The Steel Guitar Forum

I have a very on again/off again interest in Ben Harper's music, mostly because I just don't like his songs. But once in a while he puts out a blistering lap steel performance that just knocks it out of the park. Here's just such a cover of Jimi Hendrix's Red House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI...

One thing to keep in mind is that it is possible to get a passable "rock" sound out of almost any pickup if you have a good distortion or overdrive pedal. But the clean sound is pretty much all in the guitar and pickup. So if the clean sound is a priority, focus on buying a guitar that doe...

As indicated in the heading, this guitar is now on consignment @ High Desert Guitars in Santa Fe. Go give it a try if you're in the area - it's a nice guitar. If you don't see it on the wall, ask Steve (the proprietor) to show it to you. I'll give the requisite consideration to the forum if a member...

Are you talking about slides that fit on your finger for bottleneck-style slide playing, or about bars for lap steel? For bottleneck, I could see a shorter slide being helpful at times; for lap steel, I find a too-short bar hard to hold on to and don't see any advantage for maneuverability. I would ...

Movable pickup, fretted bass string, pressure gauge, time machine ...



More here. (Via Cigar Box Nation)

John, The Goldtone/Dean Markley Trilogy system (if that's the one you are using) appears to have adjustable pole pieces on the magnetic pickup. You should be able to even out the volume of the strings by screwing the pole pieces in or out as needed (a little bit at a time!). The volume difference yo...

The Lap King Bel Aire doesn't look like a Stringmaster, but it is available with the same pickup configuration, with 6 or 8 strings.

When you ask a question on this forum, I figure you are asking for all steelguitardom, so resolution of your particular issue doesn't stop us know-it-alls from continuing to put our two cents in. For future generations, etc., you know. :) Plus, having used only the one connector myself, I am interes...

I have a National lap steel with the screw-on connector, and I use the cable from Elderly that Steve mentioned. It works great and is a good quality cable. These connectors are also commonly used for harmonica microphones, so that's another way to search for them.

David Dart Hawaiian Model 2, made in 2005. Solid mahogany with black binding, mother-of-pearl diamond fret markers, mother-of-pearl and abalone headstock inlay, Waverly tuners. This is a very fine looking and sounding instrument, which I am selling reluctantly, but I have discovered that the Weissen...

Moog has been making standard guitars with this technology for a couple of years, I think. My understanding was that the main innovation was in the pickups, which can be controlled to either extend or dampen sustain. Anyway, you can buy the lap steel here: http://www.moogmusic.com/moogguitar/?sectio...

This would be so interesting to hear - Frisell and Leisz have such a fundamentally different musical sensibility from West and Bryant (discounting the fact that they play the exact same instruments, and have the same interest in mixing up country, pop and jazz.) I suspect the title of the show gives...

The previous "bar wars" discussion, and most discussions about bars, focus on what is best from a technique standpoint. That's the second part of Steve's question. The first part of the question was just about tone. My feeling is, if they have similar overall weight and similar radius of c...

I think folks are being a bit too quick to dismiss this. If the tension screw is adjusted too tightly, it could have a negative impact on the sound. That said, it would be more likely to dull the sound rather than make the instrument loud and clean sounding. I think you could experiment with looseni...

That sounds wonderful, you really get a nice sound out of the Asher with the Pod. I also recently acquired an Asher and they really sound like nothing else. What tuning were you using? Re: the recording, did you mean to say you recorded direct to Garage Band, or does Band in a Box itself have a reco...

:) But, yeah I agree with them, you are pulling from a very small box with your definition of contemporary. ... Imagine the explosion of creativity in that 20 years that got us from Gut Bucket Blues to the Reboppers. Can anything compare to that in our lifetime? I don't think so. This isn't just a ...

Another option for a louder non-resonator sound is to use a standard acoustic guitar set up for lap style playing, particularly one with a large/deep body. I used to have a Seagull dreadnought set up this way and it was considerably louder than any Weissenborn-type instrument I have tried. There are...

Specs and photos for both guitars are now up on Gold Tone website:

http://www.goldtone.com/products/detail ... w-for-2010

http://www.goldtone.com/products/detail ... w-for-2010

Did I say inside information? I meant poorly-informed speculation, gossip, or paparazzi photos.

Noticed this listing on Elderly: BEARD GOLD TONE PBKG HAWAIIAN GUITAR SQUARENECK - Sweet smooth acoustic Hawaiian slide guitar, designed by Paul Beard and produced in Asia by Gold Tone. Features include laminated wood back & sides, solid spruce top, square mahogany neck, bone nut & saddle an...

Check out the rest of the videos from this user (Bokete7). The full user name is Bokete's Shebeen. I dug around and found out that "shebeen" is an Irish term used in parts of Africa to refer to a local bar or pub. So it looks like maybe someone has been taping the local musicians in some v...

I notice the pickup has moved closer to the bridge compared to the earlier version, which is probably a good thing. Still has that weird recessed headstock though. These seem like pretty decent instruments compared to what was available just a few years ago in this price range.

The sound board can vibrate as freely as it would on laps. I'm not sure I get this. When a guitar is resting on your lap, its vibration is being damped over two fairly large areas, i.e. your legs. So it can't vibrate freely. Even though the vibrations mostly aren't going through to the floor, a lot...

Here's the whole song, without voiceover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJ2zDu_11w

Ditto on what Twayn wrote. It's not crucial that the pole pieces be directly under the strings. Put it in there and try it out. If you need to, you can adjust the heights of the pole pieces to even out any differences in output between strings. Then see if it gives you the sound you're looking for. ...