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Topic: Unusual homemade lap steel on Ebay |
Roman Sonnleitner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 28 Oct 2006 2:01 pm |
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Auction on eBay.
- just found this while browsing Ebay. Seems to be the perfect choice for piano players getting into lap steels, but the tuning system does not seem to be very practical...[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 28 October 2006 at 04:03 PM.] |
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 28 Oct 2006 2:09 pm
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| Those markers are actually in the standard fret marker position (3, 5, 7, 10, 12----yes 10, not 9---I have seen this before on European fretboards--I cannot explain it). I will assume that the resemblance to a keyboard is just a 'visual pun' as it were. |
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Randy Cordle
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 28 Oct 2006 5:34 pm
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| Nothing like a good ol' e-bay spoof to lighten up the day, eh? (It is a spoof isn't it? Say it ain't so, ma...) |
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Richard Sevigny
From:
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
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Posted 28 Oct 2006 8:20 pm
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LOL
The hand painted "key/fretboard" is hilarious.
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 28 Oct 2006 9:49 pm
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| Were you to ask me, I think the whole mess is hilarious including the crude lettering "HO MADE" ... Perhaps the son of Frankenstein might be interested. |
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Mike D
From:
Phx, Az
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Posted 29 Oct 2006 7:32 am
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You guys are missing the point. These are made by women trying to work their way out of the, um...'oldest profession'. some kind soul is teaching them a legitimate trade (OK it's lutherie, so it's semi-legitimate) as a way to get them off the streets. 
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Half-assed bottleneck and lap slide player. Full-assed Builder of resonator instruments.
[This message was edited by Mike D on 29 October 2006 at 07:32 AM.] |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 29 Oct 2006 5:53 pm
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| Yeah, there was a place in Frankfurt called "ten mark park". |
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Eric McEuen
From:
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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Posted 30 Oct 2006 5:51 pm
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It's no spoof. And what's worse? Just as the picture shows, there are two of them.
I have eBay automatically e-mail me about new lap steel listings. When I saw this, I did a double-take...then a triple-take. I'm working on the fourth right now. 
Here are the two listings in English. Same picture, but they refer to the TOP and BOTTOM guitars in the picture.
TOP
BOTTOM
"unique Ho-Made lever-fulcrum action tuners and sliding pickup mount for infinite tonal adjustment...."
...say what? 
Eric |
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Roman Sonnleitner
From:
Vienna, Austria
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Posted 31 Oct 2006 2:34 am
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Well, frankly I don't share the negative opinions about these steels - I really find the design and some of the construction details interesting - esp. the tuning system - quite clever, but probably not too practical, since you'll need a screwdriver for tuning; the sliding pickup is also a good idea, since that way you can get different sounds from a single-pickup instrument; I have seen this concept used before on regular electric guitars .
I also like that fretboard desing, with the spacing of the "keys" corresponding to the fretboard on a lap steel - funny design idea.[This message was edited by Roman Sonnleitner on 31 October 2006 at 02:35 AM.] |
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Eric McEuen
From:
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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Posted 31 Oct 2006 10:40 am
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Sorry if I sounded harsh in my post. I was having fun with the bizarre looks of these steels. Maybe the humor didn't come through like I intended.
I actually like these things. I enjoy unique/homemade instruments, and I proudly play a homemade lap steel with pitch-change levers that I bought several months ago. (I'll post about that steel when I get some pictures of it.) In fact, the tuning end of these steels looks a lot like the changer on mine.
I gave a thought to buying one of these, but the "Ho-Made" turns me off (and I can't really spend the money anyway). I think the "keyboard" look is fun, though. And from the seller's answer to a scale-length question (now posted on the TOP auction page), it's clear some thought went into these. |
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