Made out of (2) pieces of mahogany laminated together. Saddle, single pick up, and tuners from E-Bay. I made this for a friend and this was my first lap steel sale. I let him try out the others and he commissioned this one.
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You can make the scale length anything you want as long as your strings go over the pick up. When I designed this lap steel I took into account a 25.5 inch scale length from the nut to the middle of the pickup. Just like a Dobro. So the over all body is 36" long. That way I have enough room for the bridge tailpiece and controls.
I used the aluminum angle to get the strings off the fret board. It gives a little bit more height for playing with the slide and you can move the slide vertically up and down for a tremolo effect. The strings sit about 3/8" from the pickup body.
I used lap steel strings because they are heavier gauge and that way you can tune it to a number of tunings. Plus lap steel string are sold in a pack of 10 strings. I used the middle 6 strings gauges and I have spares in case I break one of the higher strings
This guy I made it for plays a dobro so I tuned it like a dobro (DBGdbg). But they are usually tuned to the C6 tuning (ECAgec) that way it sound almost Hawaiian.
very nice work.looks great. I thought about making one also but keep putting it off.
I have a technical question. since your using the 1/2 aluminum for the nut and bridge, then am I correct in assuming the adjustable tailpiece is strictly for anchoring the strings and the 1/2 angle bridge is the critical piece to be set at 22.5 on yours? if thats correct , then i could do a string thru the body since i dont have that piece.
also, do you use standard guitar strings and tuning? thanks
Comments
nice
E-mail me at www.whittlersworld@yahoo.com and I'll sent you a document about lap steel tunings.
You can make the scale length anything you want as long as your strings go over the pick up. When I designed this lap steel I took into account a 25.5 inch scale length from the nut to the middle of the pickup. Just like a Dobro. So the over all body is 36" long. That way I have enough room for the bridge tailpiece and controls.
I used the aluminum angle to get the strings off the fret board. It gives a little bit more height for playing with the slide and you can move the slide vertically up and down for a tremolo effect. The strings sit about 3/8" from the pickup body.
I used lap steel strings because they are heavier gauge and that way you can tune it to a number of tunings. Plus lap steel string are sold in a pack of 10 strings. I used the middle 6 strings gauges and I have spares in case I break one of the higher strings
This guy I made it for plays a dobro so I tuned it like a dobro (DBGdbg). But they are usually tuned to the C6 tuning (ECAgec) that way it sound almost Hawaiian.
very nice work.looks great. I thought about making one also but keep putting it off.
I have a technical question. since your using the 1/2 aluminum for the nut and bridge, then am I correct in assuming the adjustable tailpiece is strictly for anchoring the strings and the 1/2 angle bridge is the critical piece to be set at 22.5 on yours? if thats correct , then i could do a string thru the body since i dont have that piece.
also, do you use standard guitar strings and tuning? thanks