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Topic: Scale length and string spacing experience on 8 string laps |
Helmut Gragger
From:
Austria
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Posted 24 May 2012 11:15 pm |
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Greetings Folks,
I am contemplating building an 8 string lap steel for personal use.
I made a six string version according to Jerry Byrd´s specs with 22.5" scale length and 3/8" string spacing non tapered which proved to be excellent for the type of slant work he does.
I wanted to know if any of you have any experience with a setup with more than 6 strings like that.
I have done quite a bit of playing on this guitar and now played my Rick B-8 again - very uncomfortable.
The string spacing is dictated by optics (tapering), natural picking position is obstructed by the horse shoes, no palm blocking at the bridge, the sound is comparably feeble despite re-magging. I do not like this guitar too much any more, vintage or not.
Thanks,
-helmut
_________________
feel at home at: http://me.aquataur.guru |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 25 May 2012 12:18 am
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| I'd like to see pix of your homer, Helmut. Not many go the extra mile to make their steel 'right'. My DynaLap is 100% parallel and it's my favorite set up. Too bad history went with the taper, but I don't have a problem going from the DL to my D8, nor is it a weak Ricky, just a different type of quality. Don't give up on your's, there's got to be a remedy. |
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Helmut Gragger
From:
Austria
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Posted 25 May 2012 1:15 am
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Ron,
thanks for your interest and the kind words.
Look up my web pages under "D.I.Y. Six String Electric Lapsteel" for a caress of the eyes and ears 
Making a lap steel is not at all difficult compared to a standard guitar. There is no crucial parts that make or break playability. Just a plank of hard wood, a good solid simple bridge and nut, a good pickup and good quality tuners and a little bit of creative sense.
Naturally, commercial items come with bells and whistles that contribute to look only, but inflate the price horrendously. Also, craftsmanship is prohibitively expensive unless you exploit litte chinese hands. So make your own.
I do not say it does not matter how an instruments looks, I try my best on this with the restricted possibilities that are at my disposal, but sales figures do not interest me and cannot therefore compromise quality.
However, it plays and sounds no worse than a commercial guitar. I dare saying better in some instances, because I did not have to save on the important things for the sake of keeping a price segment and I did the important things right.
Ron, I will not discard the B8, you are right, but I might still want to build a 8 stringer.
-helmut
_________________
feel at home at: http://me.aquataur.guru |
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Tommy Auldridge
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 25 May 2012 4:54 am Wrong way Taper....
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In my own weird opinion, shouldn't the Taper go the other way? Wider spacing at the nut end. If you think about it, the frets are much wider at the nut end and narrower down near the bridge. Tommy.......
P.S. There must be a reason it's always been backwards. |
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Helmut Gragger
From:
Austria
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Posted 26 May 2012 3:39 am Re: Wrong way Taper....
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| Tommy Auldridge wrote: |
| In my own weird opinion, shouldn't the Taper go the other way? Wider spacing at the nut end. If you think about it, the frets are much wider at the nut end and narrower down near the bridge. |
That´s a fresh idea. Nobody has picked that one up before. For slant work, this would surely work better than the other way if you do not overdo it.
| Tommy Auldridge wrote: |
P.S. There must be a reason it's always been backwards. |
I think the only reason is the heritage from a spanish guitar. When they first started putting a guitar down on their knees it was a spanish guitar with elevated strings.
For a spanish guitar it ultimately makes sense to have a broader string spacing at the upper frets #1) because the frets are closer together and there is not so much space for the left hand fingers and #2) it is easier for the picking hand.
In retrospect, manufacturers probably just adhered to well known standards. Remember they are buck-driven. In post- pedal steel times manufacturers deviated from that standard and frequently abolished tapering.
-helmut
_________________
feel at home at: http://me.aquataur.guru |
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Steve Ahola
From:
Concord, California
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Posted 26 May 2012 11:01 am
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I think that the taper of necks has to do with engineering- a non-tapered neck is not as stable as a tapered one. I suspect that throughout the history of stringed instruments a tapered neck has been more common than a non-tapered neck.
Didn't Jerry Byrd use a steel with a tapered neck on most of his classic recordings?
Steve Ahola
P.S. Another question: StewMac sells a special ruler for plotting out nuts and bridges so that the bass notes are not so close together. I was wondering if that is used at all for steel guitars. I have noticed that only being a problem with the very low tunings using .060 and .070 on the bottom (like my Valco Alkire 10 string tuned to the open strings of C6 PSG.) Other than that specific example I think it would mess up the slants.
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Recordings on electric guitar:
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