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Topic: Inexpensive Lap Steels - be prepared to work on them! |
James Knox
From:
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2021 12:44 pm |
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A few weeks ago, while reading a Lap Steel thread on TDPRI somebody mentioned the import Gstyle Lap Steel Available on Amazon for $119. I checked it out. The bridge and nut looked sturdy. Sealed Grover like tuners. P90 pickup. Had a guitar shape to it, didn’t look like a plank of wood. I pulled the trigger on a Black one.
Got it. It wasn’t bad. Needed the nut raised, String slots on the nut and bridge all needed redoing. It appeared to be chrome plated aluminum, so I filed them down and recut the slots. Knocked the sharp edges off the bridge, nut and fretboard edge.
Tuners work well. P90 sounds great. Put new, correct gauge Strings For Open E and rocked it. It is what it is and I am happy with it.
For fun, I ordered another one. Got the last Sunburst in stock. My plan was to string it up for a 6th Tuning, probably A6. I have dabbled over the years but have not owned a Steel for probably 10 years or so.
So the ‘Burst arrives. Yikes!
Fingerboard is on crooked and overlaps the edge on one side by 1/8 to 3/16. Bridge String Holes don’t line up. Can hardly get the first string threaded through the hole. Got work to do!
Removed the fretboard, filled holes, repositioned and reattached the fretboard correctly. Went ahead and replaced the cheap looking factory Silver screws with Black Pickguard screws. Looks much better! Enlarged the String holes on the Bridge and the holes through the wood to the String Ferrell, filled original screw holes and repositioned the Bridge equally over the 6 string holes as best as I could. The strings will all go through fine now. Oh Yeah, had to do the same Nut and Bridge filing and recut as on the other one. Sounds great now. Solid. NO Sitar Sounds, lol.
Contacted the Seller through Amazon, documented the problems, told them I wanted to keep it since it was the last Sunburst and asked for a discount. They refunded me $40.
It was a fun couple weeks! Gave me something to do. Now I have a couple sweet Lap Steels in different tunings! One in C6 for Classic Country and one In Open E for Classic Rock.
I haven’t owned a Lap Steel since I sold my MSA Superslide 8 back in 2013. If I can learn some songs now in C6 I can aspire to a nicer guitar again! Would love to get another Superslide or maybe one of the beautiful Aluminum Clinesmith’s.  [/img] |
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Larry Carlson
From:
My Computer
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Posted 14 Apr 2021 2:37 pm
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Nice work. Now you have two nice lap steels to play and have fun with.
In the beginning, my favorite lap steel was a blue Rogue.
I bought it for $74 to see if I liked lap steel. I did.
So I made a new nut, threw away that idiotic bridge/saddle and made one out of aluminum.
Then I carved out a new hole and installed a nice Epiphone humbucker.
It actually sounded great (to my ears anyway).
Then I sold it after I acquired a few more guitars.
Still miss that little ol' thing.
I thoroughly enjoy working on guitars and rescuing basket cases.
_________________
I have stuff.
I try to make music with it.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
But I keep on trying. |
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Carl Gallagher
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2021 4:15 pm
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| I got the sunburst one.Only issue that needed attention was the slots for the middle 2 strings on the nut needed to be re-cut,the strings would pop out when they got tightened close to pitch.Couple passes with a nut file and its fine.I got mine for $75 on ebay. |
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Brad Davis
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 14 Apr 2021 5:30 pm
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| These look like TML guitars, basically identical to Johnson and Recording King, but without the plastic fantastic fingerboard. Pretty solid base to do some upgrades for a decent little lap. The pickup is okay but the pots and other components are usually cheap junk. Tuners are fine. For the price these do the job, especially if you like to tinker and know or interested in learning how to do a basic electric guitar circuit. |
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John Sims
From:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
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Posted 25 Apr 2021 9:15 am
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| Quite a few years ago my wife bought me a Rondo SX3 lap steel in C6 tuning. I made a few mods (Bone Nut, Better pickup) and it sounds great now! Glad you had fun modding it! |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 25 Apr 2021 11:12 am
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Nice looking lap steels. Glad you could fix them up. Man the heads look like they're 8+"long! Maybe an 8 string in the future.
_________________
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40
Last edited by Bill Groner on 26 Apr 2021 2:41 am; edited 1 time in total |
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David Knutson
From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
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Posted 25 Apr 2021 12:28 pm
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A couple of years ago I picked up a home built D-8 in an online private sale. When it arrived I realized it had some problems.
Note: I am absolutely confident that the seller did not know about these issues.
The scale lengths (nut to bridge) were around 22-1/4", but not quite the same as each other. The home-made fret boards were sized for 21-7/8" scale. Not good so far. The pickups were also home made and kind of loose and wobbly, and crammed up against the bridges. No real body to the sound.
So . . . . I moved the cast aluminum tuner heads back to 22-1/2" and got a couple of very nice fretboards from George Boards (thanks yet again Mr. Boards), changed the pickups to Lollar Console Grandes, new pots and switch - done. G6 on the inside neck, and E13 on the outside.
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David K |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 25 Apr 2021 1:13 pm
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| David Knutson wrote: |
| G6 on the inside neck... |
I recently set up a coupla of my 6-strings in G6 and I'm really diggin' on it. Great for playing bluesy stuff in the key of A. |
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David Knutson
From:
Cowichan Valley, Canada
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Posted 25 Apr 2021 1:24 pm
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Right, Jack . . . I originally went for A6 (8string), but it was Blues in A that made me drop it down a tone. I also really like that bottom E note in the 8 string G6. It growls nicely.
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David K |
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James Knox
From:
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2021 12:54 pm
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And cuz I can’t leave well enough alone I went and did this to the Open E Tuned Sunburst one....
And might fool around with some of this...
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 21 Aug 2021 6:38 am
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I just bout a Rondo SX 8 string off of Amazon. Nice steel for what it is.
Be prepared to work on them. I installed new George L's C6th Pedal Steel strings (what I had on hand) as the strings it came with were like a light gauge guitar set.
Its tuned C6th with high G, like I have on my Pedal Steel. The G string did not seem to have the volume of the other strings. Adjusting the pole piece on the pickup didn't seem to make much difference.
I opened the electronics cavity and found its wired totally wrong, both for the volume and tone pots. e.g. the pickup hot is going to the volume pot center lug instead of end lug. Tone cap is connected to end lug instead of center lug on the tone pot.
Rewired and now the G string has more volume and tone control works better.
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Don Sulesky
From:
Citrus County, FL, Orig. from MA & NH
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Posted 23 Aug 2021 5:39 am
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I bought a Gstyle six string a year ago and I only paid $79 new for it. It sounds good enough at the house for teaching.
I also have a 6 string that I made 40 years ago that I tune several ways and a 10 string C6th on legs. It's nice to have them to lean on when I'm not using my pedals steels.
_________________
Private one on one lessons available
Member: FSGC, PSGA, TSGA
Co-founder: Florida Steel Guitar Club
"Steel guitar is like playing chess in the dark with three players". Jeff Newman quote from 1997 seminar |
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Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
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Posted 27 Aug 2021 5:16 am
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| One of the great aspects of the lap steel is the simplicity which makes them easy to modify or even build. |
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