Red Pine Lap Steel - DIY

[dave.king1]

I think wokkaboys steel has that tele bridge with slant? if so it looks sweet.
Dave any idea what a second hand one would cost me? Are they easy to find? i best start getting some parts organised sooner than later so i can lay out design once i get the body shaped up a bit

cheers Guvna

Got your PM and answered it.

Woks has the slant because he's used the Tele bridge, a steel has slightly wider spacing than your average electric which is why the Tele pickup finished up on a slant to get the poles under the strings.

I think I still have a bridge laying around so I'll throw that in with the pups

[wokkaboy]

haha nice one DK, seems to be a popular choice Coopers. Last year I hosted a Coopers Vintage vertical tasting, I cellared them and had 8 years back to 2008. DB was there he loved it too. The 2008, 2011 and 2012 were the most popular, they had rounded off nicely with the cellaring

[Guvna19]

Got your PM and answered it.

Woks has the slant because he's used the Tele bridge, a steel has slightly wider spacing than your average electric which is why the Tele pickup finished up on a slant to get the poles under the strings.

I think I still have a bridge laying around so I'll throw that in with the pups

Thanks again Dave! Awsome forum - Guitar assistance and Beer Talk - feels like home!!

[Guvna19]

haha nice one DK, seems to be a popular choice Coopers. Last year I hosted a Coopers Vintage vertical tasting, I cellared them and had 8 years back to 2008. DB was there he loved it too. The 2008, 2011 and 2012 were the most popular, they had rounded off nicely with the cellaring

apart from Dr Tims (which is just ok) , I like (love) all the Coopers Family, Pales for daily usage after work and dont mind the Sparkling for spec. with a drop of stout added...mmmmmm.
Wokkaboy, i have started to like the crafty beers too, although they cost a fortune. brewer here in SA called Pirate Life make awsome rich beer, hoppy and pungent. might hafta start a beer forum and only talk abou guitars..lol

[Guvna19]

I made my lapsteel out of reclaimed structural wood left out for council rubbish collection. The bridge and nut were made out of aluminium angle bracket. I bought a second hand humbucker on eBay. And I bought new Wilkinson tuners. I had a lot of the other bits floating around

Hey Fretworn, sounds neat ! got any pics, i think ill be needing to fashion a nut from angle bracket too

cheers
Guvna

[wokkaboy]

Hey Guvna, still waiting for you to upload the avatar haha

yes I am well aware of Pirate life, expensive but worth every penny. We have started multiple beer threads but the talk always seems to creep into build diaries hahha

[Simon Barden]

There are a couple of other lap steel builds on here. Here's Wokka's baritone http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6844 and Alm_63's art deco style. http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ight=lap+steel

You only need fret markers for guidance, not fretting, so you can obviously pick out your own scale length, then use a fret calculator to work out the positions. After which you mark up the fretboard, cut some slots and either fill them with contrasting wood slivers or a white wood filler or epoxy. A lot of people haven't bothered to do that but bought a used cheap classical guitar and taken the fingerboard off that (complete with frets). That gives you around a 25" scale length plus a wider fingerboard than on a steel-string guitar, which is fairly common on a lap steel.

Lap steels also normally run with parallel strings, so you'll probably need to use a custom nut blank (not one for a classical or steel-strung guitar) to get the width required at the nut.

[Guvna19]

There are a couple of other lap steel builds on here. Here's Wokka's baritone http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6844 and Alm_63's art deco style. http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ight=lap+steel

You only need fret markers for guidance, not fretting, so you can obviously pick out your own scale length, then use a fret calculator to work out the positions. After which you mark up the fretboard, cut some slots and either fill them with contrasting wood slivers or a white wood filler or epoxy. A lot of people haven't bothered to do that but bought a used cheap classical guitar and taken the fingerboard off that (complete with frets). That gives you around a 25" scale length plus a wider fingerboard than on a steel-string guitar, which is fairly common on a lap steel.

Lap steels also normally run with parallel strings, so you'll probably need to use a custom nut blank (not one for a classical or steel-strung guitar) to get the width required at the nut.

cheers Simon
appreciating your advice - im hearing ya, thanks also for build links. very nice, wokka sent me link too which made me wish i get somthin half as good. and Alm 63's is equally impressive.

im allready struggling with impatience, with all the usual commitments ,i.e, kids ,family , work, oh and beers with mates....lol = time poor

regards guvna

[Guvna19]

Hey Guvna, still waiting for you to upload the avatar haha

yes I am well aware of Pirate life, expensive but worth every penny. We have started multiple beer threads but the talk always seems to creep into build diaries hahha

Hey Wokka, i sorted the suggested avatar just now as suggested outa good respect - dont mind it btw ..lol
may change to any coopers logo in time....still... could be a keeper , cheers Guvna (Gav)

[wokkaboy]

Good stuff Guvna looks as good as I thought