The Steel Guitar Forum

My main interest is recording original music. I've only released a couple that contain lap steel but I have quite a few more in my library of songs. Some will get released and others will go to production libraries. I also get requests to play lap steel live occasionally. I don't really have a lot o...

Haha, that was fun. I'm gonna test that out when I get a minute or 30

Thanks, Steve.

One of my band mates just bought a NUX Amp Academy for $199 new. It's a great device and very simple with lots of options.

I would love to try a Jason Dumont lapteel and the Rayco's look nice too.

I have no trouble switching between 22.5 and 25.5 but it's a little harder switching to the 28" bass I built last year

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Those AI statements are generalizations and I would have been disappointed if that's the response I got from my original question. Instead what I got were real answers about specific items like nut and saddle setup, string height and distance between, body material, scale, pickups, etc. There is a w...

Hey, Rob - My steels have 22.5 or 23” scales, so that’s just what I’m used to. It makes behind the bar pulls easy (my accuracy with them is another story…). But I’m comfortable on reso, with a 25” scale, so I don’t really think about it. String spacing is a bigger deal for me - I prefer a little na...

You guys have made great points. I repair/restore and build guitars as a hobby and I have built five lap steels so far but I really only make them from my limited knowledge. I hear some of your recordings and for the life of me I don't know how you get some of those deep rich tones. I've always thou...

I was just reading the thread about lap steel manufacturers and made me wonder what you all think makes a great lap steel. After all, solid body lap steels are a very basic instrument and I think if I mounted strings on a 2x4 with the right electronics it would sound pretty good, right? So what make...

Great job as usual, Mike. The track title is very appropriate.

Wow, that's really nice. Great job. I build guitars as a hobby but definitely not on your level.

The pros of shorter scale:
- slants are easier
- guitar is physically smaller

The pros of longer scale:
- easier to intonate notes
- increased tension has snappier tone

I'm sure there are more. these are just what I notice.

I don't think I can pick a favorite but I will reference one of his lesser know recordings with Elliott Morris titled "What's Mine Is Yours" album.

I heard the news this morning and how sad to hear that he's gone. David has always been a huge influence on me and countless others so RIP David and I will pray for those who were the closest to you.

Have acoustic steels fallen out of favor? They haven't with me. I still write songs for acoustic and I currently have three acoustic steels. In my case I found that I actually like to convert 12-string acoustics to 6-string steel. I have two of those plus a 6 string cigar box (cedar). The 12-strings...

Wallace, what kind of music do you want to play? Knowing what music you might play will help to narrow down what tuning to start with.

Bill, wow, your playing in that last video is excellent. I definitely need to spend some time practicing on mine.

For those of us who lack the skills/tools/patience to make our own, are there any builders out there offering bass laps at a reasonable cost? Alternately, has anyone tried modifying a standard bass guitar? I personally don't know of anyone who builds lap steel basses which is why I picked this as a...

Cool looking build. What kinda pickup did you put in, I have something that looks similar in one of my basses and I really like it. Lee, I don't know the brand since I've had it a while and there is no ID on it. There are a whole bunch of MFG's that make pickups that look exactly the same so I have...

Thanks Bill. I did see one of your basses that I think was an 8-string? What I remember for sure is that it looked and sounded great. Mine is definitely not in the same league as yours. I actually wanted it to be at least a 30" scale but I'm happy with 29" since it does seem to have good t...

I saw a lap steel bass on youtube a while back that got me thinking that it would be a fun project to do since I already had most of the hardware and materials on hand. I have never played one and had no plans so I just winged it. Ended up a 29" scale because that's all I could fit with the mat...

Sounds really nice Mike. It also reminds me of fusion that I absolutely love.

You do such nice work and it sounds as nice as it looks.

Right. I see guitar and lap steel as companion instruments and I'm surprised that lap steel isn't more popular.

Joe A. Roberts wrote:

Don Downes wrote:AUDACITY does that. And it's free

My free recommendation too. Try it, the "change tempo" under the effect tab. It is great and it does not get choppy! The "change pitch" is also good when needed.

I also use Audacity for both tempo and pitch changes when needed.