Red Pine Lap Steel - DIY

[Guvna19]

Hey all, last night a work mate gave me a very unusual stringed instrument after me talking up my lap steel build.

never seen anything like it? bit oldish and incomplete, with some rather nice mother of pearl inlay, least i think.

any one here have any idea what it is? my google search suggest maybe koto or zither?? cant seem to find out for sure? 17 strings

sorry if its of topic

im thinkin - sellit / pimp it / burn it?

[dave.king1]

The styling of the inlays suggests somewhere in Asia but NFI where, maybe somewhere less obvious that Japan or China

[Guvna19]

hey DK re your herd you sent me , nice nice and nice !
my boys playin my pride'n'joy - ibanez artcore - just noticed how filthy its lookin in photo, paid 1k new and have been playing recently on my lap, rubbing a steel battery on it to the sound of led zepp = in my time of dying & traveling riverside blues. hence the passion to build a lap steel. i seen ben harper and john butler live before and feel quote ' it's in me and gotta come out'

cheers gav

[Fretworn]

Hey all, last night a work mate gave me a very unusual stringed instrument after me talking up my lap steel build.

never seen anything like it? bit oldish and incomplete, with some rather nice mother of pearl inlay, least i think.

any one here have any idea what it is? my google search suggest maybe koto or zither?? cant seem to find out for sure? 17 strings

sorry if its of topic

im thinkin - sellit / pimp it / burn it?

Definitely a koto style instrument (and there are different variations on this theme throughout Asia). I'd be looking into what it would take to get it up and running. Then it will probably be easier to offload if you decide you don't want it. Of course it might just be glorified firewood, but only you will be able to tell the condition.

[Guvna19]

Fully sanded the Timber now, put a thin coat of oil on just to keep it clean and splinter free while trace a design on it, then start some cutting soon.
Been wondering if I may run into trouble with the strings going through the body if the red pine is too soft. Could it mean the ferrules might move affecting tuning? Correct me if I'm wrong but a Tele bridge would mean running strings through body?

Thanks
Guvna

[wokkaboy]

hey Guvna some nice grain that slab looks great.
The kit tele bridges have a rear mount for the strings so you don't need a string through ferule setup. The better quality bridges most are string throughs.

love your workbench a wine barrel !

[FrankenWashie]

That is a rather lovely bit of tree you have to work with Guv'na. Much wood envy here.

[dave.king1]

The bridge I sent you is top strung

[Guvna19]

Hi, need advice on the scale nut to bridge.

research ive done suggests 22 and a half inch 571.5mm is common. i just mapped out a test on cardboard an think maybe longer?
im thinkin 24 inch, but not really sure how that affects everything. sound , build , fretboard?
i have plenty of length in my timber.

appreciate advice in advance, cheers again
Guvna

[wokkaboy]

Hey Guvna,
24 inch scale will work good. A slightly longer scale will probably be easier to play. The same amount of movement of the slide bar will be a smaller note chance on the longer scale. You will also be able to use slightly heavier gauge strings with a longer scale.
You will be fine to use standard gauge strings to at least 25.5 inches.
Obviously fretboard will be longer.
My baritone scale lappy is just over 27 inches with heavier strings and that sounds great