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Topic: those who construct their steel guitars from scratch... |
Rick Collins
From:
Claremont , CA USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2009 10:08 am |
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Do you begin with an idea of how you want the instrument to sound?
...pickup-- horseshoe, pole, blade?
...turns on the bobbin?
...scale length?
...kind and thickness of the body material?
Is the tone quality highly predictable, or is their a high degree of chance in the process? |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 24 Jun 2009 2:23 pm
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Rick,
I enjoy building my own guitars, I start out making replicas of the old designs which I like, mainly from National. As for sound, I just find interesting Pickups on Fleabay, so far I have bought for peanuts, two Wilkinson Humbuckers, two old Teisco pickups, a Lipstick and an Alumitone. Some of these are fitted in guitars, some still to try.
James.
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Danny James
From:
Summerfield Florida USA
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Posted 24 Jun 2009 6:59 pm Re: those who construct their steel guitars from scratch...
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| Rick Collins wrote: |
Do you begin with an idea of how you want the instrument to sound?
...pickup-- horseshoe, pole, blade?
...turns on the bobbin?
...scale length?
...kind and thickness of the body material?
Is the tone quality highly predictable, or is their a high degree of chance in the process?
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So far I have just completed one. I first decided on the material. A neighbor had given me several boards of rough sawn Wild Cherry that had been in a garage loft for 50 yrs. So I planed it to 3/4 inch thick and laminated two pieces together for 1 1/2 in. thickness.
A friend had loaned me a Silvertone lapsteel guitar, so I traced the body & for the neck I looked at a picture of George Piburn's "George Boards" guitars and made it similar.
I made and wound my own bobbin with #43 wire to around 13000 turns of wire. I sent it to Rick Aiello
who made the Neo Dymium magnet assembly and installed my bobbin in it and sent it back to me. I made the bottom mounting plate and installed it.
I had an idea for a tuning changer so I designed and built one and installed it in the guitar. It has four different tunings on it and is adjustable so the tunings can be changed.
I built the guitar to a 23 inch. scale.
The tone of this guitar with the MRI pickup is everything I had hoped for. I was pretty sure it would be from talking to Rick Aiello.
I'm not into sending pictures, but there is a picture of it in the archives of the HSGA Forum with Bobby Ingano trying it out at the City Folks festival in Dayton Ohio. |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 5:00 am edit
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edit
Last edited by George Piburn on 22 Jun 2012 7:06 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Rick Collins
From:
Claremont , CA USA
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 8:21 am
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Many thanks to all who replied.
When I retire building a double eight console for playing Hawaiian music (in particular) is high on my priority list.
Aesthetics is very important to me __ second only to the sound it's capable of delivering.
Now for Hawaiian, I play a 1952 Fender Dual Pro eight (C-6th, B-11th).
It's completely restored (blond finish, re-gaussed magnets, some steel parts re-chromed) but, the bobbins I had re-wound to 13,000 turns.
I changed the three leg sockets to those from a Stringmaster, to get a wider stance on the floor.
This Fender has the higher staccato sound, which I like, but is not perfect.
For my taste, aesthetically it's near perfect.
Tuning machines and the pickups are the two things I would change if I were "cloning" this instrument today. |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 9:40 am
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Rick ... for me, its a little bit of everything and all of the above.
You certainly can take any one aspect / goal and build around it to achieve the desired result.
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This Fender has the higher staccato sound, which I like, but is not perfect.
For my taste, aesthetically it's near perfect. |
Are you looking for a little less pop and a softer attack?
There are lots of great wood and pickup combinations you can use to tailor your tone.
Just as important is construction method, pickup placement, nut and bridge materials, etc.
_________________
Some misc pics of my hand crafted steels
Follow me on Facebook here |
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James Kerr
From:
Scotland, UK
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 9:56 am
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| Tom Pettingill wrote: |
Rick ... for me, its a little bit of everything and all of the above.
You certainly can take any one aspect / goal and build around it to achieve the desired result.
| Quote: |
This Fender has the higher staccato sound, which I like, but is not perfect.
For my taste, aesthetically it's near perfect. |
Are you looking for a little less pop and a softer attack?
There are lots of great wood and pickup combinations you can use to tailor your tone.
Just as important is construction method, pickup placement, nut and bridge materials, etc. |
Click on the bottom line of Toms message
"click here to view some photos of my guitars" and take note of the construction and placement of parts.
James. |
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Kekoa Blanchet
From:
Kaua'i
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 11:26 am
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| How does the sound change as you move the pickup closer to or farther away from the bridge? Is there a "norm" for placement, or is it different for every pickup and every guitar body? |
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Tom Pettingill
From:
California, USA (deceased)
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 11:58 am
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Kekoa ... the basic rule of thumb is the closer the pickup is to the bridge, the brighter it will sound and the less output it will have.
A neat way to dial in the tone you like best is before you route for the pickup, fashion a temporary mount of sorts where the pickup can be mounted upside down.
This will let you move it around and find the spot that makes you smile.
_________________
Some misc pics of my hand crafted steels
Follow me on Facebook here |
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Kekoa Blanchet
From:
Kaua'i
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Posted 25 Jun 2009 12:45 pm
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| Great suggestion, Tom. Thanks! |
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Don McGregor
From:
Memphis, Tennessee
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Posted 26 Jun 2009 5:37 am
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I've designed, and am building a couple of Vintage Reminiscent GibsonBigsyGeorgeboardsRemingtonClinesmith multinecks using both Jerry Wallace and Ryan Rukavina PUs, Rukavina brass bridges, and salvaged aluminum pedal steel keyheads.
So far, I am using 1-1/2" to 2-1/4" African Mahogany for the bodies, and 3/4" Lacewood for the raised necks.
I'm continually fine tuning my designs, as I'm trying to incorporate all of my favorite elements I'v so far researched in console steel design. So far, I'm sticking to my favored 22-1/2" scale, with 3/8" string spacing all the way down the neck. I tend to favor the tones I can get from single coil PUs, but I'm also planning some builds using double coils. Quieter PUs are nice, too.
I'm constantly worrying over tone and volume controls placement, and one of my pet dislikes is a steel on which tuner buttons are placed too close to the nut.
I am a guitarist and woodworker, so I love the natural look of beautiful woods. I want a solidly built, ergonomically friendly, tonefully sweet multi-neck with beautiful wood, good hardware, and clean, simple lines.
Function and Beauty. That's what I'm talking about.
I want to get goose bumps when I play it, and have other steel players fawn all over it.
Now, if these children would eat just a little less, and wear their clothes a little longer, then Daddy could maybe spend more time actually building his dream steels, and less time earning a living. |
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Bill Creller
From:
Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)
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Posted 27 Jun 2009 9:35 am
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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