Wand 1 - My first lap steel build

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Jif
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Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:54 pm
Location: Scotland

Wand 1 - My first lap steel build

Post by Jif »

Finally at last, after a delay of about 2 years I've started construction of my first Lap Steel build. I've been trying to retire the past couple of years, might happen next year hopefully, but I've been busy getting my house and garden to a point where I don't have to do any more major work. Just about there, so I now have a bit of spare time to do this.

Decided to start a new topic for this, as the original is a bit dated now.

I'm using 2 walnut 3/4" boards which will be glued together once they're cut to shape. The "fretboard" will be maple to give a nice contrast. I've more or less worked out how I want it to be once finished, just have to get on with it now. I intend to wind my own pups and I've got a few ideas re body resonance but I've still to work out the detail on that, so it'll develop as I go.

So, started on the bottom board, here are some photos of where I've got to.

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First Rough Cut

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Body Shape

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Head Shape
Last edited by Jif on Mon Oct 13, 2014 4:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jif
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:54 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1

Post by Jif »

Using the router, I've rounded off the neck area on the board to 10mm from the side. The top board will start where the curve ends, so the bottom board will sit 10mm proud of the top board. This pretty much applies to the whole guitar except at the body where the full width of the both boards will be used.

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Neck rounded off both sides

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Close up of neck

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Curve into the body
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Jif
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Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:54 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1

Post by Jif »

Finally for now, I've rough cut out the shape of the head. Eventually this will be curved etc but that's later. I'll probably rough cut the top board next and fine up both together before joining them.

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Head rough cut

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Finished for tonight :)
maxi19
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Re: Wand 1

Post by maxi19 »

Nice piece of wood Geoff, keep us posted on the progress.

Best Regards
Ron Mc
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Jif
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Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1

Post by Jif »

Will do Ron. Now I've got started it'll hopefully progress quite quickly now.
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Jif
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:54 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1

Post by Jif »

Here are my plans for this build. I started by printing out the string & scale diagram and built the rest of the guitar around it. I stuck to a basic Stringmaster scale & string spacing so, the scale is 24.5" and the string width is 2-3/8” at the nut and 2-5/8” at the bridge. That's a spacing of 11/32” at the nut and 3/8” at the bridge.

I generated the print for the neck @ http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/

And used useful info from Bluestems Strings @ http://bluestemstrings.com/BluestemLapS ... gChart.pdf and http://bluestemstrings.com/BluestemLapS ... gGuide.pdf

I'm thinking of using split single coil pups, which will be the other way around to the plan after consulting some pup winders at the very useful site - url below, i.e. On the bridge pup the coil covering the 4 low strings will be nearest to the bridge and the coil covering the top 4 strings will be farthest from the bridge.

http://music-electronics-forum.com/f11/


Overall Plan

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Body - The round face plate will be a piece of maple ply that I've made by glueing 4 pieces of maple veneer together and clamping them between 2 pieces of hardboard, it measures about 2.5mm thick. The control panel plate at the back was made in a similar fashion except from 4 pieces of walnut veneer on the top and 2 pieces of maple veneer on the bottom, measuring about 3.3mm.

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Head

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The top board is shorter than the bottom board, it stops just after the string feed holes in the body. The bottom board extends on and will house the electronics and controls in the cut out space. I've still to cut the boards on the body side to size, I've left them uncut so far as it has been handy to have a straight edge for the side routing.
Last edited by Jif on Mon Oct 13, 2014 4:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Jif
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Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1

Post by Jif »

So onto the top board. I've rough cut this to size and routed the neck sides. The routed channel on the bottom of the board, is approx. 7mm high and 1.2mm deep. There will be a maple band in-layed into this channel, I've put a small piece of maple into the channel to give an idea of the effect, not cut exactly to size!!

Here's some pictures of progress.

Top Board Rough Cut and routed

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Both boards with maple band piece

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Jif
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Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1

Post by Jif »

Head Both Boards

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Board Edge Routing

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Inlay Closeup

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Next some small jobs and then head shaping :)
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Jif
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Location: Scotland

Re: Wand 1 - My first lap steel build

Post by Jif »

Still in progress, just a bit cold in the attic workshop right now. Hopefully get back to it soon :)
jonsey
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Re: Wand 1 - My first lap steel build

Post by jonsey »

Good work looks like you know what your doing ,hope to see more posts soon (it is getting warmer I think) Good Luck with the rest of your build. Gary
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