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Topic: Why Not Build Your Own ? |
Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 4:55 pm |
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Before looking around at cheapo lap steels it makes more sense to build one yourself. Then you can use your own design and end up with something different.
Remember.....
A LAP STEEL IS JUST A PLANK WITH STRINGS STRETCHED ACROSS IT AND AND ELECTRIC PICK UP. 
All you need is...
[1] A Plank.
[2] Tuners.
[3] A Pick-up.
You don't need any fancy electronics. Just take a wire direct from the pick-up to the amp.
Everything else is cosmetic.
Obviously the better the components the better the sound... ....maybe.  |
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Don Kona Woods
From:
Hawaiian Kama'aina
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 5:17 pm
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What a novel idea! 
I might even be able to do this!
This has the potential of starting a new movement!! 
Aloha, 
Don |
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Danny James
From:
Summerfield Florida USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 6:15 pm
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Alan,
Years ago I read in a Popular Mechanics magazine where a guy wanted to know how to carve a totem pole.
The answer was easy--just get a long pole and cut away everything that doesn't look like a totem pole.
I think that's exactly the way you build a lap steel guitar only different. 
Seriously I agree with you. It is a nice fun project building a lap steel and it can be very rewarding in regards to personal satisfaction.
Best of luck to anyone considering giving it a try.  |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 6:51 pm
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If you use a 2X6 or 2X8, you can be more artistic than using a 2X4  |
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chris ivey
From:
california (deceased)
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 8:52 pm
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| take any crappy guitar and raise the nut on it! |
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Charles Davidson
From:
Phenix City Alabama, USA
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Posted 17 Sep 2008 9:29 pm
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Chris is right,some cheap crappy guitars make great lap steels,I had New York Pro tele copy,Raised the nut,it made a great sounding and playing lap steel,I used it in a blues and Southern rock band,With a Boss distortion stomp box,sounded real good.DYKBC.
_________________
Hard headed, opinionated old geezer. BAMA CHARLIE. GOD BLESS AMERICA. ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST. SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC ! |
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Gary Boyett
From:
Colorado
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 3:40 am
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You mean like this?
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 3:52 am
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Alan, I agree and disagree with what you said. I think it would be great fun to find an old wheathered plank and mount a pickup and tuners to it. I would love to see the faces of everyone when I show up at a jam session or a gig with this thing... especially if it were to sound good.
But, if I want something nice it's a whole different ballgame. In addition to a plank, pickup and tuners you need:
D. time
E. skills
F. an original design that hasn't been done a cajillion times
G. tools (especially if you want a guitar shaped body with an angled head)
H. a source for good tonewood
I. a lot more parts
J. a decent hard case
Items D through J are why I customized a Rondo, even then it took me 7 months to get to it.
_________________
https://markmansueto.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/65dQ3EyZC2RaqawA8gPlRy?si=dOdqc5zxSKeJI9cISVVx_A |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 5:31 am
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| Bill Creller wrote: |
| If you use a 2X6 or 2X8, you can be more artistic than using a 2X4 |
Oh no. 2X4 lumber is very artsy!
I wanted to see how cheaply and simply I could make a D6 so here it is. I actually made a few of these and sold them. They sounded very nice.
$2 a set for bargain bin tuners.
$3 each for Ebay single coil pickups.
About $2 for some scrap aluminum angle.
2X4 .99 maple neck .50 scrap at a yard sale. $1 for frets off a cheap roll I found on Ebay.
Scrap aluminum for control plate plus pots, switch, output jack $6.
$2 a set for cheap guitar center strings.
$2 for some bolts to pull the bodies together.
$1 for some plastic and tacks to cover the bolt holes.
.25 for thumb tack position markers.
$1 worth of brush on water based clear finish.
Maybe 2 hours labor.
Anyone could make this with simple tools for $20-25. It was a lot of fun to do. I think I will try a triple neck next.
The fretlines could have been done with just an ink pen making it even easier to do.
