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Topic: Aluminum I-beam for a lap steel? |
David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 9 Sep 2005 11:58 pm |
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| It seems like most construction questions end up in "electronics", so here goes: can you just slap a bridge, some tuners, a pickup, and a nut on a section of I-beam and make it work? Chas Smith doesn't have an email listed, and I know there are a few other people who fool with this kind of thing. It looks like it would be pretty easy, obviously appearance and portability are not my concerns here. |
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jim milewski
From:
stowe, vermont
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Posted 10 Sep 2005 1:55 am
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| I would use a channel rather than I beam |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 10 Sep 2005 4:04 am
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| Yes. |
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Blake Hawkins
From:
Florida
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Posted 10 Sep 2005 5:30 am
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When you open up a Gibson CG 520, you see that the actual neck is a steel box beam
that has the nut and bridge firmly screwed to it.
Everything else is wood trim.
Blake |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 10 Sep 2005 7:04 am
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| But with an I-beam, you can just drill the top flat piece for some 3L + 3R tuners? With a channel, I guess you'd mount them to the sides and cut slots for the strings to angle down into? That seems awkward. |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 10 Sep 2005 8:27 am
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| A so-called "H" section (wide flange I-beam, also could be made by 2 channel sections back to back) would have the better structural characteristics in my estimation. A channel doesn't have a very effective "section modulus" for resisting string tension above the fretboard. A boxbeam would have good rigidity both above and across the fretboard. [This message was edited by Tom Gorr on 10 September 2005 at 09:29 AM.] |
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John Lockney
From:
New Market, Maryland, USA
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Jon Moen
From:
Canada
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Posted 15 Sep 2005 8:12 pm
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These have been mentioned quite a few times:
From Fouke Industrial Guitars
Jon[This message was edited by Jon Moen on 15 September 2005 at 09:27 PM.] |
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Per Berner
From:
Skovde, Sweden
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 2:51 am
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| That Fouke is so cool, I'm getting frost bites! |
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Ray Minich
From:
Bradford, Pa. Frozen Tundra
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 12:43 pm
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My very first steel, in 1963, was a 6 string my dad made from an oak board. One cold December Saturday morninig I rode with him into Buffalo (NY) where he used the torch and the grinder at General Chemical to cut out a profile of the oak board, in 1/4 inch thick plate steel. He then bolted the steel to the plate. I still have this "lap" steel in my attic. You don't wanna drop it, and when you pick it up you gotta grab good hold of it.
If you buy a 3 foot long section of 30 inch I beam (like bridge spans are made from), then yer steel don't need legs or a lap. Riggers to move it are optional though.[This message was edited by Ray Minich on 16 September 2005 at 01:47 PM.] |
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 16 Sep 2005 12:55 pm
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| I would imagine any metal body guitar would be very temperature sensitive. But I'd be interested in how they sound. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 19 Sep 2005 12:33 pm
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Sure, it would "work". How well it would work might depend on luck, though. With any all-metal guitar, the temperature problem would probably raise a few concerns, but barring that, I think it might sound quite ordinary, if a little bright. Most all materials have been tried at one time or another, and with varying degrees of success. I've even heard of a concrete bodied lap steel! That material proved to have the same problem as the old Bakelite Rick it was modeled after.
It broke.  |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 19 Sep 2005 2:44 pm
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| Quote: |
| I think it might sound quite ordinary, |
Come on over to the HSGA Joliet 2005 convention October 13-15, 2005... to hear these metal guitars ...
Solid Bronze:
Solid A356 Cast Aluminum:
Absolutely nothing ordinary about their sound ...
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Aiello's House of Gauss
My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield
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David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
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Posted 19 Sep 2005 7:41 pm
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| Okay, if they don't sound ordinary, how do they sound? I would imagine they would sound extremely bright, with lots of sustain, and very rich overtones. Anyone have any clips? |
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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Posted 20 Sep 2005 2:30 am
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Just a Practice song
A Roland Microcube ... no reverb or effects ... a 3 oz Hawaiian flat bar.
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Aiello's House of Gauss
My wife and I don't think alike. She donates money to the homeless and I donate money to the topless! ... R. Dangerfield
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Rick Aiello
From:
Berryville, VA USA
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