Scantic River Guitars Latest Build

[Thomas Ford]

Our recent build designed with Cindy Cashdollar.Great to work with her and glad to have her playing an SRG.

[Jan Dunn]

and a Lollar supro pickup!

[Stephen Abruzzo]

Hey Thomas, pretty cool looking steel you made there. Tell us about it....what kind of wood....what scale length....how did you get that purple wavy look?

Oh yeah, what pup is in the neck? That wouldn't happen to be one of the proto-type Lollar Teisco pups would it? Oh man, that would make this a Coodercaster for sure!!

What tuning will she play it in?

[Thomas Ford]

Hi Stephen, Thanks for the compliment we appreciate it. The Guitar is made from 1 piece of African Mahogany with a Quilted Maple Cap. The scale length is 25 inches and is standard for our steels. Cindy sent us a photo of a Purple guitar that she liked and wanted us to match it.We tried some different shades on some scrap pieces until we found a match.The wavy look is due to a highly figured piece of Quilted Maple thanks to Mother Nature.The pickups are both Lollar with an F-Spaced imperial humbucker in the neck and a supro in the bridge.She plays in different tunings open G, open D,etc. If you go on her web site she lists the different tunings she uses. Thanks again Tom

[Stephen Abruzzo]

Hey, that's pretty cool how the purple picks-up/enhances the grain of the wood.

[Peter Jacobs]

That's awesome! I'll be it sounds incredible with those pickups. Is the bridge your own design?

[Mark Eaton]

This one reminds me a bit of Jerry Douglas' purple-topped Lap King, which I might be seeing him play on a few tunes this weekend in Napa.

I checked out the SRG website earlier after spotting this thread - spent way too much time there - they are doing some incredible work!

[Thomas Ford]

That's awesome! I'll be it sounds incredible with those pickups. Is the bridge your own design?

Hi Peter thanks, Yes we designed the bridge and Hip Shot makes them for us. They really drive the string vibration down into the body resulting in some awesome sustain.

[Thomas Ford]

This one reminds me a bit of Jerry Douglas' purple-topped Lap King, which I might be seeing him play on a few tunes this weekend in Napa.

I checked out the SRG website earlier after spotting this thread - spent way too much time there - they are doing some incredible work!

Thanks much Mark we appreciate the compliments and thanks for stopping by.

[chris ivey]

aside from being very pretty, what dictates the high prices on these slabs of wood?

[Mark Eaton]

It's a legitimate question Chris, for sure. Lap steel prices are all over the map.

I mentioned Jerry Douglas earlier, saw him play (for the umpteenth time) in Napa a little over a week ago. He played his Lap King Rodeo with the standup support on a few tunes - sounded great. One of these can be had with the support for $1750.

You can get Bill Asher's Electro-Hawaiian Jr. with the Lollar pickup upgrade, the Asian version of his SoCal - built Electro Hawaiian for around a thousand.

Then of course we have all the old surviving lap steels from an earlier era that can often be had for under 500 bucks.

All that aside, I'd like to continue to learn more about these Scantic River steels and see it is is something to pursue.

For anyone that hasn't seen it, here's a link to a review from Vintage Guitar that was posted on the Scantic website:

http://scanticriverguitars.com/srg-vint ... ar-review/

And maybe even more so than the feature piece from the Maine TV station on their website, some good stuff in this video from 2012 Summer NAMM:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGjxKoZO1Vo

[chris ivey]

ok..i read it.

still makes me wish i'd picked up more of the $30-$40 hockshop models in the 70's. they couldn't give them away.

and whatever anyone says, you'll never get me to believe anything like this is worth nearly $2000.
it would really have to be bringing in the money for me to warrant that.
pretty color though.

i'm a little disappointed that some resos i would like to have are $5000+...i'll never do that either.
cause i can't!

[Mark Eaton]

Let me ask you this: do you think any standard electric guitars are worth $2000?

I don't know what your answer will be, but often the typical answer, to borrow the slab-of-wood comment which has been used by many, is that because the action and shape of a neck is so important to being dialed-in on a standard electric guitar, as long as the measurements are accurate and intonation is correct, building a lap steel is a piece of cake compared to a standard electric guitar because the steel is basically a slab of wood with strings, pickups, tuners etc.

Another high end builder who has built some lap steels that are expensive is Scott Walker, and he came on the Forum to break down why his are expensive.

If these guys could do this level of work and make themselves a good living by selling them for say $1000, they'd have people lined up around the block for them.

I think the Summer NAMM 2012 video where I believe it's Tom pointing out the details helps me to understand why the Scantic River Guitars cost what they do.

