How to build a lap steel guitar from scrap wood and spare parts

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In this video I build a Lap steel guitar from a old piece of 2x4.
I really like the lap steel guitar sound and it has that metal futuristic sound that grabs attention when you first hear it, much like when you hear an electric pianos. It is something really iconic.
I have created this guitar from parts I had laying around so I only had to purchase tuners and strings.
Purchased parts:
- Tuners $10
- Strings $5
Recorded straight into my sound card, I have added pinch of reverb to get that lap steel sound. I should try this with a few pedals and maybe a volume pedal in the future.
If you enjoyed this project do let me know what you would do differently or share this video to help the channel grow, that means a lot to a small channel like mine.
In the future I would like to create a version with pedals.
I just need to learn how to play this guy.
BUT finally I finish a project!!!

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Опубликовано:

15 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 94

@radishdalek Год назад

I saw this and my mind jumped to an electric fretted clavichord

@robotcitizen101 Месяц назад

it sounds wonderful! thanks for sharing the know-how! :)

@deancoyle Месяц назад

Glad you enjoyed 🙂

@NiechoBGC Год назад

Top of the neck by the tuning machines, I see a lot of guitars using a lil hack to lubricate the strings, and I thought I'd share it: take a mechanical pencil, and run the point back and forth along the filed grooves. The graphite'll ack as a lubricant for the strings and also make 'em less likely to break. That's my take on it anyway. This is an awesome DIY project! Thanks for sharing it!

@dmyers9230 Год назад

That sounds great!!!! And I love the folk art feel. Building instruments with what you have. Awesome good!

@deancoyle Год назад

Glad you like it! I was shocked how it sounded, I should upload a song with it on.

@philhugill8458 Год назад

Great info !! You have great 'RU-vid' skills. The flow keeps interest flowing nicely !!! Super project too. Nobody will 'fast forward', because it's never boring.

@deancoyle Год назад

I appreciate that! Thank you Phil!

@timconway2810 Год назад

I love the string ferrule nuts. Gonna use that one myself. ❤️

@rolfblomvagnes4514 Год назад

Inspiring! Thank you!

@deancoyle Год назад

Thanks for watching!

@peterpumkineater6872 2 месяца назад

I'm making one right now. Going to have fun learning to play🎉🎉thanks😊

@CarlosVargas-cn7rx Год назад

This is something I have been wanting to do since a while back, great job on it!

@deancoyle Год назад

Thank you Carlos, Let me know how you get on!

@troybonneau4717 Год назад

Dean, thanks for the consistently interesting content. love your engineering no matter how jank it might seem to you.

@deancoyle Год назад

Thank you Troy!

@QwikVidz 3 месяца назад

Sounds amazing. Good work

@deancoyle 3 месяца назад

Thanks a lot!

@Jesussaves122 21 день назад

Awesome 🙂

@deancoyle 15 дней назад

Thank you! Cheers! I think you will enjoy my latest video ;-)

@ShannonNoble Год назад

A truly excellent execution! I have an old hollow body 60s electric guitar that just went belly up when the body split in half last week. I now know what I'm going to do with all the parts that I salvaged from that old guitar. Thank you.

@deancoyle Год назад

Very cool! I bet those components will make a great sounding lapsteel.

@stuartchapman5171 Год назад

About to build a telefrankencaster, with cut down body, as I play it on a table with slide and bow. These sound much better. I might have a bash at one of these.

@alexparent9070 Год назад

Absolutely awesome!!!!

@deancoyle Год назад

Thank you! Cheers!

@alexparent9070 Год назад

I'll try to build my own!!!

@Jarmo60 4 месяца назад

I use that lap top "angle" style, when i make CBG guitars.

@oliverduarte8868 Месяц назад

Genial!!!

@riverkelly7747 Год назад

Love the video! With your design skills I’d love to see your take on a pedal steel!

@deancoyle Год назад

It is something on my mind at the minute.... maybe coming soon!

@PGvideoinc Год назад

Nice video, lovely well paced commentary. This is one of my reference videos for a lap steel I'm building using donor parts from a kids electric I picked up on Facebook marketplace for £10. I'm also going to follow the instructions of another You Tuber to add a bender on one of the strings using an old soup spoon!

@deancoyle Год назад

Glad you liked it! Sounds good let me know if you get stuck or how you get on. I plan on making another one with some bending features - watch this space.

@guitashamilele 23 дня назад

Absolutely amazing build! I assume that is the same cheap tonebar from Amazon that I bought? I recommend spending a little more to get a Shubb SP-1 -- you won't believe the difference in sound and feel!

