instructables.com - building a basic lap steel guitar
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
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Building a basic lap steel guitarby friger on January 16, 2011
Table of Contents
Building a basic lap steel guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Intro: Building a basic lap steel guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Step 1: Got wood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Step 2: Squaring things up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Step 3: Laying out the head stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Step 4: Making the cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Step 5: Transition time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 6: The head shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 7: Don't fret the small things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Step 8: Time to pick it up a bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Step 9: Dealing with cavities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Step 10: Control freak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Step 11: The cover up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Step 12: And sometimes "bleep" happens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Step 13: Let's get wired . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Step 14: Getting a bit of bridge work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Step 15: Boom! Head shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Step 16: The finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Step 17: And we are done. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
Author:frigerI live on the east coast of Canada. I have been tinkering and building things all my life and still manage to learn something new and exciting every day.
Intro: Building a basic lap steel guitar
In this, my first Instructable, I will attempt to chronicle the construction of a simple Lap Steel guitar. Disclaimer; power tools and sharp cutting tools will be used and I takeno responsibility for people who use these things carelessly, read and understand manufacture's instructions and safety guidelines for their proper and safe use. I wouldalso like to acknowledge the web site Buildyourownguitar.com for providing the basic guide lines I followed,http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lapsteel/index.htm
Here is a list of tools and materials I used in this build in no particular order, of course you are free to substitute any where you wish:1 piece Maple 32" X 4" X 3/4"1 Piece pine 32" X 4" X 3/4"2 pieces of maple 18" X 3/4" X 1/8"1 piece walnut 18" X 3/4" X 1/8"several small bits of maple mostly 4" X 2" X 1/8" (pick-up cover plate and control plate)2 pieces aluminum L channel, 2 1/4" X 1/2" X 3/4" ( bridge and nut)1each 250 K volume pot1each 1/4" phone jack1 single coil pick up with adjustment screws and springsCarpenters glue2 part epoxy6 tuner heads, 3 left, 3 right5/8" #6 pan head screwstuner head screwsSand paper, 60, 100, 150 and 600 grittable sawmiter sawjoinerdrill presscordless drillmany clampsflush cut hand sawdove tail sawwood raspseveral filesCabinet scrapperdigital caliperstape measure18" steel ruleFrench curverotary tool with steel burr and sanding drums.Safety glassesassorted drill bitslots of imaginationan occasional adult beverage of your choosing (I do not endorse drinking and operating tools)lacquer0000 steel woolone set of electric guitar stringschiselsblock planesaddle square and combination square
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
Step 1: Got wood?Ideally you would be using a solid 1 1/2 " plank for this project but since the costs can be prohibitive I went with a laminated blank, the top half is maple, the bottom half isclear pine. Cut your boards 32" long and 4" wide, then if you are using a 2 part construction method glue and clamp them together. I use LePage's carpenter glue but youcan use what ever you like.
Image Notes1. you can never have too many clamps
Image Notes1. wood gloat, check out the tiger stripping on this maple. I got it right out of therack at my local borg store
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Step 2: Squaring things upAfter the glue has had about 24 hours to cure you can square up the blank. I use a joiner and chop saw to do this however you can just as easily use a hand plane andhand saw.
Image Notes1. looks like I could use a new blade for my table saw
Image Notes1. That's better, the joiner makes short work of this job.
Step 3: Laying out the head stockIn this step I lay out the head stock in preparation for material removal.
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Image Notes1. I do this so that I always know what edge I am going to square my layoutlines from. This avoids problems down the road.
Image Notes1. Mark your center line, another very useful reference and remember to extendit down the ends too.
Image Notes1. This line shows the material to be removed and the x's remind you which sideof the line to cut on. Leave about 9/16" for the head stock.
Image Notes1. The line 7" back represents where the head stock ends and the 5 1/2" linerepresents the the point where the transition to the neck/body begins.
Image Notes1. For those following at home, this is the width of the end of the head.
Image Notes1. Buy a "French" curve, it will give you consistent results, the end result is asmooth transition line.
