Dynalap Mods?

Peter den Hartogh · From: Cape Town, South Africa

I recently bought this Dynalap lapsteel off the Forum and it is a wonderful instrument with a very nice sound, due to the EMG pickup.

I would like to make some changes to it to fix two minor design flaws:

1) The angle of the strings to the nut is not acute enough, so the strings rattle on the nut and slide sideways over the nut. (No slots)

-I could carefully file slots for the strings so they will not slide sideways anymore.
-I also could wind the strings the other way around the shafts so that they go underneath the shafts, thus increasing the angle.
-I could also raise the nut, but it is already rather high.

Any other suggestions?

2) The Tuning key for the eighth string is too close to the nut, making it very difficult to play on the first fret (which I do a lot).

-I could loosen the little screw that holds the key in position and rotate the keyhead away from the nut, but that will look odd and might get in the way of the 7th string key.
- Or I could remove the wooden staircase construction. How is it fixed? How could I mount the tuning keys?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks guys.
_________________
1977 Sho~Bud D10 ProIII Custom; Sho~Bud SD10 The Professional ; ETS S10 5x5;
Fender 1000; 1993 Remington U12; 1978 Emmons S10 P/P; GeorgeB Weissenborn;
Fluger Cat-Can; Asher Electro Hawaiian; Gibson BR4; Fender FS52; Guyatone 8str;
Fender Resonator ; Epiphone Coronet 1937; Rickenbacher Ace; Rickenbacher NS;
Dynalap 8string; Harbor Lights 8string; Aiersi Tri-Cone; Fender Stringmaster

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Hi Peter,

1. Slot the nut. This will take a bit of doing to get the depth correct for each string so they play without extreme pressure near the nut. They need to be very near level.

2. Add string trees like a Tele or a Strat to increase string pressure on the nut. Two trees should do it on the middle 4 strings.

#1 may not be neccessary if you do #2.

I'd leave the rest alone.

Best,

Rich
_________________
On man....let the smoke out of another one.

Peter den Hartogh · From: Cape Town, South Africa

Thanks guys,
I had even another thought for the keyhead problem.
What about a round metal cylinder like the bridge and place it on the first fret as a temporary capo.
The scale length is 23" and a capo on fret 1 will make it 21 5/8.
The dot markers will be wrong though.

Or I can make a new fretboard overlay for 22" and place the capo accordingly.
_________________
1977 Sho~Bud D10 ProIII Custom; Sho~Bud SD10 The Professional ; ETS S10 5x5;
Fender 1000; 1993 Remington U12; 1978 Emmons S10 P/P; GeorgeB Weissenborn;
Fluger Cat-Can; Asher Electro Hawaiian; Gibson BR4; Fender FS52; Guyatone 8str;
Fender Resonator ; Epiphone Coronet 1937; Rickenbacher Ace; Rickenbacher NS;
Dynalap 8string; Harbor Lights 8string; Aiersi Tri-Cone; Fender Stringmaster

Jerry Gleason · From: Eugene, Oregon, USA

What Rich said. I slotted the nut on mine and that was enough, but string trees like on a strat or tele would be the next thing. I don't recommend turning the tuners around, because of the clearance issue, and winding the strings the opposite direction isn't great either, because the tuner is not made to hold tension that way.

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

Peter,

A Steinberger in-line tuner might work for your low bass string that gets in the way. Finding a single might be difficult.

Something from a Gibson Firebird might work out too. Just a couple of thoughts.

At the end of the the day the guitar is a Dynalap, a pretty cool lap steel for the money. Before I carved it up I would get something else that was a better physical fit for me and then sell/trade the Dynalap intact.

I'm playing a GeorgeBoards Stealth now and love it. 8 strings, no tuner interference and the strings are high enough off the fretboard there is no inteference with picking, a feature I know you like Very Happy

_________________
On man....let the smoke out of another one.

Tom Pettingill · From: California, USA (deceased)

String retainers or a simple keeper type bar would help with the break angle over the nut. Something like these are readily available and fairly cheap or something similar would be easy to fashion..

.

