Red Pine Lap Steel - DIY

[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