Step 4: Making the cutAt this point you should be ready to remove the bulk of the material on the head to bring it close to the finished thickness.
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Image Notes1. Secure the blank to a solid work surface.
Image Notes1. If you start your cuts like this you will always get a square cut.
Image Notes1. The back cut is done.
Image Notes1. This is one method of removing the material, a band saw would work evenbetter.
Image Notes1. This is the method I used, a good quality dove tail hand saw and some patientswill yield good results.
Image Notes1. This task is done, and I am happy with the results.
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Step 5: Transition timeThe area where the head meets the neck requires some careful attention, it is easy to mess up the whole job here. Again, a band saw would make quick work of this, butI chose to use a sharp chisel and hammer.
Image Notes1. This is where using pine as the back will work to your advantage, it is muchsofter and easier to remove the material.
Image Notes1. Sneaking up to the line, don't be in a rush here.
Image Notes1. This is as close as you need get with the chisel, you will clean the rest of it upwith rasps and files.
Step 6: The head shapeAt this stage we are ready to cut the taper on the head and clean up the back side. Here a hand saw, rasp and file will be used followed by sand paper.
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Image Notes1. Once again start the cut on the angle to ensure a square edge when youare done.
Image Notes1. The rough cut is done.
Image Notes1. The finish shaping is done using a rasp, followed by a file then sand paper.
Image Notes1. The transition area has been filed to the line and here I also used some epoxyas a grain filler. I do this because the end grain of the pine I exposed will absorbthe final finish at a different rate to the maple. The epoxy prevents this. Caution,epoxy won't take stain, so if you plan on using stain, use the grain fillerrecommended by the stain manufacturer.2. This bark inclusion wasn't visible on the wood surface, oh well, it addscharacter.
Step 7: Don't fret the small thingsThe nice thing about a lap steel guitar is that the fret board can be super simple or non existent at all. You don't need to install fret wire and if it isn't perfectly flat orcrowned it doesn't matter. Here I am trying to decide if I should use walnut or some lovely bird's eye maple I had on hand. Since they both looked good I decided to usethem both. You could assemble the fret board right on the guitar or do as I did and glue it up and mark it off before I attached it to the guitar. The end product should be 21/4" wide by 1/8" to 1/4" thick by about 18" long, it is better to go long and trim later. Also, a word about scale length, I will be using a 22 1/2" scale length with 25 fretpositions. This link has a great fret calculator. http://www.sirgalahad.org/paul/fretcalc.html
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Image Notes1. Walnut?
Image Notes1. Maple?
Image Notes1. These are cedar shims I used to apply lateral pressure to the strips. Epoxydoesn't need much clamping pressure so go gentle.
Image Notes1. Fresh out of the clamps.
Image Notes1. Be sure to do your glue up on a dead flat surface that has some sort of glueproof barrier. I use packing tape, nothing sticks to packing tap.
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Image Notes1. Because the center walnut strip was thicker than the maple I needed to bringit down to the same thickness. You could use any number of methods to do thisbut I prefer the control I get from using a small block plane.
Image Notes1. this is how things looked after final sanding and scrapping.2. Invest in a cabinet or card scrapper, it will pay for it's self in the savings frombuying sandpaper. It also leaves a finish that cannot be equaled.
Image Notes1. Because I don't intend to use fret wire I simply laid out the frets and drewthem on with a good quality India Ink pen.
Image Notes1. I know the lines are faint, as they should be at this stage, but this is exactlywhere the fret board will go. I took the time to sand and scrape the surface of theguitar before hand.
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Image Notes1. I use a good quality painter's tape along the outline of where the fret boardwill go. That way any squeeze out of the glue won't stain the wood.
Image Notes1. You also need to really burnish down the edges of the tape to prevent gluefrom migrating under it and again staining you wood.2. Fret dots are a very personal preference, here I used my standard which is thehead of a Robertson's screw heated and used as a branding iron. Dots go on the3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, two on the 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, and so on. You will see lateron that I changed this to a more unique set of markers.
