Lap & Non Pedal Console Widths

[Ophir]

Hi everyone.
New here. I have made a couple of lap steel guitars and now looking at making a single neck 8 string console non pedal steel on 4 legs (maybe 3 legs) and also looking at making double neck 8 string console. I like the looks of Georgeboards, Western Steel Guitars and also Canopus single and double neck steels.
My console will be about 32 inches long, maybe 1 3/4 thick but I am having problems working out how wide I should make the body.
Can someone suggest how wide I should go? I know double neck Fender Stringmasters were about 9 inches wide but can someone give me some ideas of lengths,widths depths of single and double 8 string necks like georgeboards or the others I mentioned above. I will be using metal stepped keyheads on both single and double neck consoles. At the nut end of keyhead, the keyhead is about 5 1/2 wide so 6 inch body width is too narrow.
I was thinking for single neck maybe 8 inches. for double neck I was thinking of maybe 15 or 16 inches across both necks/bodies. Any suggestions appreciated.

[Don McGregor]

I've so far finished one single 8 console, and I spent over a year obsessing over different designs and dimensions before I finally decided I had it close enough that I would have few regrets once it was built.
I ended up using 8-1/4" width for the body, which is 1" thick, to which I attached a 3/4" thick wooden neck, which is 6-1/2" at its widest part where the pickup, bridge, and controls are located. (I put volume and tone controls on this one, both within pinkie finger reach of the first string. With no controls, I could have made it 5-12" inches wide.)
The neck, itself, is 3-7/8" wide, and on top of that, I added a 1/4" thick fretboard that wound up being 3-1/8" wide with the binding.
I arrived at these arbitrary dimensions after choosing pickup (wide mount Jerry Wallace Trutone w/3/8" pole spacing), bridge design, control positions, and keyhead width (5-1/2" from outside of tuners 1 & 6).
Being a boat paddle shaped, Bigsbyish neck design, I wanted to leave enough meat in the wood at either end of the pickup and beside the controls so I wouldn't worry about any weakness at that point.
Then I just made the body just enough wider than the widest part of the neck assemble to look good, and leave room to round over the edges of the body.
I am very happy with the way this project turned out, and am now in the planning stage of a double 8 and a double 10. Like this over all design, and will be morphing it into similar double necks. In the case of double necks, choice and layout of controls will dictate to some degree how wide the body needs to be. If there are no controls, or they are behind the bridge, necks and bodies can obviously be narrower, but you still have to factor in things like control cavities and recesses for leg sockets.
Hope this helps. And hope to see pictures of your projects.
Here's a picture of my first.

Top view Back Side 8384-.jpg (293.47 KiB) Viewed 4506 times

[Ophir]

That's a nice looking console Don. Thanks for your message. Yeah I was thinking about 8 inch to 8 1/2 inch so 8 1/4 inch would be good. I have legs here and also some leg plates from Gary Sill. Would you just bore a hole for the centre of leg plates and screw on or would you insert the hole leg plate into the wood?

[Don McGregor]

You can just face mount the leg inserts to the bottom of the body, but I think the preferred way is to flip them upside down, and rout a shallow round hole to receive them. I made a 3' router template by slicing a 3/4" piece of pvc plumbing pipe, then tracing around it on a 3/4" thick piece of plywood. I then cut out the round hole in the plywood, and dropped the PVC slice into it. This made a quick and easy template for routing the correct size hole with a flush cutting router bit. Then also drill & chisel out a smaller deeper cavity in the middle of the circle for the part of Sill's insert that protrudes.
This is a much stronger connection, more elegant, and also, if you get the depth right, you can set the steel minus its legs down on a delicate surface without worrying about scratching it with hardware.

[Don McGregor]

That was the only photo I could find of insert routing. After this photo was taken, I drilled and chiseled out a slope sided hole in the center of each to accept the raised part.
I will say that I had a heck of time, and some tense moments trying to actually fit all this hardware into a 1" thick body with this width and this design. I did a string through, plus a jack mounted on the butt, so I had to plan for getting the wiring through a maze of inserts and their screws, bridge screws, and the strings, while still leaving enough clear space to actually mount the inserts. My steel is 36" long, and I could have shortened it a little at either end, but partly I wanted some serious wood behind the bridge for strength where all the pull is. I also just like the guitarish look of more body behind there, and also this gave me the space I needed for the inserts.
Keep us posted. I am very curious to see what you come up with.
Don

[Ophir]

Thanks for your messages and pictures. Much appreciated. Will post some photos when I finally get started

[lphleger]

Great looking guitar, Don. I was wondering what material you used for the fretboard. I am in the process of building a D10 console myself.

[Don McGregor]

Thank you. So as not to hijack this thread about widths, I will PM you with more detail. However, this, my first, is made of 1/4" Purple Heart, with Maple veneer slotted on edge into it for fret markers, Stewmac Curly Maple binding, and MOP dots.