Weissenborn/the review of my GeorgeBoards

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

I'm looking for an acoustic 6-string lap steel.....this one just for fooling around, front porch jamming with friends, not a gig guitar.

What is the minimum thing I should look at? Where are the breakpoints below which you won't get a guitar that will make you want to play it? Is that the right question to be asking?

Brand? Gold Tone? LM vs SM?
I really don't know acoustic lap at all...I'm mostly a pedal steel guy, and electric slide guitar....I have a Melobar 6-string electric and a Melbert Pro 8-string now....
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Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Tim Mech · From: Toronto, Canada

Hi Steve
Weissenborn style instruments are plentiful. You have many options.
A little bit of internet research will likely find something that will work for you.
I always recommend playing the instrument first instead of just buying something over the internet. Many of the more inexpensive pieces vary in sound quality, (as do the expensive custom Weiss copies), so find someone who carries a version like Gold Tone and try a couple out.
Major differences in Weiss copies are obviously in solid or laminated woods and also in the body depth from tip to tail.
I personally have 3 K&S/Marc Silber Weissenborn copies that I use for road work. Solid woods and great build quality, you might be able to find a good used Silber.
Good luck.

James Trout · From: Louisville, KY

I started out on Weissenborn style playing about a year ago - and have had a lot of fun with it. You can check out my videos at: http://www.youtube.com/user/slidetrout?feature=watch

Before I bought my Benoit Weissenborn I went and bought a cheap ibanez jumbo accoustic guitar and raised the action (use a regular bone nut, not one of those cheap metal converters...). That worked out great until I felt I had put enough time into the instrument to have one built (about 3 months). I've found that Weissenborn's, unlike resonator guitars, are all relatively quiet. Buy one with a decent pickup system (mine has an LR Baggs) and run that puppy through an amp or PA system. I like the tone of mine so much plugged in that I rarely play it accoustically - even when just practicing at home.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Anybody here ever play a Georgeboards Weissenborn? How are they? He makes a Maple/Mahogany one, I think it is laminate, not solid .....opinions?
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Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Chas. J. Wagner · From: Denver, Colorado USA

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Thanks for your replies! I just sent him an email....I'll take the one he has left. Solid maple top, laminate rosewood sides....should be fun!
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Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Tim Mech · From: Toronto, Canada

Let us know how you like it!

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

In case it answers any questions .....I wrote this for AG Magazine back in Feb 2011 ....

Taking inspiration from such prominent lap-slide guitarists as Bob Brozman, Ed Gerhard, Ben Harper, and David Lindley, more and more guitarists are adding the unique tone and gossamer sustain of an acoustic Weissenborn-style lap-steel guitar to their musical arsenals. Lap-style guitars first emerged in Hawaii in the 1980s, where players raised the action of their standard guitars, laid them flat on their laps, and learned to play melodies with a metal bar sliding along the strings. The yearlong Panama Pacific Exposition (held in San Francisco in 1915) introduced mainland America to Hawaiian-style playing and ignited a 30-year fad for Island music.

Although he was not the first to build a flattop guitar specifically designed for lap playing, Los Angeles-based luthier Hermann Weissenborn refined the concept in the 1920s. His unique integration of a hollow neck with an elongated body yielded responsiveness, sustain, and a glossy, shimmering tone that many aficionados describe in almost metaphysical terns, and original Weissenborns now command eye-popping prices.

Original Weissenborns were lightly built using Hawaiian koa for the entire body. They have unscalloped X-braced tops; wooden fret markers inlaid flush with the fingerboard; hide glue construction; and shellac finishes. The guitars came in four styles of increasing ornamentation from the plain Style 1 to the Style 4, whose ornate "rope" binding (constructed from alternating light and dark diagonal strips of wood) became a signature of the instrument. The enduring popularity of Weissenborn's design, and the high price of vintage specimens, has resulted in quite a few contemporary luthiers and manufacturers either copying or expanding on the basic concept. Let's take a look at what's available.