Image Notes1. Did I mention you can never have too many clamps? Remember that at thisstage you need to use pads under your clamps to prevent scaring the finishedwood.
Image Notes1. This is roughly how things will look.
Step 8: Time to pick it up a bitNow is the time to start thinking about how the electronics are going to work, in this step I show the process I went through to make the pick-up cover plate. I started byusing a 1/8" X 2" X 4" piece of maple I had left from the fret board. It is important to have extra of what ever stock you are going to use because this step is deceptivelydifficult to pull off in one go. Lay out must be accurate and your cuts need to be clean. I'll let you get the exact dimensions from the link I posted in the intro. I used avariety of tools here, a drill press, a rotary tool with a steel burr attachment a copping saw and a variety of files and rasps.
Image Notes1. The better your lay out, the better the end product.
Image Notes1. The rough cut is done, a drill press to cut holes near the ends and a coppingsaw to cut the opening. From there it was the rotary tool to bring the cuts to theline and files to go the final distance.
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Image Notes1. I suppose I could have used a saw to cut the outside shape but since thingsare getting delicate at this point I felt it was safer to use a rasp, files and sandpaper to get the shape I wanted.
Image Notes1. This is the fit I was after, it can't be too tight because the pick up needs to beadjustable up and down.
Image Notes1. Proof of concept2. First try, I think I must have been drunk when I did this.3. Getting close but no cigar yet.4. There we go, just right.
Step 9: Dealing with cavitiesCutting the cavity for the pick up is where things have the potential to go terribly wrong. Once again be sure of your lay out and where on the guitar neck it will go. Thereare all kinds of theories about the perfect placement of a pick up that you don't need to get into. What you need to know is what space do you have available to workwith? Since the scale length is 22 1/2" then we know the bridge will be exactly 22 1/2" from the nut. we also know where our fret board ends, since you have glued it onby now. So, pick a spot about half way between the bridge and the end of the fret board.
Here I used a drill press and a 3/4" bit, use a bit that has a flat face, something like a forsner(sp?).You will remove most of the material with this and work to the lay out lines with a hammer and chisel. I set my drill press to cut to a depth of 3/4" but you can go only 5/8"deep if you wish.
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Image Notes1. The opening should be about 1/32" larger all around than the pick-up you areusing.
Image Notes1. Perfect
Step 10: Control freakIn this step I'll show how I created the cavity for the volume pot and cord jack. As with all things, begin with locating where on the guitar you want to place the controls. Since this guitar will be played right hand, I placed the controls on the side facing away from the player. I started with physically placing the components on the blankand deciding how much space I need to provide for them. After that it was only a matter of centering the space on the blank and drilling out the cavity.
Like with the pick-up cavity I used a drill press to remove the material. I found there was no need to do any chisel work here because the components were round. Besure you drill deep enough for the guitar cord to plug in without the end striking the bottom of the hole. I then went ahead and drilled a 1/4" hole at an angle from thecontrol cavity into the pick up cavity to run the wires.
Image Notes1. This little puppy is a saddle square, Lee Valley sells them at a good price andonce you have one you'll love it.
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Image Notes1. Works for me
Image Notes1. If The Force is with you, you'll pop out in the pick up cavity right in themiddle.
Step 11: The cover upWith the control cavity done and every thing tested for fit, I set to making the cover plate for the controls. I decided to go with maple that matches the pick up cover plate. I decided how long it should be and where parts would come through. then it was just a matter of drilling the holes and doing some sanding.
Image Notes1. About 1/8" thick
Image Notes1. This is what the public will see.
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Image Notes1. Every thing is being test fitted. Also a sneak peak at the graphics. I am first andfore most a cigarbox guitar builder so I can't not do something to reflect that.
Step 12: And sometimes "bleep" happens.Now is the time to wax philosophically on the nature of building with plant materials. Mistakes happen and it is the nature of wood to show it's displeasure at being madeto do something it really doesn't want to. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn, like in this case, I learned many new ways to say "Oh S$#@".I decided I was not going to spend another 5 hours making a new pick up cover plate, the crack was clean and my epoxy good, so repair it I did. It turned out OK.