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 8:22 am The olde plank theory rises once again................
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I've posted in the past, and can't find it now when I desperately need it......
a photo showing Forumite Bill Stafford of Gulfport, Miss., my late good friend David Karr and others at a California steel guitar jam.... circled around a
SAW HORSE steel guitar.
I was told it had great tone and would not fall over like some steel guitars with screw in legs.
I'm gonna keep searching for the photo but perhaps someone from California also has photo's of that fantabulous stand alone steel guitar. Come on guys/gals! |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 12:00 pm
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| Hey Bill, cool!! That's the way to go!! |
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Roy Ayres
From:
Riverview, Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 3:38 pm
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When I was 15 years old and working full time with a band in Meridian Mississippi, my 11-year-old brother, Vearl, who lived at home with our parents in Columbus, Mississippi, told me that if I would get him a lap steel, he would learn how to play it. I couldn't afford to buy one, so I made one. I used a 2"X6" and attached a Masonite fretboard with frets painted on. The only tools I had were a big screwdriver, a file and a hammer. I sharpened the screwdriver and used it as a chisel to form the tuning head. I used the guts of s DeArmond guitar pickup and a cheap set of tuning keys. I bought a pot and put a volume control on it. I also built a crude case for it. 
I hitch-hiked the 89 mile trip and delivered the steel to him. The next time I went home to Columbus a couple of months later, believe it or not, he was playing with a band on a daily show on WCBI. Within the next couple of years he played some road shows with Jimmy Dickens and with Hank Snow. Of course by then he had bought a National double 8. He was quite good and when improvising on up-tempo stuff, he had a wild style, similar to Slim Idaho.:
So, he started learning on a 2"x6" plank and within 2 years was playing with Opry stars.
I still have the home-made lap steel. If I had a digital picture, I would post it.
The moral of this story is, "Be kind to any 2"x6" plank you come across; it may be the beginning of someone's career in music."
_________________
Pioneers of Western Swing HOF, Seattle 2005
Western Swing Music HOF, Sacramento 2006
International Steel Guitar HOF, St.Louis 2007
Visit my Web Site at RoysFootprints.com
Browse my Photo Album and be sure to sign my Guest Book. |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 4:34 pm
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Thats a great story Roy, and very cool that you still have it. Would love to see it if you ever get a chance.
I'd encourage anyone thinking about building a steel of their own to jump in and give it a go.
Its a lot of fun and as Bills excellent example shows, you can build a great steel with limited tools and funds.
_________________
Some misc pics of my hand crafted steels
Follow me on Facebook here |
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Jim Konrad
From:
The Great Black Swamp USA
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 4:34 pm
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Great story Roy!!
<*)))>{ |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 4:46 pm
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That really IS a great story! Talent comes out of the woodwork, and this time from a 2X6
If folks built a simple one from two-by stuff, they will know how to build a nicer one later. Good training aid ! |
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Greg Cutshaw
From:
Corry, PA, USA
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Posted 18 Sep 2008 5:44 pm
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Great story Roy! We all started on instruments that were very humble compared to what we play today.
Bill, you got me thinking about a double 8, one with the Jerry Byrd C6th with both C and C3 and one with the Don Helms E tuning witn a low 7th note. Then I could use my Rondo for Hawaiian music.
Greg |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 19 Sep 2008 6:05 am
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I build this lap steel in a weekend about 5 yrs. ago, out of spare parts. The longest part of the job was waiting for the paint to dry. |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 20 Sep 2008 6:16 am Still looking.................
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I'm still looking for that SAW HORSE g'tar......
I obviously put it away so it wouldn't get lost now look what I've done.
I can't believe NO ONE else has a photo of it since there was quite a gathering where it was played and on display.
Bill Stafford.........had it.........in the photo! |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 30 Oct 2008 9:49 pm
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This is the very first lap steel I built in 1963 at the age of 17. It was very crude but it worked. The pickup slid along two pieces of HO rail, so I could position it anywhere. |
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