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Topic: Lap Steel body thickness? |
Gary Stevenson
From:
Northern New York,USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2009 7:30 pm |
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| This is a question for the builders on this forum.I would like to know what is the average for the lap steel you are building.My guess is if you get smaller than 1 1/2", you may have to use a back access panel to make wiring easier. But with thicker bodies you get more weight esp. with ash or similar woods. the last three I used native pine for lightness and the tone does not seem to suffer.So feedback would be nice. |
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Danny James
From:
Summerfield Florida USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2009 5:48 am
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I built my lap steel out of two pices of 3/4 inch Wild Cherry laminated together equaling 1 1/2 inches total thickness.
I had plenty of room for the wiring and I also designed and built a tuning changer for it. I have 4 different tunings available with the flip of a single lever and it works quite well and stays in tune. |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Posted 20 Mar 2009 6:45 am
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| the last three I used native pine for lightness and the tone does not seem to suffer |
Pine has a great tone and has been gaining a resurgence with the Tele crowd. Early examples from Leo were made with sugar pine.
About the only downside I see for pine is some can be a bit soft and dent prone. The right selection of stock and finish can help a lot though.
On thickness, 1 1/2" Is about as thin as I'd go. I usually shoot for a minimum thickness of 1 11/16"
_________________
Some misc pics of my hand crafted steels
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Gary Stevenson
From:
Northern New York,USA
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Posted 20 Mar 2009 7:29 pm
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Yes Tom I guess pine is a TONE wood.Well I figure they are paying big bucks for those fancy Relic guitars so any damage to my pine L/S's will only make them worth more  I still have not been able to locate Tru-oil locally. I hate to bang the card to get it online.But with the pine ones maybe a little harder finish would not hurt.thanks for the info guys. |
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Randy Cordle
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 21 Mar 2009 7:12 pm
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Hi Gary,
FYI, my lap steels are 1-1/2" thick, mostly hard maple.
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www.Bluestemstrings.com |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 21 Mar 2009 7:26 pm
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I usually build my lap steels hollow, with separate tops, bottom and sides, but those solid lap steels I've built are usually about 1 3/4".
It really depends on the availability of the wood. If I find a nice piece of wood that looks like it's crying out "I should be a lap steel" I'll use it.  
I should add that laminated woods are always stronger and sustain better than solid pieces of a single wood. (Now someone will point out that Fenders are usually a single piece of swamp ash per neck.) |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 22 Mar 2009 1:17 pm
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Gary,
I am building replicas of the National Dynamic and National New Yorker. Here are the Makers dimentions, which I stuck to.
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 22 Mar 2009 2:37 pm
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| The Rick frypans are 1 5/8" thick, and the bakelites are 1 3/4". I usually make the body thickness 1 5/8" minimum on a wood body. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 22 Mar 2009 5:29 pm
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| Very nice jobs, James. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 23 Mar 2009 10:31 am
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In the new Bigsby book, there is at least one shot of a later era Bigsby single neck steel, with the typical aluminum 'body', ala the consoles, set on top of a 1" thick plank of birdseye maple, which is again, typical of a console build, minus the sides.
It looked odd, but must have passed the sound quality test.
I have no idea what the aluminum body adds or detracts from the overall sound quality VS the solid wood bodies also used by Bigsby, but this example is about the thinnest I've seen for lap steels, and with the right set up may prove worthy. |
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Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
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Posted 26 Mar 2009 8:15 am
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| That's lovely, James. Where did you get the fretboard? Make it yourself? I need someone to make one for me, and that looks great! |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 26 Mar 2009 8:30 am
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I have built several ultra economy D6 steels out of pine 2x4 stock. Yellow pine with a very tight grain pattern. I was surprised at how nice and top endy they sounded with good sustain. Also out of some 2/4 spruce from Home Depot.
If I am going for sustain I use the heaviest and thickest wood I can. Weight is not a factor.
If weight is a factor then through the body string pull and as little wood removed from the head area and a lighter wood like mahagony or walnut will give you a nice tone with just a bit of sustain loss.
Bridge and nut materials and dimensions also will affect tone and sustain so factor those in. Cutting out the back of the head area to mount machine heads will cause a "flexing" of that area and your sustain will decrease.
There are so many factors that you have to decide on what to give and take on in order to meet your weight requirements. Personally I would rather have the max sustain and use a stand if I have to. Good luck to you in your building. |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 26 Mar 2009 10:02 am
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| Keith Cordell wrote: |
| That's lovely, James. Where did you get the fretboard? Make it yourself? I need someone to make one for me, and that looks great! |
Keith,
I made the fretboard myself, I printed it out on my A4 printer in two pieces cut at the 10th fret. If you like the National Dynamic design, and want a 23 inch scale length as this is, I will send you the Jpeg file by email and you print it out yourself. Lay it on the neck of your Guitar and place a clear Lucite/Perspex covering on top so the print is protected and shows through.
James.
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Roger Palmer
From:
Rossendale, UK
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Posted 26 Mar 2009 10:32 am
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could you send me one as well James?
I am struggling with photoshop 
Regarding thickness I go for 1 1/2 or 1/3/4
On heavy woods like Ash and Oak 1 1/4 seems OK |
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