Image Notes1. Oops.
Image Notes1. You can just see the edge of the packing tape I use as a glue barrier.
Image Notes1. Meanwhile, I used the time while I waited for the glue to set to do some sandingon the back. Trade trick: I use a $0.49 subway tile as a sanding block, stick thesand paper on with some 2 sided tape and you have a dead flat sanding block.Have one for each grit.2. This is also necessary, an adult beverage helps cut the dust.
Image Notes1. I know the repair is there, and it will always bother me, but life moves on.
Step 13: Let's get wiredOne of the things to do now is make your perminant wire connections from the pick up to the volume pot and phone jack. You could also add a tone control pot if youwant but this is, after all, a basic build. I like to use a fine tip on my soldering iron because of the tight spaces you are dealing with and the small guage wire involved.Simply follow the diagram and make your connections. Chances are you have used a stereo jack so orient the jack upside down with the long metal tab that makescontact with the guitar plug (I'm sure this bit has a name) nearest to you. then use the tab directly away from you and the one to the left.
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Image Notes1. I love PC Paint
Step 14: Getting a bit of bridge workThe wonderful thing about building a guitar from scratch is that there are so many little projects involved. While I wait for my client to send some parts he wants on this Istarted work on the bridges. I am using 3/4" X 1/2 " aluminum L channel cut to the same width as the fret board. I then sanded it through the stages up to 600 grit. Besure to knock off any sharp edges and corners too. I then located and drilled the holes for the mounting screws on the 1/2" lip.Make 2 of these, one acts as a nut, the other a bridge. Then measure in 1/16 " in from each end. Those marks will be for the E strings. Then, divide the remaining spaceto accommodate the other 4 strings. When notching the aluminum for the strings it is important to keep in mind that the tops of the strings all need to be at the samehight so all you are really doing here is making shallow notches to permanently locate where the strings will sit. You will do the final fitting during the set up phase right atthe end of the build.
You will also need to make a way of holding the strings at the bridge. There are, again, all kinds of ways to do this, I chose to use a tail block.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
Image Notes1. Using a file I bring the ends of the bridge into square.
Image Notes1. Ohhh, look aluminum dust, I'm thinking thermite, hehehehehe
Image Notes1. Mark off the screw hole locations and drill them. I like to start with a small pilothole then drill the full size hole next.
Image Notes1. Clamp the bridge and nut together, mark off your string spacing.
Image Notes1. Notch the marks, but only enough to permanently locate them.
Image Notes1. this is 1/16" in from the edge of the bridge.2. This is the actual width of the bridge.3. this marks how wide the tail block will be.
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Image Notes1. String spacing
Image Notes1. remove this after,2. center on the 1/2" space and locate where the holes will go.
Image Notes1. shallow holes to help prevent the drill bit from wandering when you set theangle.
Image Notes1. Here I use my saddle square as an angle block for drilling the holes. You cando it any way you like.
Image Notes Image Notes
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1. This is basically what you are looking for. 1. 5/32" holes
Image Notes1. Not perfect, but I will go with it.
Step 15: Boom! Head shotIn this step we'll lay out the locations for the machine heads and drill the holes for them. Lay out is, as always, very important to get things in the right place and lookgood. I've done enough of these things to know that you need to be very aware of the back plate of the head, how much room you need and how much of the tuning keyneeds to be exposed too . I find it best if you disassemble one left and one right hand head and use the plate as a template.
Image Notes1. center line2. outline of the tuner plate.3. do one row first, then using a square strike a line through the center of the peghole to the center line. After that all you need to do is strike a line from the otheredge so that it intersects where the opposite line met the center line. Use yourtemplate to locate the hole on that line and you are done.
Image Notes1. The holes for the pegs are done. This should be a relatively snug fit.2. here you can see that I wasn't happy with my first set of lines.
