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Topic: Where to set your lap steel when you step out for a moment.. |
Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 2 Aug 2011 11:17 pm |
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When I say "stand for lap steel" people usually think I am talking about a stand with 3 or 4 legs to make it like a console steel. Those are great but without one it is nice to have something to set your lap steel on. I've looked into a lot of guitar stands but for a small lap steel FretRest makes a stand that may work fine for you right out of the box for $15:
http://www.fretreststands.com/products/index.cfm?product=FRMS1
The yoke has an opening roughly 2 inches wide and at maximum height is 27 1/2" from the floor. 2" is kinda tight for some lap steels but I intend to bend the prongs a little bit. So far this works great for my two Supros and Chandler RH2.
For lap steels with a wider neck and headstock (like my GeorgeBoards Stealth) there are a few different stands that I have been able to modify, and I will post the details on those later.
Steve Ahola
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Andy Sandoval
From:
Bakersfield, California, USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2011 4:56 am
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Perfect!  |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 3 Aug 2011 8:24 am
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Let us know how bendable that stand's little arms are!
The problem with all of the others - including the on-stage pictured - is that they are fine for a practice room, but not very useful on stage...with a top-heavy lap steel and no grip on the top end, those stands make it totally easy to topple the steel off the stand by just brushing against it...even the ones that grab the top will usually just go over with the steel, because the bottom isn't wide enough (if compressed to hold the narrow steel) for a stable stance -
I tried many and couldn't find one that wasn't unstable....now I just lean it against my amp, I know that isn't going to fall over. |
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George Fischer
From:
California, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2011 6:26 pm
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Vintage 47 has small Cigar Box Guitar stands that work well for lap steels.
http://www.vintage47amps.com/files/index.php?id=1
click on accessories on the left side and scroll down.
They happen to make great little Valco-style amps too.
Edited to add . . .
I just did a quick stability test on the CBG stand. It seems fine on hardwood floors and a little spongy on carpets but not prone to tipping. I would say that these stands are fine for home use around responsible adults. Always opt for a case when small children, large dogs, or the inebriated are present. |
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2011 7:53 pm
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George-
Yeah, I was hoping to find a stand for stage use, but "the inebriated" is a problem there, including myself sometimes... |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 11 Aug 2011 10:45 pm
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I made some measurements of the Fretrest small instrument stand. Stock out of the box the opening is 2 5/16" (distance between the 2 metal rods after removing foam covering). This works for the Bay/Supro lap steel. Using a vise I widened the opening of one of the stands to 2 11/16" which works for my 1961 Supro. And I widened the third stand to 2 13/16" which works perfectly for my 1949 Gibson BR-9. (That is about as wide as I could get using a vise without first heating the metal up with a torch.)
I recommend gluing all of the plastic caps on since they can pop off very easily. These stands are fairly secure but they will not protect you from King Kong. I would suggest putting anything nice back in its case between sets, but these stands could be very useful in holding one lap steel while playing another.
I have a few stands of a different style (basically an A frame). To keep them from opening up too widely I epoxied small washers at the hinged joint on top that folds together when you put the stand away. (I doubled up the washers on one of the stands to hold my narrowest lap steels.) For stands like the one in George's pictures I don't want the top part to scratch anything so I will first glue on sheet cork and then cover that with a neoprene rubber. (For one of them I put a 5" round circular piece of plastic directly on the stand and then covered that with the cork and rubber.
_________________
www.blueguitar.org
Recordings on electric guitar:
http://www.box.net/blue-diamonds
http://www.box.net/the-culprits |
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Michael Hogan
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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