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Some of my earlier work.
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:45 pm
by ljs
Hi All,
New member just recently and I thought that I might post some pictures of my earlier lap stels. These first two pictures are of my very first excursion into lap steel building. It looks really rough I know, but I found the neck, body and tuners in a trash hopper at my place of employment before I retired and I thought it had possibilities. Whoever started the project apparently bought the neck, tuners and originally it had a Telecaster type bridge on it. They had gotten a piece of Textolite for the body which is a very hard dense manmade insulating material used for circuit boards, etc. I have since put my own bridge on it. It is a through the body with a pickup I got free from a local music store. It just has a cheap nut riser on it. This is my first time at posting pictures so here goes. Sorry about the rotated picture.
- Front view2 (Small).JPG (32.85 KiB) Viewed 1983 times
- Front Body (Small).JPG (39.72 KiB) Viewed 1983 times
Re: Some of my earlier work.
Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 8:47 pm
by ljs
Here is some more. This one is made of Hard Maple and it was my second lap steel, first 8 String. It's not the prettiest thing, but it did play well. A little improvement from the first one. I was playing a GFI 10 string at the time so I made this with the same scale length and string spacing as the GFI. I put the original Barcus Berry PU from the GFI in it and it also worked well.
LaVern
- '04 8 strg .JPG (21.18 KiB) Viewed 1966 times
- #3 Key head.JPG (39.92 KiB) Viewed 1966 times
- #6 PU bridge .JPG (39.01 KiB) Viewed 1966 times
Re: Some of my earlier work.
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:27 pm
by ljs
Here is the third of my lap steel projects. I made it during the winter of 2007. It came out a little better than the previous two, though I don't care for the shape that much. I think the body has too much of a flat on the end, and I don't particularly like the neck to keyhead transition. It's made of White Ash that my brother and I harvested from my father's original dairy farm here in Erie County, Pa. I used all water based finish on it. The fret board is dyed/painted on, with pin-striping from an auto-body shop. I used mother of pearl for markers. It is a 22.5" scale length and a 3/8" parallel string spacing. It has a Wallace TT pick-up which I am very happy with, Grover tuners. For the bridge and nut I used 1/2" steel stock purchased at the local hardware store. It is thru-the-body string mount. It had a wider neck on it when I first built it but I cut it down because I was having problems seeing where the top string was while playing it. I just couldn't get used to it the way it was originally. Though I like the look before I cut it down better.
I used Red Oak for the tuner mounts, which I screwed onto the head from behind. I saw on another post I believe someone questioned whether any problems were found mounting the tuners like this. I have had no issues yet, though I know that a pedal steel may have more issues due to the raising and lowering of the strings, whereas the tension on a lap steel is fairly constant.
Now before any body asks, I don't have a way of recording or posting a sound clip, nor would anyone wish to hear my playing of one of these. I definitely can't play these things, but I do enjoy building them.
- 1 Full Frt B4 8strg 2007 .JPG (21.57 KiB) Viewed 1941 times
- 2 Full front view.JPG (23.01 KiB) Viewed 1941 times
- 3 Keyhead .JPG (37.56 KiB) Viewed 1941 times
Re: Some of my earlier work.
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:33 pm
by Bent
LaVerne, your projects look great. You sure have a sense for detail and fine workmanship. I love what I see and please know that your ideas will be an asset to this forum.
Re: Some of my earlier work.
Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:36 pm
by ljs
Bent,
Thanks so much for your kind remarks and encouragement. After browsing around here for a while, I do say that there is an awful lot of talent, skilled craftsfolk, and creativity here. I'm am sure this forum will be a large part of my schooling when it comes to my projects. I am so amazed by what I have seen and read on here, that I am somewhat hesitant to post my pictures, but I guess we all have to start somewhere, and I haven't seen a better place yet. I do hope that I will have some good to contribute to this forum. I have one more completed project to post, and a picture of my next one in progress. I'll get to those in a bit. Thanks again and I look forward to spending time learning and sharing on this forum.
LaVern