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Image Notes1. this marks how deep to go in to accommodate the furl for the peg.
Image Notes1. A stepped hole is achieved, you don't need to do this, you could drill all theway through with the larger bit, but, I find the extra steps make for betterperformance. There is more bearing surface to counter the lateral force beingplaced on the peg head.
Image Notes1. be sure to check all the holes for a good fit and the right depth.
Step 16: The finishLike any time you try something new, you can make mistakes, in this case for example, I learned that lacquer doesn't like ink, and that I should have tested theapplication first. Oh well, learn and move on. I used a gloss lacquer for the finish of this project because of many past successes. If you start with a goodsurface preparation then there is little or no sanding between coats. Spray lacquer is a great way to go but brush on is ok too. I did a brush on application for the firstcoat because I was dealing with very dry wood and I knew there would be a lot of absorption. The final 3 coats were sprayed.
Warning, this stuff is very nasty to breathe and very flammable so good ventilation, and no open flames please. A respirator would be a good idea too.
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Image Notes1. ohhhh, shinny
Image Notes1. this so sucked
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Image Notes1. Remember the scale length? This is exactly 22 1/2" from the nut.
Step 17: And we are done.So, I have laid out and drilled for the machine heads, the next thing to do is to attach the machines. Next I did the final setup on the bridge and nut, which was just a caseof filing the notches down to get the all the strings at an equal height. The thing to try and do here is make sure the bottom of the notches are round. This prevents thestrings from buzzing. After that is done string it up and run it through the amp! I won't offend the real lap steel guitar players out there by posting a video of me testing it. I'll post a video at a later time of a friend playing it (he actually knows how).
I hope you enjoyed this rather long instructable and try building one yourself.
Image Notes1. Make sure you place these ones on a flat surface, not too close to the transitionarea.
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Comments
27 comments Add Comment
wobbler says: Feb 4, 2011. 4:51 PM REPLYNice design and Instructible.
Would it be possible to use a thinner top plank, one the same depth as needed for the machine heads in order to make the shaping of the head piece easierand make the bottom piece correspondingly shorter? You wouldn't then need to cut away so much on the head piece and could just shape the bottom piecebefore gluing together. Hope I've described this well enough!
friger says: Feb 4, 2011. 7:46 PM REPLYThat sounds like a reasonable idea to me. Thanks, I'll try that on my next build.
wobbler says: Feb 5, 2011. 4:50 PM REPLYI hope it does! Thanks for the reply! ;o)
bowakowa says: Feb 2, 2011. 1:20 PM REPLYHere's one of three I made about 15 yrs ago. Lowe's pine 2 piece laminate, mighty mite p-90, some cheap tuners, a nut, saddle, oak inlay on the bottom forthe string thru, and an oak bridge. Had a lot of fun with it since.
friger says: Feb 2, 2011. 2:39 PM REPLYNice, I like it. I bet the P-90 sounds awesome too.
unaffiliatedperson says: Jan 30, 2011. 4:13 PM REPLYi want this so i can play sleep walk!
handy157 says: Jan 27, 2011. 8:47 AM REPLYOne thing I might be concerned about with this instrument is with the wood lamination part.. It may or may not be a problem, but at least theoretically it couldbe. Using pine and maple, especially back to back, could cause warping, due to the different expansion and contraction characteristics of the two differentwoods. This probably wouldn't be a problem if you make sure that you cover every square millimeter of the wood with your finish so that there would be nopossibility of moisture transfer from the air to the wood (and vice versa) in varying humidity conditions. With laminating the body, you could also have made agroove down the middle of one (or both) of the pieces and placed a piece of steel rod in it before laminating. This would help strengthen it and also help keepit from warping. Pretty cool instrument though!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
friger says: Jan 27, 2011. 9:15 AM REPLYI hear ya on the movement differential, but that again is of little concern because of the nature of the guitar, so long as you don't get such a massive twistthat the strings are radically uneven, it would remain playable. I seriously doubt a truss rod would do much good here. I did seal the end grain with epoxyto prevent that sort of thing happening before I put 4 coats of lacquer on it. If anything the lamination of pine to the maple will help stabilize the naturaltendencies of maple to twist. (damn site cheaper than solid maple too).
charliemor3 says: Jan 27, 2011. 9:14 AM REPLYHi Guy,
I've got to say, you did a great job with the "ible". Lots of detail without babling; good pics and explanations.
