Sanzone lap steel

[Andy Volk]

Came across this while web surfing. Not sure the scalloped fretboard is an asset.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgVWDzlqjx0

[Tim Mech]

Yeah, scalloped for...??
I still favor strings through the body.
Some nice aesthetics but not my thing.

[Bill Brunt]

I thought about doing that (and may still)on my first build as a tribute to (read 'cause I thought it was cool) a Rickenbacker frying pan which had that effect.

What some feel is way cool, others consider way goofy:)

Cheers!

[Tim Mech]

Hey Bill
Thanks for your post.
Just opened my eyes to the practicality of scalloped...behind the bar string pulls.
It can have a good set up and some extra clearance for some advanced manipulation if need be.

[Mike Neer]

A Fry Pan can be played Spanish style if the nut is low enough.

It's not a bad looking guitar, a nicely shaped piece of good wood. The speed knob is a little bit of a turn off for me.

They're selling for $895, a decent price.

http://www.dreamguitars.com/detail/2653 ... teel_2011/

In a similar vein, Rukavina guitars are much more appealing to me.

[Tim Mech]

I also don't get the bridge.
Strings will move when they come across that smooth piece of, (car), metal.

[Gary Stevenson]

I have built at least 15 lap steels and have used round bar stock for the bridge and have not had any problem with strings moving when crossing the bridge. string tension keeps them in place.

[Tim Mech]

Good to know Gary.
I've had mixed feelings about some wrap around bridges namely with tuning and intonation but if you have it down, cudos.

[Alan Brookes]

Scalloped fingerboards were developed in the Far East during the middle ages. The idea was that by varying pressure on the strings you could create a sort of tremolo effect. Many European folk instruments have been built that way over the years, and, over the last 50 years, several electric guitars.

With a raised nut and a tone bar the scalloping has no purpose except appearance.

On the subject of bridges and nuts, whether the string tension will keep the strings in place depends on the geometry of the anchorage at the tail end and the location of the machine tuners. I usually use threaded bar stock on the lap steels that I build, for both nut and bridge. I have used smooth bar stock at times in the past. A lot depends on the angle that the strings cross the bridge: the sharper the angle, the more downward tension there is to keep the strings in place.

[Tim Mech]

Well said Alan.
Any thoughts on intonation/the actual "speaking length of the string" when it comes to a flat, wide bridge?

[John Bushouse]

Intonation's for them folks who play with frets.

[Alan Brookes]

Yes, but Tim is thinking of the string passing over a rounded surface. Imagine the string vibrating in three dimensions. As it vibrates up and down, the point at which it separates from the bridge moves back and forth, so the sounding length of the string varies many thousands of times a second. It's not large, but it is audible. It depends on the diameter of the bridge. This effect is intentionally exaggerated in the sitar, with a very large diameter curve on the bridge which creates the humming effect. In the case of the sitar the bridge is built so that, not only does the sounding length change slightly, but it makes secondary contact with another part of the bridge slightly downstring of the primary contact. I've experimented with this sound, and I once built a mountain dulcimer/hummel with a dome instead of a regular bridge, and it sounded like a sitar.

On a lap steel, a rounded bridge improves the tone by adding slight overtones.

That's one of the ideas behind the roller bridge. On any guitar with variable tension on the strings, such as a regular guitar with a tremolo unit, or a pedal steel guitar, you need a roller bridge to avoid string breakage, and whatever sort of instrument you build you need to avoid sharp angles at the bridge and nut, which just cause string breakage.

I've found that changing the bridge on an archtop guitar improves the tone enormously.