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Topic: Baby Taylor as acoustic lap steel? |
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 17 Oct 2000 10:47 am |
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I wrote to Taylor Guitars' customer service about the possibility of using a Baby Taylor as an acoustic lap steel and received the following reply:
quote:
The Baby Taylor can be set up for lap style playing without causing any problems. You don't want to put any more tension on the guitar than light gauge strings (.012-.053) tuned to standard pitch would exert. If you are using open tunings you will have to adjust the string gauges accordingly.
Nut replacements are a little tricky, but can be done by an experienced repairman.
At this time we have no plans to make a square neck version of the Baby Taylor. Thanks for recommending our gig bags to lap steel players. They are a new item for us, and we like them a lot too!
Sincerely,
Glen Wolff
Customer Service
Taylor Guitars
1-800-943-6782 x286
The Baby Taylor gig bag makes an excellent lap steel carrier, by the way.
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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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Ian McLatchie
From:
Sechelt, British Columbia
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Posted 17 Oct 2000 1:43 pm
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| Brad: Thanks for the useful information. Your previous inquiry about the potential of a Baby Taylor as a lap steel aroused my curiosity, so I took a conversion nut to a local music store and gave it a try. Of course, with the standard strings I couldn't put it in an open tuning, but even so, it sounded great. I'm still skeptical that a raised nut wouldn't warp that skinny little neck, though. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 17 Oct 2000 2:42 pm
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I think the key would be using lighter gauge strings than you'd normally find on a Dobro®-style guitar. Most Dobro® guitar string sets run .016-.058 or so. A light set of acoustic guitar strings usually runs in the .012-.053 or .011-.052 range.
I think for under $400 you could have a nice little travel guitar.
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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 18 Oct 2000 5:12 am
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| The Baby Taylor is a great little guitar. FYI ... for standard guitar, they're intended to be tuned to F# ... a whole step above standard Spanish guitar tuning. I usually tune mine to standard tuning with medium gauge strings and get great results. I'm sure that open D, E or F tunings, for example, would work well on the Baby. |
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Bobby Lee
From:
Cloverdale, California, USA
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Posted 18 Oct 2000 7:34 am
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| Is the neck narrower than a regular guitar? Also, how's the volume? |
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Chris Walke
From:
St Charles, IL
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Posted 18 Oct 2000 11:24 am
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| Has anybody using a raised nut on a Martin Backpacker? |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 18 Oct 2000 12:18 pm
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The neck is somewhat narrower but not bad, definitely playable. The volume is quieter than a normal sized guitar, but usable, and the tone is quite nice. I'd have to recommend you visit a store and check them out - they're not uncommon in this neck of the woods.
The Martin Backpacker is far inferior to the Baby Taylor in tone and volume. The BT is more like a little guitar; the Backpacker is like some weird ukulele with a guitar neck.
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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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Mike D
From:
Phx, Az
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Posted 24 Oct 2000 7:54 am
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An inexpensive alternative to the Baby Taylor is to use one of the small Fender acoustics. I have one ($90.00) I got for my kids to keep them away from my vintage National (course they don't play the cheap one)
It doesn't sound anywhere near as good as a the Taylor but it's small and you can pack it on a plane or camping trip. |
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