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Topic: Lap and console steel guitar body woods |
Tom Snook
From:
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
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Posted 7 Oct 2015 2:54 pm |
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What woods were used to make the more popular lap and console steels? Gibson,Fender,National etc.
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I wanna go back to my little grass shack........ |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 8 Oct 2015 8:18 am
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| I believe my Fender Stringmasters are swamp ash. |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 12 Oct 2015 5:30 pm
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The New Yorker I bought new, with the brochure, says it's made of maple...
I think many species of wood have been used. |
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Andy Volk
From:
Boston, MA
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Posted 13 Oct 2015 2:21 am
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Gibson used Michigan curly maple on its EH series. Fender used swamp ash and walnut on it's early guitars as well as other types of ash on some models. Builders have used maple, alder, mahogany, ash, walnut,and other hardwoods over the years and surprisingly, even softwoods such as pine and poplar. There is currently something of a revival in use of pine for Telecaster-type instruments. Some great-sounding early 50s Fender Teles were made of pine. Rick Kelly is one builder doing pine builds: http://www.kellyguitars.com/bowery_pine_guitars01.html. I haven't heard of any pine lap steels but I'm sure they are out there.
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Steel Guitar Books! Website: www.volkmediabooks.com |
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Adam Nero
From:
Wisconsin
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 5:42 am
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the version of the console grande I own is made of oak. I'm not a big nut or anything but I'm not sure I've heard of another oak guitar.
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2 cheap dobros, several weird old lap steels, and one lifelong ticket to ride on the pedal steel struggle bus. |
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Robert Allen
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 6:26 am
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| Out of 300 plus lap steels, I've had orders for only 3 made from oak. In spite of mahogany costing more, most orders these days have been for plain or curly maple. My guess is that for the name brands, lumber prices may influence choices more than magical tonal qualities. Unlike the small builders, the big guys expect to make a profit. |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 11:55 am
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I recently bought a 10-string lap made of mahogany... I'm sold on it as a tone wood. It's keyless, string-through, and has bridge and nut of 1/8" brass rod... but sings like nobody's business (thank you Sonny Jenkins!).
I have one other guitar out of mahogany, a '61 SG Jr... again, it has 'the sound', no dead spots. One-piece neck-through out of mahogany is the way to go for me.
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New FB Page: Lap Steel Licks And Stuff: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195394851800329 |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 12:56 pm
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As for the postwar Gibson lap steels:
1) Most BR-3s, BR-4s, and BR-6s are mahogany.
2) Most Centurys are maple, except for the final version from the mid-60s (the red one with the Firebird pickup), which is mahogany.
3) The first version of the Ultratone (the white one) is maple. The second version with the blonde top is mahogany.
4) Most Skylarks are korina (limba), except the second version (the red one), which is mahogany. |
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Tom Snook
From:
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 1:10 pm
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Can't say that I've ever seen a Red Gibson Skylark! Any pics?
_________________
I wanna go back to my little grass shack........ |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 1:54 pm
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| Tom Snook wrote: |
| Can't say that I've ever seen a Red Gibson Skylark! Any pics? |
Never seen one either. There is a photo in the Duchossior book. |
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Adam Nero
From:
Wisconsin
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Posted 17 Oct 2015 4:57 pm
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
| Tom Snook wrote: |
| Can't say that I've ever seen a Red Gibson Skylark! Any pics? |
Never seen one either. There is a photo in the Duchossior book. |
Edit: photo of red century replaced by link to Noah's site. http://oldfrets.com/GibsonCentury.html
I've never seen a red skylark either but I bought this from Noah Miller, his website is oldfrets.com I believe and he has a nice long write up on these fairly rare instruments for those interested.
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2 cheap dobros, several weird old lap steels, and one lifelong ticket to ride on the pedal steel struggle bus. |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 19 Oct 2015 8:43 pm
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I built three identical lap steels with different wood species, Mahogany, Black Walnut, and White Ash.
The Mahogany wasn't impressive to me, but the Walnut had a very nice sound. The White Ash one had a Fendery bright/treble sound (which I don't like !) All had a 7-string DiMarzio bridge pickups. |
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Hal Braun
From:
Eustis, Florida, USA
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Posted 20 Oct 2015 5:15 am
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| The Jackson console I have is hard maple.. Same as his pedal steels... |
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