Steel Guitar Builder

I had a 'chunk' of oak and decided to try my hand at a lap steel, the pickups and machine heads were salvaged from a 'cheapie' electric and the fret board was a thin piece of mahogany.

I am presently in the process of attempting a 10 string pedal steel and may have to approach you all for advice.

Ron Mc

Nice lines. It's a pleasing, interesting shape.
How are the legs attached?

Hi Don, thank you for your comments, the legs are stainless steel tubes, I made up inserts with a screwed stud fitted, then modified three sockets that were designed for securing hanger rails in wardrobes by machining and fitting inserts with a female thread.

The legs unscrew in the same fashion as the legs on pedal steels, I will take a couple of photo's and post them on the site if you wish.

Best Regards Ron Mc

Hi Don, here is a couple of shots of the underside and the leg attatchments.

Ron

Now, that is a wonderful piece-of-art; such a wonderful shape and overall workmanship!
I only wonder why you put the output on the backside; wouldn't it have been better to place it either at the front or aside, close to the control console? And the black holes, is one of them meant to place your tonebar upright? I hope not.
Anyway, if the sound and sustain are as good as the looks, you made yourself a wonderfully crafted musical instrument.
How about playing it, do you have any experience in that yet? And how about the legs, are they steady enough?

All the best,
Harry

Hi Harry, I placed the jack socket in that position simply because there was a fixing hole there from the woods previous life, (whatever that had been) and it seemed the easiest way out.

The two 'black' holes are for keeping the finger picks in, one hole wouldn't have been large enough and there was no room to make a larger one in the finished shape. In hindsight I should have obtained a more suitable wood as oak is very grainy but I thought filling the grain would have detracted from the look of wood and not knowing if my efforts would be a success as far as being a musical instrument I decided just to 'go for it'.

The two pickups give a variety of tones but I think one would have been sufficient, I also think I should have made the fret markings in white but we will know next time. I am slowly picking up the method of playing and have bought a book on basic lap steel and being retired it helps fill in time.

Regards Ron Mc

Your use of oak wood is execellent, ive used it for years in building instruments from violins ,dulcimers to steel guitars pedal and non pedal , its not the prettiest of woods but has tremendous strength and tonal qualities, down here in louisiana we have several different species of oak woods , some are very very hard to work because of its hardness swamp oak with black mineral streaks in it or pin oak is extremly hard , much harder than maple , looks like you have red oak there which is fine for an instrument, anyway i like your work , very nice .Russ

Thank you very much Russ, your encouragement is appreciated.

Ron Mc

Hi Ron, great job

Hi Ron,

Looks great.

A bit like a Gretsch or a Fender, bet it has great sustain