so high anyway. But if over time the guitar ends up U-shaped then I'll have to make another one!
Thanks again for noticing this and all the best, Rob