The Steel Guitar Forum

Love the idea of the Powerslide, but it seems to me I remember that name from somewhere. Hmmm, could have sworn I saw that name on a stand up steel before.

We didn't go to NAMM this year, but we do have a new Rattler to debut. We are now using a mahogany (with maple as an option) and we are no longer using a decal fretboard but instead cut the fret markers into the wood. We are also playing around with laser etching. Ted is working on some new higher e...

God bless you Mark. The lap steel may not be easy to master, but it is easy to have fun with quickly. If beginners don't have fun, they quit. The lap steel introduces students to the right hand techniques of guitar and teaches them great lessons in music. Then they can make an easier transition to g...

The wood body Melobar was called the Strummer and was developed by Walt Smith for consumers who had never played guitar or steel guitar before. The idea behind the tuning was to make an instrument that could be easily learned and played with a flat pick instead of finger picks. The metal body Meloba...

Dag: That's rare beauty. I'm jealous. We are busy working on our new Rattler, Teleratt, and double neck Melobar, but I hope to be selling replacement nuts and bridges for older models. Our replacement bridge uses phenolic embedded with a small brass post under each string slot. My best guess is we w...

The best way to play one of the old Melobars is to use a strap attached to the headstock, not the body. It also helps to put some kind of non-skid backing on the back of the body to help it stay in place.

I have an aution on ebay for a very cool Melobar prototype built in the early 70's that was never sold. It has a few mars on it, but is pretty cool. The item # is 160179407639. You can read the description there. I've also added a new Rattler to our ebay store--item #160179412424. Ted Smith built it...

Beautiful work Tom. I love the simple yet ingenious design. But then I like all of your work. Great to see such beautiful use of woods on the lap steel.

Thanks for the post Keith. Reminds me a bit of Cowboy Junkies. It's good to see a young ambassador of lap steel out there hitting audiences unfamiliar with the potentials of the instrument.

I just got the DVD, so I haven't had a chance to study it, but I did jump through it to find the good parts. He uses and 8 string in E major tuning (BEBEG#BC#E from low to high). He shows some of his technique like using the wah wah and how he constantly rolls the tone knob and volume knob while pla...

Ryan: I love your imagination and I'm exciting to see someone doing exotic things in lap steel design. I'm hoping your explorations will also give us some new tones as well. While I love many of the old vintage tones, I would also like to see the instruments tonal potentials explore more fully. It m...

This story may help solve the mystery. Ted Smith of Melobar got a call late one night a few years ago from a guy with a British accent asking all kinds of questions about a Melobar that came out of the Mosrite factory when they were building the early models. The guy refused to say who he was until ...

Hopefully this link works: http://stores.ebay.com/Melobar-Guitars And yes, that is Ted's first Teleratt in a few years. It was made with left over inventory parts, so it is not entirely representative of what is to come (we trying out laser etching for the fretboard for new models). It does have the...

Just another typo for fun. It is "now" for sale on ebay.

It sure hurts to reread my post with all the typos. And I'm an English professor!

The model shown is a Teleratt and is not on sale on ebay.

Once again, I’m trying to resurrect Melobar Guitars. The company has been through several fits and starts over the last 6 years, but hopefully (prayerfully), I’ve learned from my mistakes and the mistakes of others. Ted Smith is also back on board with me. To let everyone know what’s happened in the...

Check out www.vintagevibeguitars.com. Pete has a stringmaster style pickup that I'm anxious to tryout since I've found some his other pickups to be great. As Brad mentioned, Lollars are excellent as well. I had a chance to see Derek Campbell's lap steel a few weeks ago and he had an incredible Dimar...

Here's an update on Melobar. I took over as President late last spring, and I've been struggling to get all of our products back into production. In June, Mildred Smith, wife of the late Melobar founder Walt and mother of Ted, died from a long battle with cancer. Mildred was a true matriarch for not...

We have just started a batch of lap steels. I'm trying to see just how low we can keep the cost on an 8 string and give the world a solid sounding affordable 8 string. I think we will be able to sell an 8 string Rattler at below $500. Just how much below remains to be seen. We are also going to expe...

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm glad to see Victor out there with his own cd. These three collaborated on a couple of Bill Frissell's cd's--"Nashville" and "Good Dog, Happy Man." Victor's sister is Allison Kraus

Melobar is indeed back, but production will be limited for a while. John Bolin (bolinguitars.com) will be making the instruments for us, and it will take a while to get up to speed. John is one of the best luthiers in the world, but there is alot to learn about making the Melobro. Fortunately, Ted S...