@jbthor9032 7 месяцев назад

Y no frets. Nice build. 👍 I love the sound of a steel pedal guitar 🎸

@deancoyle 7 месяцев назад

Just to keep the cost down. I have bought a fret board for it and it does look better and is easier to play haha.

@jbthor9032 7 месяцев назад

Good for you.

@lundsweden Год назад

Hey Dean, now you can play the lap steel part of Freestyler!

@deancoyle Год назад

That has to be the best song with slide guitar on!

@vidyadharjoshi5714 11 месяцев назад

I made it years back.

@E-BikingAdventures 3 месяца назад

Rivit washers work good for the string Ferrells.

@deancoyle 3 месяца назад

That's a really neat idea. I bet those will look like telecaster style ones once installed. Thank you for the tip

@jeffxanders3990 Год назад

Wow! That's a really nice tone! Don't suppose you could build a 10-string for me? Love it.

@deancoyle Год назад

I do plan on a making a large one of these soon. Stick around and see if it sounds as good. Do you play Lap Steel?

@jeffxanders3990 Год назад

@@deancoyle I have a 25" scale length I had built years ago that has a simple minor-major set up on 6 strings plus two extra on top and two more on bottom with Reese Anderson style mods both top and bottom. This allows me, as a non-musician to find my way around one string at a time - which I consider to be the best sound - while being able to emulate most any sound you'd want to hear on lap steel guitar. I spent years adjusting the string tensions and proximity of the string master magnets to come up with the fullest and balanced sound. It sounded pretty good to begin with but now I think it's on a par with Bobby Ingano's A22 Ricky. I'm ready to do the same for another guitar with a short scale length and maybe P90 pickups but the pickups you used are really sounding full and good to my ear.

@Ted_James 2 месяца назад

Excellent build! Steel guitars have also been used heavily in traditional Hawaiian music. Have you experienced any string breakage at the bridge or nut, given the way the strings make contact with them?

@TheJstewart2010 Год назад

I seriously need to build one of these. I'm almost sure that I have all of the parts in my bin. I had an SX lap steel, and I lost interest in it because it didn't sound nearly as good as yours. Time to get out to the woodshed.

@deancoyle Год назад

I have added some compression and a load of reverb which helps create a nice sound. Though do have a go at making you own, it is a fun project and it feels so good playing an instrument you made.

@geoycs 11 месяцев назад

That’s so cool!! How did you know where to locate the bridge? Is it important to be exact like on a guitar?

@deancoyle 11 месяцев назад

The distance doesn't matter, though I have added a fret markers to mine. So I had to match the printed design scale. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304157106404 Though i have seen people use zip ties / cable ties as markers and that works well, any scale length would work for that.

@carlyelliott6975 Год назад

What size L channel is it? And how do you know the distance of pegs and where the pickup sits etc?

@brunosampaio2399 29 дней назад

I missed the scale for key/notes accurate playing in tune. You intendo to put some scale later?

@mattiasfagerlund Год назад

Would would it sound like if each string was slid separately to form a chord? It'd perhaps take a robot to pull it off, but it'd might be an interesting animatronic instrument?

@deancoyle Год назад

Hey, my next step was going to be a pedal steel. where select strings can be "bent" so that the chord changes. Though I think you have an interesting idea too, that would be very interesting, it would be hard to not have a delay.

@mattiasfagerlund Год назад

@@deancoyle Yeah, the sliders would have to move fast and probably be designed to arrive at their target locations at the same time? How long do you have to switch a chord? To avoid a delay, you could program it to start the move early to arrive on the beat. More a project for an animatronic instrument builder than a manual instrument builder, lots of code and electronics. Not everyone's cup of tea...

@millerkoop3848 Год назад

@@deancoyle You might already have heard of them, but you can add benders to a lapsteel as well to get a similar system as a pedal steel but way easier and cheaper to set up.

@rbbm454 Год назад

Nice work, what pickup did you use? I ask as I have a few cheapys laying around, just wondering if they will do or was the one you used on the hotter side?

@deancoyle Год назад

I used a Epiphone one I had in the parts bin, I think it was from a budget Les Paul.

@iconofsin1043 Год назад

Haha that's so awesome. I'm making my own experimental guitar, and many useful ideas in this video (especially what to use for nuts), thanks!

@deancoyle Год назад

That sounds like an interesting project! Please do share what you come up with :-)

@hotelbravogolf Месяц назад

Did you chose any specific amplifier and strings?