Off The Rack
If you're on a budget or unsure exactly how deep you want to wade into acoustic lap-steel waters, several companies offer very affordable Weissenborn-style guitars. For example, George Boards imports two models built in China: an all-laminate model ($399.99) and a solid mahogany model ($599.99). The guitars come with a 24.75-inch scale (original Weissenborns varied from about 24.75 inches to 25 inches), closed-back tuners, and even optional electronics.

Gold Tone offers three budget-minded models: a laminate mahogany version (LM, $699), a solid mahogany model (SM, $899), and a solid Australian blackwood version (Style 4) similar to Weissenborn's original Style 4 specifications ($1,519). Gold Tone options include a soundhole pickup with an extended bar magnet capable of picking up the wider string spacing of Weissenborn-style guitars.

Superior's Hawaiian-style guitars, build by luthier in the mountain village of Paracho, Mexico, and imported by Berkeley Musical Instrument Exchange, are another lower cost option. Superior offers a spruced top model with palo escrito rosewood back and sides ($1,100) and a mahogany model with a Canadian cedar top ($1,025). Rope binding and an abalone rosette are available as options on both models.

Custom Made Lap Guitars
Since the original's body shape, hollow neck, and aesthetics are a large part of the Weissenborn sound, contemporary lap-slide guitar builders typically offer a more limited range of variations and options than those available for standard guitars. Hawaiian koa is far and away the most popular tonewood for tops and bodies (in varying levels of figure and cost), followed by mahogany and rosewood, although other woods are often available. Custom lap-slide guitars typically include a scale length of around 25 inches, a bone nut, an aluminum or bone saddle, the choice of dot or Weissenborn Style 4 geometric position marker inlays, and a satin lacquer, gloss nitrocellulose, or (like the originals) shellac finish.

The salient aesthetic option unique to these instruments is the iconic rope binding Some players love it, and some don't, so most builders offer rope binding alternatives ranging from rosewood to abalone. Like many standard-guitar builders, Weissenborn-style luthiers are usually willing to discuss adding a unique inlay scheme to personalize an instrument. Lazy River Guitars (whose prices start at $1,500), for example, offers to inlay a customer's initials for $30 a letter.

Luthiers Bill Hardin of Bear Creek Guitars, Bill Asher and Tone Francis (whose instruments start in the $2,200-$2,800 range) are among several custom builders whose passion for unraveling the secrets of the original Weissenborns has enabled them to build very accurate reproductions both in terms of construction and tone. Asher developed his line of hollow-necks via meticulous study of a 1928 Style 1 owned by Ben Harper, while Hardin enjoyed access to Bob Brozman's collection of Weissenborns. Francis has also spent many hours measuring vintage instruments in an effort to create a flawless copy. Several builders make guitars that bow to tradition while breaking new ground. Instruments developed by the Breedlove Guitar Company and luthier Jayson Bowerman for fingerstylist Ed Gerhard can be ordered with the option of partial standard guitar-type frets to allow fretted bass notes in additional to slide techniques. Breedlove offers the guitar as its Acoustic Lap Steel (starting at $2,669), and Bowerman who now works independently, builds a similar guitar called the Weissenborn (starting at $3,440). New Zealand luthier Paddy Burgin offers Weissenborn-style guitars (starting at $2,440) made of Tasmanian blackwood, walnut, or mahogany that feature a deeper body and internal bracing designed to deliver greater volume and consistency throughout the guitar's range.

Others find inspiration beyond the rarified world of Weissenborn. Joseph Yanuziello's guitars (which start at $6,200) are informed as much by the sound of Martin flattops as by Weissenborn's Hawaiian guitars, while Michael Dunn's hollow-necks (starting at $3,800) reflect the originals remained through a fine-arts lens. Cole Clark's Violap ($3,020) uses the Weissenborn body shape and hollow neck (tweaked with f-holes and a choice of piezo and magnetic pickups) to enter electric lap steel territory.

A Brave New World
Eight years after their heyday, Weissenborn-style guitars are hipper than ever ad guitarists have a wide range of choices across the price spectrum. Higher-end Weissenborns will get you to the slide-guitar tonal nirvana that's the hallmark of the hollow-neck design, while entry-level instrument make experimenting with the genre affordable. There's never been a better time to put bar to strings and discover for yourself the magic of lap-style guitar playing.

