First Attempt

[seanb]

Hi All!

I'm new to both playing and building lap steels, but here are a few photos of my first attempt:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guitarfish ... 312820165/

It's a little bit rough and ready -- my carpentry and woodworking skills are fairly rudimentary -- but it seems to make an ok sound and I've been having a lot of fun learning to play it (I'm using C6 tuning). There are a number of things that I don't think I quite got right, but I guess I can fix those on the next one. I get the impression that no-one ever only builds *one* of these..... :-)

Looking forward to hearing any comments/suggestions for improvement.

Cheers,

Sean

[azureskys]

Hi Sean , looks like you got a good start there and ill bet ya your gonna build another and another , it must be a virus we catch building these things , like that saying goes betcha cant eat just one in this case its build just one lol anyway good work keep at it and be creative and enjoy . Russ ( by the way oak is a great wood for building with i use it building pedal steels

[seanb]

It's now all finished. I applied a few coats of linseed oil to bring out the grain and added a fingerboard made from pine and matchsticks. I also redesigned the nut to improve the string tension and tuning. It's rudimentary, but I'm pretty pleased with it


Lap Steel by guitarfish, on Flickr

Lap Steel by guitarfish, on Flickr

Lap Steel by guitarfish, on Flickr

[azureskys]

Hi Sean, first build ? looks pretty good to me , you ll get better as builds go by, building is like expressing your self and art wise its a learned thing , natural talent has to be developed and looks like you have a great start , congrads, looking forward to seeing many more . Russ

[seanb]

Thanks Russ. It was fun building it, and I'm now really enjoying playing it. I'm also beginning to understand the bits that I didn't get quite right. For example, the sustain could be better. I'm thinking this is probably down to the bridge and nut, so I'll be thinking of some alternatives for mark 2. The recess in the headstock isn't deep enough, so it won't quite sit flat on a table when the tuners are vertical. And the corner of the bridge is a little too sharp!

But, hey, I still can't quite get over the fact that I actually built a playable instrument in a few hours without a workshop full of specialist tools

You can hear what it sounds like over on soundcloud.

[azureskys]

your right , you dont really need a bunch of tools , a saw , drill and a file maybe , your best tool is your brain , i think you did a pretty good job and it sounds good too , the more of these things you make the more you ll wanna make, sell them give them away or just keep what you make its addictive but one things for sure you ll always have some music around you and you ll keep your mind sharp, let me encourage you to keep at it your doing very well. A little tip here might help you , if you use a round brass bar (1/2inch) at the bridge and either brass rod or aluminum angle ( at least 1/8 inch for the nut ) you ll get better sustain in my opinion anyway . Russ

[BillyJ]

I agree with Russ here. I have used bone, aluminium and brass in both nuts and bridges. Apart from sustain, Brass seems to lift the tone up completely. I will only use brass (lightly lacquered) for nuts and bridges on my lap steels now.

Billy

[BillyJ]

Sorry, forgot to mention what a great job you did. You will indeed be hooked now I reckon and probably planning the next one already.