Steel Guitar Builder

Has anyone ever mounted a soapbar P90? Do they get screwed right to the body of the instrument or does something go in between? I need to look for suitable screws too. StewMac has them but I don't want to pay their shipping and handling charges for just two tiny screws!!!

Anything you can tell me about your experience with one of these things would be great. I love the sound of them so I really want to use it in a lap steel I am close to getting finished.

Regards, Allan.....

Allan this info probably comes too late..... but I just found about this forum from a link over at SGF.
I have found that P90's are mounted several different ways. Dog ears are screwed in the wood, but are usually suspended in a bracket that has tabs that hook over the wood on each of the ends. The triangle part of the the dog ear cover sits over those tabs.
The soap bar has a true rectangle shape. The mounting screws are contained inside the perimeter of the coil , positioned between the pole pieces, between strings 2 and 3 and between strings 4 and 5. Soaps are usually screwed into the wood. To make the height adjustable, springs, tubing, or foam is variously used. Some, have a suspended basket, but are attached through the pick guard with screws that are adjustable, like a strat pickup.
Kent Armstrong includes springs and screws that are meant to be screwed directly into the wood..... and If I remember correctly so does Jason Lollar.

That is scarey! Just today I finally got to the stage of preparing to mount this soap bar so I went out to the local railway modelers store and found a brass,countersunk bolt that fits perfectly. I have made a base plate to fit in the bottom of the rout and tomorrow I will drill and tap it to suit the bolts.

Thanks for the response Gary.


Regards, Allan.....