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Topic: 12 String Lap Steel Evolution |
Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 25 Oct 2012 8:09 am |
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10 string with dual humbuckers
I have tons of old guitar parts in my shop, so being a penny pincher I used two six sting Pickups... It sounded very good!
10 string George L
After proving the concept of my extended 10 string A6 tuning, I spent the money to buy a real 10 string pickup...
12 string dual single coils
Once again using parts I had lying around the shop I made a 12 string prototype..
12 string George L
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3
Last edited by Dom Franco on 28 Oct 2012 9:49 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 28 Oct 2012 9:42 pm
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After living with my new 12 string Lap Steel for a few days. I can truly say I am totaly pleased.
I had to make a few last minute tweaks... (String grooves in nut and bridge, and string hold downs pickup height and that was about it)
It plays amazing, the tone is great, and every time I play it I keep finding chords, licks and harmonies previously only available on a pedal steel.
Tuning Hi to low:
F#, D, A#, G, E, C#, A, F#, E, C#, B, G#
The standard 6 string A6 tuning in bold
CHORD OPTIONS:
Just at the open position, I have E, E6, Eadd9,C#m, B2, Bsus, A, A6, F#m, A7, Edim,(C#dim,Gdim,A#dim)Gm, Gm6, Daug5... and those are all on adjacent strings! When I start skiping 2 and three strings I have tons more options!
For the past few years I have been focusing on old jazz standards, and these songs of course use these lush chords.
Now I am just about able to accompany myself on vocals with the 12string steel.
This has been my goal so I don't have to rely on backing tracks of guitar chords...
Dom 
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3
Last edited by Dom Franco on 30 Oct 2012 1:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Iestyn Lewis
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 29 Oct 2012 7:47 am
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Looks nice! I finished mine and felt like a Neanderthal sitting in front of a nuclear power plant control panel. Fortunately it's gone to a good home in Hawaii. I do love the chord-melody style of playing and applaud you for being able to do it!
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Iestyn
http://facebook.com/trcguitars |
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John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
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Posted 29 Oct 2012 8:50 am
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| Iestyn Lewis wrote: |
| Looks nice! I finished mine and felt like a Neanderthal sitting in front of a nuclear power plant control panel. |
Maybe you should call it the "Homer Simpson" model.
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"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny." - john waters |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Iestyn Lewis
From:
Georgia, USA
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Posted 30 Oct 2012 5:00 am
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Hi Dom - I used the MSA "superslide" tuning, as described here: http://www.gregcutshaw.com/MSA%20SuperSlide/MSA%20SuperSlide.html
The top 2 strings are re-entrant. I used a standard set of 12 string pedal steel strings from SIT. Not a perfect match, but close.
If I made another, I would widen the spacing as you did. I don't use picks, so the pedal steel spacing is a little tough.
I'm currently building a 10 string for another player that will have 3/8 spacing and a George L pickup, which will probably be more to my taste.
After looking down at that sea of metal, I definitely saw the wisdom of your fretboards with chord names!!
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Iestyn
http://facebook.com/trcguitars |
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Larry Phleger
From:
DuBois, PA
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Posted 31 Oct 2012 7:30 am
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| Hi Don. Those are some really nice looking guitars. I have a question. On the guitar you built with the 2 single coil pickups, how did you wire them? Are they in series or parallel? I tried using 2 single coil pickups on a guitar I built years ago. I wired them in parallel, and had a drastic decrease io output. |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 3 Nov 2012 9:54 am
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Dom, if you had two 12-string pickups, or four 6-string pickups, you could wire them with a DPDT switch that switches between in-phase and out-of-phase, which gives different results.
But the difference between wiring in parallel or series, assuming that they are in phase, only affects the output. Your problem is that the centre strings have two pickups covering them, whereas the outer strings only have one, so it's important that they be in phase. I wouldn't consider anything other than parallel wiring with your current set-up, and if you get them out-of-phase your center strings will have a different tone than your outer strings.
I always enjoy seeing and hearing the results of people's experiments. I build a lot of experimental instruments myself. Have you thought of building a lap steel with double courses, like a 12-string guitar ? Lap steel players play a lot of octave runs, using two strings. With octave courses this becomes very easy. I've built five so far, and I'm still working on perfecting the concept. There's a video on YouTube that I filmed. of Basil Henriques playing a double-course instrument that I built for him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYWLDLJJvzQ |
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Dom Franco
From:
Beaverton, OR, 97007
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Posted 3 Nov 2012 12:48 pm
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You can't tell from the picture, but the rail section of the pickups do not overlap, so strings #6 and #7 are only picked up by one pickup, they are actually quite well balanced. The tone is good and "Fenderish". However the output is lower than the George l, but not too bad. I just notice that I have to turn my amp up higher when I gig with it.
That being said, today I just played a lunchtime solo gig with my new 12 string, and I love it. I was able to use my diminished and augmented chords on several songs. "Stardust" and "Over the Rainbow" to mention two...
Dom
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYG9cvwCPKuXpGofziPNieA/feed?activity_view=3 |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 3 Nov 2012 2:48 pm
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I hadn't realised from the photographs, but your set-up solves a problem that Basil brought up when I was talking to him a few years ago. On most steel guitars, each of the strings has a pole piece under it, and one to each side, except the two outside strings, which only have a pole piece underneath and to one side. This means the top and bottom strings will have different amplification characteristics. By having a pickup which is wider than the strings, like you have, that solves the problem.
In effect, what he was saying was that, for an eight string instrument, you should use a ten-string pickup, and so on. |
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