@@hopefulhyena3400 I think the first commercially available electric guitar was the Rickenbacker A-22 "Frying Pan" lap steel, but I'm not 100% sure about that. That came out some time in the 30s.
No. When people say underrated, they have no idea how they Fuk these guitars. You really do. Besides, you must banter about trees growing in the Caribian wind, and nonsense like that. Why did you buy cheap Finnish Christmas tree wood?! At least apply linseed oil! This loox weird.
Yep, I've always said that a lap steel is just a plank with a pickup and strings. The rest is just artwork. I've been building them since 1963. I was probably the first person to use threaded steel rod for the bridge and nut, and I did so so that I could change the string spacing any time I wanted.
OKAY you hooked me.. I never heard of a 3 string lap steel. is this your original creation or have they been around before? Lots of us are novices out here about this topic. :D
Hey that was a great show, in PLAIN English, nothing too complicated, unlike many who speak in Musical 'Jargon', Well Done and many thanks.!!! Terry Offord.
This shit is like a fuckin asmr video. I thought I was going to learn how to make a cool guitar but instead I’m drifting asleep to the most beautiful background music
Nice! I'm about to try something similar but adding frets and some bass strings... a fretted lapsteel I guess... no idea how well its going to go, but this has given me inspiration!
This will save me some $, I've got my next project. Great idea for the saddle/nut and that backwards strat jack was a stroke of genius. It also looks great to my eye. Thank you for leading me to google fret calculator as well. In return, I'd like to offer an alternative technique for installing the tuner peg ferrule. You can just place each and use a clamp to press fit. A shorter adjustable bar clamp works great for this. Even better if you have the type with plastic protective ends. Cheers!
Also the 'verb on the lap steel is an actual enhancement to both the lap sound and its setting - Like it was thought about reather than reflexively slathered on until 'proffessional results" were achieved. Because you have to have stereo, compressed, reverbed tracks, thats what good recording is. Why not a bit of bpm'ed delay and then some tube modeling? enhance, maximize and serve. Thats why i figure it was the actual room sound, either just good mic placement or 2nd (omni?) mic for the overall room.
i guess I've got a "thing" about reverb/delay/processing often being used to make music uniform, predigested, and at minimum safe from objection to the 'sound' = its the same sound you know from reputable brands. i think this may be why so much music is so weak and same-y regardless of genre: it wants to be a trouble-free fit into your amazon/hbo/etc. project. Hey! I'm a ranting crackpot! Heed My Words or Be In Error! apologies
GREAT VIDEO! I only wish you had included written how to and specs for saw cuts and fret measurements for us novices who know little about making a guitar. (like where the heck did these measurements come from?) The video moves too fast and is too fuzzy to discern it from that alone. My cuts were wrong for my eBay tuning machines and my different style pickup.. redoing many times to make it fit made my cuts too deep and I had to begin again with a new 2x4. THIS IS SUCH A GREAT PROJECT.. can you upgrade with maybe a text instruction how to do it, to accompany the video? I really liked the overall concept of a cheap lap steel build!
I was hoping that was the answer- just the right amount of things happening in it - not too ambient not too flash - i really like the near acoustic tone of the lap steel
Do you by chance have a break down of all the parts needed to make this for someone whose not familiar with guitar parts? I'm curious to see how much it would cost. Thanks for the awesome video.
Aliexpress has some cheap guitar parts: geared tuner pegs, pre-wired pickups, strings. Maybe about $10-12 total. Keep in mind, these are cheap quality, which might be okay for a first build. I suppose alternatively, CL sometimes list broken guitars which can salvaged for parts for $10-20.
What are and where did you get those metal tubes for your string feeds? I have the furrels for the bottom but I need something like those tubes to stop the strings from biting into the wood when they are tightened. Is this something that can be ordered?
MerwinMusic , why is it that in my setting of open D the sound is not as beautiful as yours! and does not look like it at all. combo booster Roland micro cube
MerwinMusic do not tell me where you can see the lessons or take some kind of skill in playing lap steel gitar?! I have no music education, it's the first experience that I like! thanks for the answer !
I started thinking about building one... this is the simplest one I found and it looks and sounds great. Do you have a scale diagram, to draw frets? Or can you send a link where to find or buy it?
Google fret calculator. Then you enter the scale length, which is distance between nut and bridge and then it will tell you the spacing for everything. Since the frets are just guides and don't actually touch the strings on the lap steel they don't need to be perfect.
According to the schematics of a pre-built pick guard I saw on amazon, the 4 screws around the pickups are 3.7" apart. So I was thinking of just securing that part to a 2x4 and just letting the other parts and the pick guard hang off. If I really need to maybe wood glue and extra piece of 2x4 to the side of the 2x4 to make a small section that is 8x2. Or use some extra sheet of hard plastic sheet. Is shorting an electric guitar with your body painful?
MerwinMusic it's a beautiful track. Struck a sentimental chord with me. Something with the open air between the acoustic chords and that slide playing, damn it hit me in the feels.
Build one for me! I would but may arms and hands are kinda messed up because of my handicap, and, I wanna learn how to play the steel guitar on a low income! Wishful thinking!! LOL!!!
I don't remember what the metal pins were called. I just walked through the hardware store and said these will work. They are like a spring pin but without the slit. Just used a drill bit that fit the pins I found.
Nice video. Thinking of making one of these for my son. I think I know the answer to this question, but just to be sure… the fret board is just a reference, right? The strings are set high and never press down onto the frets?
Awesome! I'm thinking of doing a 3 string like this. Are the bolt saddle and bridge reliable? Also how did you get the right measurements for the frets?
Hey thanks for the video, I have a spare hardwood sleeper lying around i think would sound good through a marshall lol, quick question do i need a capacitor on the pickup or is that just for a tone control? (I have no idea regarding wiring
Just google fret spacing calculator. I just measured the distance from nut to bridge (which I believe on this guitar was 23") and then typed that into an online calculator to give me the fret measurements. Since you aren't actually using the frets they just have to be close for a reference.
I'm interested in having one and learning how to play, I can't afford one at the moment but how much would it be if you make one and ship it to New York?
There are several tunings and dozens of videos on You Tube for beginning Lap steel. Most beginners start with the open G tuning GBDGBD. Here is a GREAT series on learning beginning lap steel guitar. Your home made is the same to play as any factory model.Watch this cool lesson series... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-k5bksJREl1M.html
