my first lapsteel , a little nauty

Dickey Allen · Post by **Dickey Allen** » 14 Oct 2009 1:17 pm

This is my first attempt at a lapsteel. It's made of green granate and black ingo.It has a Lollar p90 pickup 2" from bridge.Really warm sound.I didn`t want to buy the gold banjo tuners until I was sure it sounded good.Now I have to learn how to play it.I`ve got a George Boards DVD,but would like to find someone in the Dallas area for some instruction.Yes, it`s a little heavy but,i`ve made a nice stand for it.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 14 Oct 2009 3:11 pm

Bwaaa! Very cool! I like it!

Billy Wilson · Post by **Billy Wilson** » 14 Oct 2009 5:11 pm

Is that picture enhanced?

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 14 Oct 2009 5:52 pm

Very unique, don't think I've ever seen a granite steel before.

Don McGregor · Post by **Don McGregor** » 15 Oct 2009 5:38 am

I take it for granite you will be playing Rock music on this jewel.
Can we see more some pictures of the back, and closeups of details, especially how you joined these pieces?
What controls and knobs are those?
We're not sure what you've done, but is stone cold beautiful.

Mark Bracewell · Post by **Mark Bracewell** » 15 Oct 2009 4:53 pm

I see what you did there... Brilliant! Really good. It takes cojones to look at a rock and think 'that'd make a nice guitar.'

Ray Riley · Post by **Ray Riley** » 15 Oct 2009 5:28 pm

Dickey, nice looking steel. Is the distance between the 1st and 2nd fret smaller than the 2nd and 3rd fret . Just a question or is it an optical illusion ?

Dickey Allen · Post by **Dickey Allen** » 19 Oct 2009 4:52 pm

Thanks for the replys. Tom your guitars are great! What craftmanship. Don here are more pics. It`s joined by two 10" 3/8 stainless dowlpens. Drilled

into the wood,the stone was sawed and epoxed. A 3/8 hardboard was used to match up with the wood.The contol knobs are a miniature diving helment and a portside ship lantern.Both are brass.The fret markers are brass shells.The fret wire is epoxed in sawed grooves in the stone.It has a nashville auto tuner bridge. Scale is 22.5. And Ray , the stone nut is sloped about a 1/4" away from the fretboard. Good eye!I was inspired by the mermaid godess Ved Ava,the keeper of the seas and it`s begotten.Also, I`d like to show my stone strat slide .Black galexy on the back and neck.A brown,orange an

white marble for the body face and head. 25.5 scale.Gibson p94 with jag steel strings.45lbs. The sustain is,let`s say long!!! Sorry it took me so long to respond, for I`m posting for the first time

Ray Riley · Post by **Ray Riley** » 19 Oct 2009 5:37 pm

Don McGregor · Post by **Don McGregor** » 19 Oct 2009 6:18 pm

Jerry Desmet · Post by **Jerry Desmet** » 20 Oct 2009 4:16 am

So bizarre but original

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 20 Oct 2009 6:42 am

Thanks for the extra pics Dickey, nice stone work!

Richard Shatz · Post by **Richard Shatz** » 20 Oct 2009 3:10 pm

I've been to two rodeos and at least one county fair, and I thought I'd seen everything.
I guess I need to widen my horizons.

Mr. Allen,
You might be eligible for sainthood.

Kevin Greenberg · Post by **Kevin Greenberg** » 24 Oct 2009 10:00 pm

As a tile setter, I have great respect for the long hours you spent cutting and shaping these stone instruments.
As a steel player, I say holy sheep sh*t! That's the craziest damn thing ever! The diving helmet and lantern are cooler than a polar bear's toenail. And how the heck did you do that texas inlay on the neck of the strat?

Love it.

Keith Cordell · Post by **Keith Cordell** » 25 Oct 2009 1:43 am

As a tiki fanatic and lover of all things sea related, the helmet and lantern made me drool. As a lover of all things unusual, that steel makes me wanna find a nice rock somewhere- and a better stand. It wouldn't be sitting on my legs...

Dickey Allen · Post by **Dickey Allen** » 26 Oct 2009 9:56 am

Kevin, I'm a 32 year brick/stone mason. I got a chance to do some granate work and started making bookends (cowboy boots,horse heads),wall hangers and sculptures out of the scrap.The strat was going to be just a wall hanger,but I thought it would be cool if I could make it really work.So I got the pickup and hardware,and it worked alot better than I thought. It's got two stainlss steel dowls embeded in the back for picture wire, so I can hang it on the wall.I spent 100 to 120 hrs. on it. About 40 to 50 on the lapsteel. When it came time to do the fret markers Stew Mac did'nt have the white abalone blanks, at that time, so I made them from white abalone plastic picks with a dremel and a hole punch.Nobody could tell the difference ,so I called it good.Being a steel it didn't matter much that they weren't recessed.Some day I'll do it right. Keith, I picked up a orthopedic walker at a garage sale.I painted it black and covered the rails with leather. The legs are adjustible,so it does well with diffrent chairs.The lapsteel is 18lbs.I'm using the stand! Thanks to everyone for the support,I thought I might get smacked around a little bit.

Bob Reani · Post by **Bob Reani** » 2 Nov 2009 2:42 pm

a really piece of art!

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my first lapsteel , a little nauty

my first lapsteel , a little nauty

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my first lapsteel a little nauty

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