Thanks for the info, I've just been looking at building one myself. Keep up the good deals.
lennyb says: Jan 25, 2011. 2:54 PM REPLYthis is very nicely done.looks a bit like one i made myself pre instructables time.you seem to have used better hardware than i did.lets see if i can find a picture of it.ok good i got 1.the other slider is a 1 string diddly bow.good show.
friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 3:11 PM REPLYOk, I'd say you lap steel is cut from the same cloth, I love how you used a humbucker ,and that bridge is awesome. I cant tell for sure but is it a hard tail?Sweet bow too, piezo pick up?
lennyb says: Jan 25, 2011. 5:30 PM REPLYunfortunately that humbucker is a single pretending to be a humbucker .it came from a 1$ yard sale guitar i picked up.the bridge is a homemade hardtail type with adjustable saddles{not really needed on this project but i did it anyway}the pickup on the bow is a coil from an old inductance microphone that you would use to record a telephone in the old days.i did a couple of instructables way back on slide guitars and easy pickups here are the links if you would like to look
http://www.instructables.com/id/3-string-slide-guitar/
http://www.instructables.com/id/cheap-and-easy-guitar-pickups/also heres a closeup of the bridge if ya wanna see it
friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 6:12 PM REPLYI love it, simple and elegant. I will steal this idea if you don't mind?
lennyb says: Jan 26, 2011. 3:07 PM REPLYfeel fre my friend.if you build it post it here i for one would love to see it.
darkranger032 says: Jan 26, 2011. 1:55 AM REPLYyay i made it!...It took me 2 hours to make it!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
friger says: Jan 26, 2011. 12:31 PM REPLYa 2 hour build?! I'd love to see some pics. I've built diddley bows in that time.
Bigbillyrocka says: Jan 26, 2011. 11:36 AM REPLYI'm definitely going to have to build one of these! It'll be an awesome winter time blues project. Good job. :)
gmoon says: Jan 26, 2011. 4:52 AM REPLYWell done, sir.
That's a right shame about the ink smearing. Maybe you'll strip the lacquer and redo that (someday ;-).
friger says: Jan 26, 2011. 5:38 AM REPLYThank you, I would consider doing that but since I am donating it to friend I'll let him decide what he wants to do about it, if anything. I've already investedall the time into it that I had planned to. I will build another, and not make that particular mistake again, I am sure I will make all kinds of new and novelones on the next build.Thanks again for taking the time to look.
Wasagi says: Jan 25, 2011. 2:28 PM REPLYFantastic! This is a project that I would really love to do once I get time, and I loved how informative your instructable was. Case in point, I had no idea youdidn't need fret wire. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.
friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 3:24 PM REPLYThanks for that. Here is a picture of a 3 string resonator I built a while back using tooth picks as frets, they are holding up just fine too.
Wasagi says: Jan 25, 2011. 5:57 PM REPLYThat is beautiful! What did you use for the cone?
http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/
friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 6:09 PM REPLYGet this, The cone is the hub cap from a Ford Ranger pick up truck, a piezo pick up and she sounds awesome
Wasagi says: Jan 25, 2011. 7:06 PM REPLYHaha, That is genius! I would not have thought of that at all.
lennyb says: Jan 25, 2011. 5:32 PM REPLYwhoops links dont work.copy and paste if you like or you can access it from my profilelater
n0ukf says: Jan 25, 2011. 2:29 PM REPLY"...out of the rack at my local borg store."
Borg store? Did they try to assimilate you?Nice piece of wood though.
friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 3:13 PM REPLYResistance is futile, Home depot, Lowe's they are all borgs!