My first lap steel
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 4:45 pm
I have been working on an 8-string C6 lap steel for a while now, when time and the winter weather allow. That garage workshop is pretty chilly. I've decided to use reclaimed timber throughout. The body is Brazilian mahogany from old door frames from an old folks' home. I had to put the pieces together edge to edge using glue and dowels.
The join is concealed by 1/4 inch strips of Honduran mahogany - much lighter in colour - from an old bed headboard. This was mouldering away in the back of a barn at my wife's livery stable where she keeps her horses. Under the peeling veneer was this beautiful rare wood, you don't see it imported any more. I cut up the rest to make two pedal steel bodies.
The fretboard is a piece of oak - an offcut - from a recycling centre. I cut the fret grooves on my mill with a 1.8mm bit. The "frets" are ebony stringing from a marquetry supplier. The fret markers are 8mm, 6mm and 5mm black mother of pearl dots from Pietra Dura, a UK supplier. These photos show the fretboard after insetting the frets and dots, and rough sanding. I plan to inlay a bird at the end of the fretboard between the 24th fret and the pickup.
For me, the pleasure is in exploring what I can do, discovering techniques and making tools as I go.
The join is concealed by 1/4 inch strips of Honduran mahogany - much lighter in colour - from an old bed headboard. This was mouldering away in the back of a barn at my wife's livery stable where she keeps her horses. Under the peeling veneer was this beautiful rare wood, you don't see it imported any more. I cut up the rest to make two pedal steel bodies.
The fretboard is a piece of oak - an offcut - from a recycling centre. I cut the fret grooves on my mill with a 1.8mm bit. The "frets" are ebony stringing from a marquetry supplier. The fret markers are 8mm, 6mm and 5mm black mother of pearl dots from Pietra Dura, a UK supplier. These photos show the fretboard after insetting the frets and dots, and rough sanding. I plan to inlay a bird at the end of the fretboard between the 24th fret and the pickup.
For me, the pleasure is in exploring what I can do, discovering techniques and making tools as I go.