I'm thinking of building a square-neck Tele

[Alan Brookes]

....on the other hand, if you want to use it permanently as a lap steel, why not just use a lap steel ?

[Steve Branscom]

Maybe you've got a Strat or a Tele or a reasonable facsimile thereof with the bolt on neck lying around the house gathering dust, not being played and you want a lap steel. Here's an easy way to come up with a lap steel using in-house inventory and the Redneck. A modest outlay of $200 and Voila! You've got a lap steel with that Tele sound or the Strat sound you like.

[David Simenson]

Maybe you've got a Strat or a Tele or a reasonable facsimile thereof with the bolt on neck lying around the house gathering dust, not being played and you want a lap steel.

My situation exactly. I have a couple of nice Teles with Seymour Duncan or US Fender pickups sitting around not being played. I'm playing keyboard, and now lap steel in a country band, and I'd like a 2nd lap steel to play in open D or open G for overdrive lead parts. A bolt-on square neck seems the way to go for me.

[Darrell Urbien]

....on the other hand, if you want to use it permanently as a lap steel, why not just use a lap steel ?

(Again, guessing) It looks cool?

[David Simenson]

I think lap steels look way cool, certainly better than a Tele with a fat square neck, but

1. I may not want the guitar permanently as a steel guitar, and
2. A $200 bolt-on square neck is a lot cheaper than a quality lap steel, from what I've seen.

[David Pinkston]

Here's one I had made..

[David Simenson]

Beautiful guitar! I love Tele's (I have two of them) and yours must sound great. Since my original post a lot has happened. I got an 8-string steel guitar (GeorgeBoards) and lost interest in 6-string steel guitars. The only 6-string I play any more is a Gold Tone solid mahogany resophonic guitar, and I wish it had 8 strings as well. I'm gigging with the GeorgeBoard S-8 and the Gold Tone.

[chris ivey]

i understand all of this but geez, i hate to see a good tele being wasted. and..'modest outlay' of $200?? only ten years ago or so you could get just about any lapsteel you wanted for half of that!

[Mark Bracewell]

Wasted only if nobody is playing it - and a well done conversion is reversible. On the other hand, of all the classic guitars to convert, a tele seems a weird pick. If it's twang you're after, twang is pretty easy I think I'd rather do a 70's SG for the sound, not very lap-friendly though. Boils down to what makes you happy.

[Robert Murphy]

I have a tele with stock neck set up to play slide. The tuning is my A11 AC#EGBD 42,32,30,22,17,12. I am using a hipshot with two palm levers only on the G&B strings for 1/2 bends which give me enough chord changes without the long travel of a whole bend. The saddles are graph-tech as is the raised nut. My next purchase will be a square neck for tone and sustain.

[Alan Brookes]

...of all the classic guitars to convert, a tele seems a weird pick. If it's twang you're after, twang is pretty easy I think I'd rather do a 70's SG for the sound, not very lap-friendly though. Boils down to what makes you happy.

I was thinking the same thing. A solid guitar with neck-through-bridge as one piece of wood, and no neck joint, would, in theory, give better sustain.
I, personally, doubt that a square neck is going to give more sustain than a round one. The same discussion has come up on the Forum about round neck versus square neck Resonator Guitars. Again, I have both, and I can't perceive any difference.
As I've said before, a lap steel is just a plank with a pickup and strings. You can build one in a weekend at very little cost. The rest is all for appearance sake.

[John Burton]

I was playing a Fender tele lap style this weekend. Round neck with a nut extender. I'm thinking of buying another tele (probably a cheaper brand, though, mayve a Rondo SX or something) to set up permanently with a higher nut.
Anyway...here's a little Youtube I posted of myself playing a Tele lap style.
see here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTh0HDtCUpY

[Dennis Brooker]

John - Nice job - If you were closer I'd hit you up for some lessons - DB

[Erv Niehaus]

There was a fellow in Australia who was building these a few years ago:

[Steinar Gregertsen]

On the other hand, of all the classic guitars to convert, a tele seems a weird pick. If it's twang you're after, twang is pretty easy I think I'd rather do a 70's SG for the sound, not very lap-friendly though. Boils down to what makes you happy.

Well, it's a whole lot easier to swap necks on a Tele than on an SG...

Teles are so easy to modify, no problem dropping in a couple of hotter pickups for less twang and more 'growl', and when/if you want your old Tele back it's 30 minutes with a screwdriver and a soldering iron, readjust the action and intonation, and it's done.

I had a Strat with a squareneck, and I would have chosen a Tele if I could, the extended upper horn on the Strat sometimes got in the way when I was playing up the neck.

[Erv Niehaus]

Steinar,
You mean like this:

[Steinar Gregertsen]

That's right Erv, here's the one I had:



The upper horn wasn't a huge problem, just a little annoying now and then when I bumped into it with my left arm..

[John Billings]

Alan,
The square neck stays on your leg very nicely. Doesn't slide around. That's probably why National did it back in the late 1920's.

[Alan Brookes]

Alan,
The square neck stays on your leg very nicely. Doesn't slide around. That's probably why National did it back in the late 1920's.

I think you're right, John.