Wokka's baritone scale lap steel build

[wokkaboy]

good suggestion Frankie I thought about that. We had an engineering company cut out company logo's to brand onto chopping boards with a propane torch. The opening only needs to be about 1.5-2mm wide I guess

[dave.king1]

I did a bit of a search and there's a mob in the US that do various scale length overlays for lap steel starting at about $13 for simple peel & stick and go up a long way from there for perspex & metal with various classes of inlay

http://www.georgeboards.com/parts.html

[wokkaboy]

cheers DK had a quick look, pretty cool website with some good gear !

[dave.king1]

I'm thinking about doing a scratch lappy for my mate with two Tele bridge pickups and Google took me there when I was looking for overlays

[wokkaboy]

no worries DK, must be the mate you showed the pics of Bruce's art deco lappy haha

[Simon Barden]

You can get strips of thin white styrene from model shops. e.g. http://www.ema-models.co.uk/index.ph...quare-rod.html They would make decent fret marker inserts, especially as they won't get any wear.

[Alm_63]

cheers Doc. I need to order the 3 in line tuners and a wid-ish lap steel nut. Not a bad start considering I only got materials Friday and started Friday afternoon

I'm either going to use a cut off brass bolt or brass rod for my nut.
I've just got to see what the big green sheds got in stock.... ;-)

[Simon Barden]

Bruce, I'd still use something with a straight edge on the fretboard side, so maybe look for some square or rectangular section brass. It should ensure that the string lengths are the same, which is not guaranteed if the strings are in slots cut into a round surface.

You either want the top of the strings to form a consistent gentle curve or flat surface (whatever your playing preference), but to do that, the different string thicknesses mean that the the thicker the string. the deeper the nut slot. And on a curved surface, that deeper slot moved the edge of the slot forwards as well. With a flat edge, the string lengths remain the same and the guitar stays in tune all the way up the board (all the length adjustment is at the bridge end).

Of course, you can have the strings sitting in equal depth slots which would then mean that the strings slope away from you very slightly, which might mean that you then tend to press down harder on the lower strings - or it may not - depending on your playing style.

[wokkaboy]

I got some more done on this over the weekend. The 3 a side tuners arrived last week in the mail. Got the fingerboard finished last week and glued to the neck. Sanded that flush. Drilled the tuner holes. Sanded the tuner cavities. Sanded the body all over and got 2 coats of clear on.
Here's how it's looking. I'll let it cure during the week, a wet sand and one more clear coat and should be right to assemble.

Sorry folks but when I was asking about fingerboard or no FB I was halfway through making the fret markers/dots so I kept going !

[G-Axe]

Looking good, Wokka. How wide is that fretboard? Looks like a monster, but I think that's mostly the perspective of the many hanging guitars in the background.