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Topic: When 6 strings are too much... |
Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 21 Sep 2011 6:49 am |
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I wonder why the maker chose to make a four string lap steel. That's a lot of work for an instrument that won't be useful for most people.
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Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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AJ Azure
From:
Massachusetts, USA * R.I.P.
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Posted 21 Sep 2011 8:29 am
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| Brad, Didley Bow. Need I say more? Sometimes limitations open windows. I've got a reso uke I've been wanting to turn lap style. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 21 Sep 2011 9:13 am
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It reminds me of those cigar box lap steels, which were also four string, and which actually sounded a lot better than you would imagine.
It all goes to show that the string which is producing the note doesn't know what it's being stretched across.   |
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Twayn Williams
From:
Portland, OR
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Posted 21 Sep 2011 1:42 pm
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If I were a uke or bass player, 4-strings would make perfect sense...
Actually, I was talking to Henry Bogdan the other day and he talked about how the Tres he's studying (a small Puerto Rican stringed instrument) has only 3 strings (in double or triple courses) and how much that limitation was making him distill his musical ideas to their core essence.
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Primitive Utility Steel |
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John Mulligan
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 6:00 am Tremblay guitars
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I own a lap steel made by this guy. You can have a look at his other lap steels here:
http://www.tremblayguitars.com/.
He makes fine lap steels, I have been very happy with mine. If you click the 'archive' button on his website you'll see a nice selection of his work. If you look at model # HB250209, that is the one I own. It is a very unique instrument, looks great and plays great. This particlar model is set up for open E and that is how I use it. Other models are set up to play C6 and other tunings. It works great for me for blues and some country, and gets a nice David Lindley feel. It's also fun to play it without finger picks.
As to why he would make a 4-string, well, they are not all that uncommon. Mojo Daddy guitars makes a tenor resonator with 4 string, and if you search YouTube you'll see a lot of 4-string models, many of them home made. People seem to use them for blues and simple melodies.
Again, my Tremblay guitar is fun to play and sounds great. You can hear the great low-end growl on the sound clip in the ebay ad. Have a look at his other models. When I had some questions after buying mine on ebay Mr. Tremblay was very responsive and helpful. |
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Bob Russell
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 6:10 am
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| Twayn Williams wrote: |
If I were a uke or bass player, 4-strings would make perfect sense...
Actually, I was talking to Henry Bogdan the other day and he talked about how the Tres he's studying (a small Puerto Rican stringed instrument) has only 3 strings (in double or triple courses) and how much that limitation was making him distill his musical ideas to their core essence. |
How many vocal cords do we need for music? If we had more, would the music get better? |
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Mike Neer
From:
NJ
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 6:19 am
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Michael Dunn built a 4 string instrument called an "anandi" for Debashish Bhattacharya.
"My third guitar is the 4-string Anandi, which is like a baby Weissenborn tuned to E, G#, B, E [low to high]. The Gandharvi and Chaturangui are built in Calcutta, but the hollow neck Anandi is made by Michael Dunn in British Columbia. Trideb International is making these instruments available for a new generation of slides guitarists in India and abroad. These are cross-cultural instruments for jazz and blues slide guitarists, as well as those playing ragas, which we believe is not ethnic music for one part of the world, but rather global music for everyone to share."
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Links to streaming music, websites, YouTube: Links |
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Rainer Schmidt
From:
Eastwestfalia - Germany
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 7:21 am Beletonett
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Please have a look at this (bottom of page):
looks like they were faithful to the Ukulele idea with this one, strings 1 and 4 seem to be at the same pitch. I really want one of these for my uke group! (but doubt that any were sold. An electric novelty toy in the first post-war years? Oh, forget it!) |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 4:46 pm
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...but an ukulele is made to be strummed. A lap steel isn't. 
Yes, you can strum a lap steel, and many players do just that while other instruments are taking the break, or the vocalist is singing, but it's not its main function. |
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John Mulligan
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 5:47 pm Why 4 Strings?
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I asked Hugo Tremblay, the maker of this 4 string lap steel, why he chose to use 4 strings. He gave me permission to quote his reply.
"I decided to make 4-string steels after I made a 2-string diddley bow as a special request for a player. I found it really fun to play, excellent for solo blues stuff. I was also inspired by the cigar box guitars that made a popular comeback in ther last years. I settled for 4-string on this model as a compromise for simple chord playing, but with one string and a slide, you have infinite possibilities!"
http://www.tremblayguitars.com/
I am a customer of Hugo's and play one his lap steels. |
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Rainer Schmidt
From:
Eastwestfalia - Germany
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Posted 22 Sep 2011 11:56 pm
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but yes! I think the intention behind the novelty instrument was similar: use one melody string and accompany with occasional strums (a bit Indian too in a way?), learn tunes using charts, an approach found with certain zither makes also. btw: once a (German!) seller listed his 6string Beleton instrument as a bowed "Ukulin". I did some research & what I found cracked me up no end: crooked tricks of salesmen, unplayable instruments, even strange notation charts. And the "Rock'n'Roll - Marxolin" (to be found at frets.com/museum)!!! (\digression)
Ukulele groups tend to be very blasé, in that no other instruments are allowed than four stringed ones. (I wouldn't call mine an "Orchestra" yet. We're a ten piece strumming choir with a string bass, but looking for additional flavours) Lap steel resonator ukes are available, at 1000$ or more I think. So if old Beletonetts were lying round the shops...
But of course to be stringed for some C6 tuning (NOT necessarily the Ukulele way)! |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 23 Sep 2011 8:54 am
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| Rainer Schmidt wrote: |
| ...Lap steel resonator ukes are available, at $1000 or more I think... |
Why not just take two of the strings off one of those cheapo 6-string lap steels ? |
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Rainer Schmidt
From:
Eastwestfalia - Germany
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Posted 24 Sep 2011 9:42 am
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Oh, I forgot to tell you that I'm quite blasé as well, only tolerating vintage instruments in my hands (Or homemade ones).
Can you read my signature below at all? It doesn't show in my posts, is that normal? edit: all right, there it is:
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cardboard comrades etc: http://www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/rainair |
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