@iggyfer97 3 месяца назад

This inspired me so much! Thank you! Question: how difficult do you think this would be for somebody familiar with stringed instruments and music but not tools and woodwork? E.g. what are the silver brackets on either end called? Thanks! 🤩

@deancoyle 3 месяца назад

Aluminum L section. I wouldn't worry too much on the size. Use what you can find. Also could be steel? Good luck

@scottmorris4914 Год назад

Nice. I have one question. What is the distance between the two peice of angle aluminum?

@deancoyle Год назад

I went for a 22.5in scale. There is a seller on ebay who sells a 22.5in fretboard in the fender deluxe style. I did think of adding this, but it would push the budget out a bit. I have also seen other people just use zipties as fret markers. So many options!

@mez2487 3 месяца назад

hi dean, im building one very similar to yours, but am entirely new to all of this, so would love if you could answer a few of my questions! please let me know! - Mary

@deancoyle 3 месяца назад

Sure I will try my best

@4estral Год назад

I would like to hear a lap steel through a synth pedal like the EHX Strings or Mellotron

@deancoyle Год назад

What an idea! Do you think it will work?

@4estral Год назад

@@deancoyle Maybe there's a soft-synth way to find out, or borrow/hire one of the pedals. I want to build one of these with the core concept of having any sound, but using the hands to organically express the pitch, envelope, and even timbre.

@JonRayRunawayVealMusic Год назад

That aluminum L channel from ? Makes a difference . Where did u get please ?

@deancoyle Год назад

It is from B and Q. A hardware shop in the UK. Sorry I cant find a link online to that one. I am surprised it makes that much difference.

@jamesbranch3500 6 месяцев назад

where did you buy your tuners? Rhanks

@deancoyle 5 месяцев назад

I just looked on ebay for the cheapest ones that looked ok. It took some fining, but I paid about £1 per tuner.

@gzikos7745 Год назад

it is very nice !!! can you tell us the tunning ?

@deancoyle Год назад

I went for an open major chord, do D A D F# A . There are so many options of what can work, its a science in itself! Wait for pedals to be added to the mix!

@gzikos7745 Год назад

@@deancoyle Thank you !

@Jellyfriedfatness 29 дней назад

Is it possible? I’ve got left over parts of a guitar.. instead of fabricating one l…can I use a tunomatic bridge as a nut? In my head it makes sense. But I don’t want to start building it and it fails. What do you think? Not the tunomatic piece where the strings roll over but the piece that holds the strings in I guess this is the tail piece? Can I use that as a nut ?

@deancoyle 29 дней назад

Yeah that should be fine

@ILIKESQUIRRELS15 Год назад

80cm and 22inch scale whoooa my brain🤯 pick a side 😂

@deancoyle Год назад

Haha good spot, I just want to appeal to everyone...

@ILIKESQUIRRELS15 Год назад

@@deancoyle thanks for the video though I'm going to start building my own this week

@graysaw Год назад

I take it your using the amp for volume and tone control?

@deancoyle Год назад

I record it plugged straight into the focusrite soundcard, then added a some reverb in my DAW (reaper). I should show this with a volume pedal, as that adds a new dynamic to the instrument.

@graysaw Год назад

@@deancoyle aww ok

@portsideguitar1981 Год назад

I love it but I’d need to spend $500 in tools to make a $20 guitar 😂

@deancoyle Год назад

I think you can do most of this with hand tools. It will take a little longer though...

@graysaw Год назад

Is there an actual scale length

@deancoyle Год назад

22.5in scale length, this was based on a aluminium fretboard in a fender style that someone is selling on ebay, though it pushes the price up a bit.

@graysaw Год назад

@@deancoyle I like it

@painovoimaton Год назад

Now tell me how the fuck to make an 8 string. I'm obsessed with this instrument but 6 isn't enough for my needs. I need one, nobody sells them where I live, nobody at all. They barely exist. I cannot afford to have one built for me either.

@deancoyle Год назад

Is it just the same but wider? We will need a bigger pickup, and some more space that the headstock end. I want to add pedals next to mine...

@stephenhookings1985 Год назад

@@deancoyle or use a few pickups staggered like on a P Bass? I was wondering about possibility of using sliders for the pickups - so you can move them to different nodal points. Or bass strings. I got so many swapped out pickups and spare string sets. Looks like a fun use for them. With 2 pickups / outputs and a focus right I guess stereo becomes a thing - Rickenbacker style. And some Zoom FX on this would make for very adaptable sound.

@margarethouse404 8 месяцев назад

Proper pickups are available from boutique pickup makers , notably Jason Loller . But that will take it out of the $20 build category . Your cheap option is copy of a Lipstick pickup , in the original Danelectro dimensions . They are available from Guitar Fetish , and probably others .