Steel Guitar Builder

A few pics with my progress so far with the much appreciated help with the comments on my posts. I have a lot of room for improvement and it is still in the rough with a long way to go but at least is starting to look something like my vision. I put strings on and with my tuner tested the changer raise/lower by pushing in from the endplate to simulate the pulls and it seemed to work smoothly and covered 2 whole raises/lowers and returned to tuned position. The pickup will be replaced with a Lawrence 705. The neck frets I inlayed with Holy and haven't decided yet on the markers. The body of the guitar is of Black Walnut which my father and I cut about 40 years ago from the family farm which will be lacquered. Haven't done anything other than rough buffing of aluminum so far but will color it up when everything is dialed in and ready.

great job! That walnut is gorgeous!!

It looks good, I'm using 'Black Walnut' on my 2nd build.

Best Regards

Ron Mc

To echo Ross..that Walnut is gorgeous! What a beautifully grained and even coloured piece!
The rest of the guitar shows great promise!

Thanks for all the compliments on my project I have always loved the look of that walnut wood and after the finish is applied it really brings out the deep, dark color and figuring. Decided to try and inlay the frets and show the wood, couldn't put a stick-on fret board over that!
Well it is time to turn it over and start on the bottom side. With the weather turning colder my time in the shop will increase I hope and should have this thing finished in a few more months. The only really big issue left is how to make the pedals without a welder or mill.

Thanks once more,
Dave G.

Dave about making pedals without a mill.... figure out a way to make individual parts ie hollow pipe for axle hole, arm for pedal arm and pad for pedal then you screw and or weld these together. Get lined up with a good welder and he will TIG weld it for you. It would cost less than what you expect...it did for me.

Hello dgalloway nice job on your build, I came to a road block on my guitar still working on it. Steve B.

Thanks Bent, you've got my mind going again and got me thinking of different ways to solve this problem. I kept thinking of making the pedals out of a solid piece of aluminum and having to do it by hand. Sometimes I just can't see the forest for the trees.

Regards,

Dave G.

Dave -

During the early days of attempting to restore/refurbish my old Dekley, I found myself short on pedals. Trying to find one was very frustrating so I resorted to fabricating one from separate pieces. Used a piece of 5/8" square 6061 aluminum. Why 5/8"? to give some lateral stability since the pedal would pivot on a 1/4" steel pin. Made a "footpad" out of 1/4" aluminum and just used three 8-32 screws countersunk into the plate. Took a file and roughed out smooth edges such that it wouldn't chew up my shoe and sanded and polished it to a fairthewell. The 5/8" stock looked a little "clunky". You could bore some holes in it and give it an "architectural" or "formula 1" look. Would lighten it up a tad. Bent's suggestion to have things welded is the best solution. Much neater. No screwheads showing. I won't claim that it was the most elegant thing in the world but it did work. After all of that effort, I found a genuine Dekley pedal and put my creation on the shelf.

A couple of random thoughts just coming to mind: - 3/8 X 5/8 or 3/4 stock would suffice for the shaft. Would provide enough "meat" into which you'd tap holes for whatever pedal rod connection scheme you prefer. Weld a meaty block to the pivot end for lateral stability. If the welder is halfway proficient, you could dress up the fillet with a rat-tail file and then a dowel with sandpaper to clean things up. You might consider drilling an array of some shallow "dimples" into the face of the pad in an effort to provide a little "friction" as opposed to a slick surface. Hope that this stimulates your imagination just a little.

I'd venture to say that this would be considerably less costly than scouting up pedals designed for another guitar and adapting them to your purpose. You're obviously a fine craftsman and could come up with something much more elegant than my first, abortive attempt. Forge ahead, my friend - you've got the makings of a really fine looking instrument at hand.

Oh - one last thought. You're obviously going to put a pad on the backside of the instrument. Instead of settling for the smooth, "patent-leather" look for the cover, look, instead, for an "embossed" vinyl. I found one with a paisley-print - very subdued but with "character".

Richard

Been awhile since I posted any pics or progress, so here are some examples. The underside is more functional rather than for show. Being this is my first build, I am more focused on it working and sounding the way it should and will replace all bellcranks with machined parts later when I acquire a mill, not to mention making new endplates. Only thing left to do is the pad and I like Richard's idea of going with something other than standard plan smooth leather, might even go crazy with something like brown and white cowhide with the hair on it or buckskin, but probably what ever the wife says is best