Lap Steel Project 2

[Paul Lafountaine]

Well, here are some pictures of my second lap steel project that I am in the process of building. It will be a C6, 8 string console when finished. It is made of pine which is not a good choice of building materials, but I look at this as a prototype or practice run for my next project. As with the first project, I made a few mistakes and learned a lot. I definitely need to buy a band saw.

Paul

[Bent]

Paul, this looks good so far! The pine might surprise you as being a good tone wood. One just never knows. Looking forward to seeing this one develop. Progress pics aplenty, please!

[Eldon]

Paul, great to see photos. Looks like it's turning into a mighty fine piece of work. Pedal to the metal, keep at her.

[BillyJ]

Hey, looks good mate. I've used Hoop Pine here in Australia and tone has been good and not bad to work with. You would be using a different pine but you may be really surprised. Once again, looking real good _Paul

Billy

[BillyJ]

Mind me asking what thickness for body and neck piece?
I am putting a console together also and was just wondering what thickness to go with this one. I will be using 1/2 inch for neck piece and for body was thinking maybe 1 1/4. Havent made up my mind yet.

[Paul Lafountaine]

Hi Billy from Northern Ontario, Canada. Thanks for the nice comments. I'm hoping to put a coat of stain on it this evening. Anyway, the body portion is made of 3/4" pine. I went with this thickness because of the key head. The fret board is 1/4" thick giving me a 1/2" height from the strings to the fret board. The cabinet is made of 3/4" pine as well. The dimensions of the cabinet are 37-1/2" long, 7-1/4" wide, and 2-3/4' deep. I am using a 23-1/2" scale from bridge to nut. When I post some more pictures I will show the under side so you can see what I've done.

Paul

[Paul Lafountaine]

Hey Billy, the neck not body piece is 3/4" pine. sorry for the mistake. I started staining and I am not happy with the results. Could end up spraying with a black lacquer....crap.

Paul

[BillyJ]

Yeah a couple of my lap steels have ended up painted a solid colour in the past too.
Its a bugger mate. You're working away thinking "Hey this is going well" then some bloody little gremlin sneaks in and messes things up. Unfortunately, that happens a lot to me. However, at my age now I just accept things as they occur and try to find a solution to the problem (no not a chemical solution that would blow the work to pieces. You feel that way sometimes though)

[azureskys]

I like that ,nice shape beautiful work i must say also . Russ

[Paul Lafountaine]

Hi guys! I just wanted to thank you all for the compliments. Bent, Eldon, Billy, and Russ, you fellows have been so supportive and I really appreciate the encouragement. I'm already looking forward to completing this one and have a few ideas racing through my head for the next one. I started staining on Monday using a Minwax wood finish. It is suppose to stain and seal the wood. The portion I cut out for the key head, neck, and pickup and bridge, the top piece, did not stain well. It seemed to darken more in some places. However the cabinet doesn't look to bad. If I ever use pine again I will just seal and put a few coats of clear varnish over it.

When I commented that pine was not the best choice of woods I was referring to the fact that it is a very soft wood and I can see the string tension causing the guitar to arch in time. As I said before, these are like prototypes, practice for the next one. The keepers will be the ones with the sound I like. Thanks again everyone, more pictures to come soon.

Paul