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Kelvin Monaghan · From: Victoria, Australia

First off get those strings under the posts you won't get enough down bearing otherwise.My solution was to get rid of the piece of brass and make a new nut from a piece of ebony I rounded the back in line with the strings. With the extra thickness of the ebony I found a big improvement in sustain and tone I also replaced the brass bridge with a threaded steel rod this enabled me to get correct spacing without the strings moving sideways which tended to happen.A good source for an ebony nut is to get an old Sharp Piano key,make sure it's ebony a lot of old keys were basic hardwood stained to look like ebony. A plus also is once that brass strip is gone its a little easier to access the first fret by the 8 key.I would be interested to hear how the EMG sounds I too binned the truetone PU it was a total noise generator. Kelvin [/img]

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

the nut pressure....looking at the pic...some of your strings will not be a problem. looks like the center strings might be. you could easily add a piece of wood under the strings, just screw it down. just enough to screw in a simple fender string retainer for each pair of strings..you can add one or two or three for that matter. this will take care of the nut situation.

the key that is in your way. get a smaller key head to replace that big key head., or like you say, reposition the keyhead to where it is angled away from your hand. that would require removing some wood so that the keyhead body could tilt. who cares how it looks. another possibility would be to make a mod so that the low string key head was behind the bridge and the string ball attached at the nut. this would eliminate the 1st gear altogether at the key head..not in the way anymore.

Peter den Hartogh · From: Cape Town, South Africa

The four center strings appear to be a problem, so I need something like Tom P. showed above.
Where can I buy a string retainer like that? It is not in the Stewmac catalog.

Tonight I am going to try to angle the 8th key like Bill suggested. There is some space between the keys and the body, so there might be enough space for the angle.

This guitar is great, it plays very easy and the sound is stunning.
So I do not want to hack the guitar too much. The mods need to be as simple as possible.
_________________
1977 Sho~Bud D10 ProIII Custom; Sho~Bud SD10 The Professional ; ETS S10 5x5;
Fender 1000; 1993 Remington U12; 1978 Emmons S10 P/P; GeorgeB Weissenborn;
Fluger Cat-Can; Asher Electro Hawaiian; Gibson BR4; Fender FS52; Guyatone 8str;
Fender Resonator ; Epiphone Coronet 1937; Rickenbacher Ace; Rickenbacher NS;
Dynalap 8string; Harbor Lights 8string; Aiersi Tri-Cone; Fender Stringmaster

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Peter den Hartogh · From: Cape Town, South Africa

Thanks for the link, Bill.
I will try the wrapping under procedure, but I can do that only on the center 6 strings.
String 1 and 8 would be too steep. Therefore not all keys will turn in the same direction.

I will order a bar anyway and the 2121 is just the right length.
All I need is longer screws; at least an inch long or more. That will make it adjustable.
I could use tubing around the screw so it looks like a spacer.
I would need to push the strings down a couple of millimeters only.
I tested this by pushing a AAA battery down on the strings, functioning as a "bar".

I angled the 8th string key and it works. All I had to do is remove the tiny screw and move the key.
It does not give you a lot of extra space, but it still does help a lot.
It looks a bit funny, but it would be very easy to rotate all keys.
That will make it look as if it was part of the guitar design.

Thanks for the advice.
_________________
1977 Sho~Bud D10 ProIII Custom; Sho~Bud SD10 The Professional ; ETS S10 5x5;
Fender 1000; 1993 Remington U12; 1978 Emmons S10 P/P; GeorgeB Weissenborn;
Fluger Cat-Can; Asher Electro Hawaiian; Gibson BR4; Fender FS52; Guyatone 8str;
Fender Resonator ; Epiphone Coronet 1937; Rickenbacher Ace; Rickenbacher NS;
Dynalap 8string; Harbor Lights 8string; Aiersi Tri-Cone; Fender Stringmaster

Rich Hlaves · From: Wildomar, California, USA

The tiny screw prevents the tuner body from rotating on the peghead. Make sure you re-drill and put them back in for tuning stability.
_________________
On man....let the smoke out of another one.

Peter den Hartogh · From: Cape Town, South Africa

Yes Rich, I make sure I will do that. Smile

Guys, I have angled the 8th key and it really helps.
I am not hurting my left hand anymore. And it does not look bad either.
So I decided to angle them all.

It was quick and easy to do and I did not have to cut away any wood.

I also wound the strings under the pegs, which did help for strings 3 and 6,
but the 2 center strings still need a string tree.
_________________
1977 Sho~Bud D10 ProIII Custom; Sho~Bud SD10 The Professional ; ETS S10 5x5;
Fender 1000; 1993 Remington U12; 1978 Emmons S10 P/P; GeorgeB Weissenborn;
Fluger Cat-Can; Asher Electro Hawaiian; Gibson BR4; Fender FS52; Guyatone 8str;
Fender Resonator ; Epiphone Coronet 1937; Rickenbacher Ace; Rickenbacher NS;
Dynalap 8string; Harbor Lights 8string; Aiersi Tri-Cone; Fender Stringmaster

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