Andy Volk (volkmedia.com) is the author of Slide Rules: Tuning for Lap Steel, Bottleneck, Resophonic, and Indian Slide Guitar.

Tim Mech · From: Toronto, Canada

A fantastic wrap up of current "Weissenborns", Andy.
And on top of all those models there are STILL more off-shore guitars branded by smaller companies.
Funny that owning an actual Weissenborn is still more reasonable than purchasing some of the custom models...

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Thanks, Andy! Looks like I may be on the road to spending more money if I like this one...
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Joel Bloom · Posted 21 Jun 2012 10:30 pm

Andy, your errors with dates made me laugh- I'm not being mean- I own and love your Lapsteel book

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

Good thing thing I'm not an air traffic controller! Smile

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Andy-
Your books got me started! Thanks, I guess....
-Steve

p.s. I still use this little guy as a travel guitar...Washburn Rover, $160 (I bought it for around $100 but I guess they realized it was worth a lot more!), adjustable truss rod, comes with a number of bridge saddles of different heights, great case, just add a nut extender and there you go....it even sounds like a guitar, not like the Martin travel guitar....

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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

OK, got it, put new strings on it, never played a Weissenborn before....I really like it! I'd had a regular guitar strung up with a nut extender, and this sounds a lot different. Way more lush, rich tone. More bass. The resonance of the hollow neck is definitely a factor.

Construction - very good. Better than I'd expected, based on other reviews. No flaws to speak of. tuners aren't great, but work fine. Bridge pins were force fit into the holes and I had to mangle the bridge a little to get something under them to remove them, but not a big deal. This model is sort of "in between" - solid top, laminated sides (and back?). I'm fine with that, As long as the top is solid I'm pretty flexible on how the sides are made. they are rosewood laminate, which is good...(my fancy Amistar resonator also had laminated sides, if tone wood is used, it can be a fine way to go)

Case-It comes with a real hard case, not just a gig bag. Very nice....

Bottom line- I'm happy with it. For $488, I think it is a good value for the money - I expect that I'd have to spend a lot more to get noticeably better quality of construction or tone..

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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Tucker Jackson · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Looks like a nice guitar, Steve. What tuning do you have on it?

Steve Ahola · From: Concord, California

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Well...that is what I used. I should have just grabbed a pair of pliers, which would have pulled the pin without gouging the bridge....pins are more easily replaced. Like a dummy I just used the "tool that was supposed to be for this..."
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Tim Mech · From: Toronto, Canada

Lift out those stubborn bridge pins with side cutters. Used gently, they allow you to get in around the pin with the angled side while the flat side won't mar the bridge. Their size also allows a bit of leverage if needed. Then once the strings are installed you can trim off the excess string at the tuners. Dual purpose.
You can buy side cutters that are rated to cut large piano strings, they are the size of regular side cutters but will last when cutting those low, wound strings.

Ted Harris · From: California, USA

I bought the same copy about a month ago. Mine sounds great and has allowed me to to get some experience with weissenborn style lap slides. Having said that I wish I would have waited for something better. So far I have replaced the really terrible stock tuners, had the nut notched out properly and reglued (it came off with my first string change and will come off again). I have a really ugly greenish spot showing through the finish on the maple top, and the corners of my bridge were starting to lift and were reglued. So it sounds great I just hope it doesn't completely fall apart on me.

Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Ah....I suspect that this is a story of sample variation...as is true with a lot of Asian-produced stuff, they vary a lot from one to another....mine seems fine, no problems with it (at least not yet)...I don't know what George would do regarding returns, but maybe it pays to take your chances and send it back if it isn't up to snuff...
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Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

Rick Barnhart · From: Arizona, USA

I have an acoustic guitar with unusually deep set bridge pins. When I change strings, I just reach inside the sound hole and push them up from the bottom. No damage that way.
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Steve Lipsey · From: Portland, Oregon, USA

Yeah, I do that on regular acoustics....but the Weissenborn sound hole is too small and far away...
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor

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