[chris ivey]

i think some instruments are worth more than others, definitely. with performance being very important..and then feel, looks, etc.

i also suspect there are many expensive american guitars that don't outperform some cheaper overseas models.

i dunno...just wish i were rich so i could stop annoying everyone with my opinions.

$5 million would shut me up, if anyone's interested.

[Thomas Ford]

aside from being very pretty, what dictates the high prices on these slabs of wood?

Hi Chris, Good question. When we decided to build Lap Steel guitars we said if we are going to do this lets make the best instrument we possibly can.So if you go out today and purchase the components we use,Hand selected straight grained Mahogany,Ebony,Rosewood,Birdseye maple for the fretboard and headplate,Lollar pickups,cts/bourne pots,luxe capacitors,hipshot bridge,vintage cloth wire,Gotoh tuning machines,knobs,etc. Then purchase your inlay materials and the tools to put together this slab of wood you are off to a good start.We also inlay all our frets and position markers with whatever the customer wants. We also spend hours with our customers designing what their vision is for their one of a kind instrument.We had a customer ask us after spending weeks going back and forth on the design of his guitar what we charged for all this design work and the answer was nothing because we want the final outcome to be exactly what they want. Now lets get into the actual building process. Hand cut the slab,spend the hours sanding,routing,going through the finishing process,more sanding,wiring,assembling,is it a semi hollowbody,chambered,with a highly figured maple or other top.Do you want a hip brace if so we don't charge for this. Do you want a custom hard case? If so you can have it at our cost. We go out of our way to deliver exactly what the customer wants. The guitar has to look good but most importantly it has to play and sound great.So after you purchase your materials and put in the hours of labor you might want to make a little profit for your efforts with the emphasis on little. If I could I would give these guitars away as this is a labor of love and not about making money.We are a couple of Disabled Vets trying to live the dream of creating a piece of art that also plays music and any profit we make goes into buying more materials and tools not into our pockets.

[Thomas Ford]

Let me ask you this: do you think any standard electric guitars are worth $2000?

I don't know what your answer will be, but often the typical answer, to borrow the slab-of-wood comment which has been used by many, is that because the action and shape of a neck is so important to being dialed-in on a standard electric guitar, as long as the measurements are accurate and intonation is correct, building a lap steel is a piece of cake compared to a standard electric guitar because the steel is basically a slab of wood with strings, pickups, tuners etc.

Another high end builder who has built some lap steels that are expensive is Scott Walker, and he came on the Forum to break down why his are expensive.

If these guys could do this level of work and make themselves a good living by selling them for say $1000, they'd have people lined up around the block for them.

I think the Summer NAMM 2012 video where I believe it's Tom pointing out the details helps me to understand why the Scantic River Guitars cost what they do.

Hi Mark good point, I guess we could call all electric guitars slabs of wood. I mean you can by a Fender squire or a Paul reed Smith Artist Package. Whats the difference? After all they are both slabs of wood with pickups, so why would the PRS cost so much more than the Squire.Why is the Asher Ben Harper Lap Steel more Expensive than an SRX you can buy on EBAY for $100.00

[chris ivey]

ok. thank you.

[Jack Aldrich]

ok..i read it.

still makes me wish i'd picked up more of the $30-$40 hockshop models in the 70's. they couldn't give them away.

and whatever anyone says, you'll never get me to believe anything like this is worth nearly $2000.
it would really have to be bringing in the money for me to warrant that.
pretty color though.

i'm a little disappointed that some resos i would like to have are $5000+...i'll never do that either.
cause i can't!

In 1960, I was cruising the pawn shops in LA looking for a string bass. In a shop in Venice, the guy behind the counter tried to sell me a National Tri Cone resonator guitar for $25. He couldn't sell it. Oh, why didn't I just buy it? - Jack

[chris ivey]

ok..now we know they are worth the price due to workmanship and parts and design. now how do they stack up tonally. with seventy years of cool old weird lapsteels like supro, oahu, rickenbacher, gibson, fender, etc., how do these fit in the picture? can they get some of the older very cool tones or are they strictly a modern different sound? i suppose you'll say 'whatever you want...you choose the electronics', but what is this available tonal spectrum? are there some examples out there for us to hear to compare to what we have heard from other existing models?

[Thomas Ford]

ok..now we know they are worth the price due to workmanship and parts and design. now how do they stack up tonally. with seventy years of cool old weird lapsteels like supro, oahu, rickenbacher, gibson, fender, etc., how do these fit in the picture? can they get some of the older very cool tones or are they strictly a modern different sound? i suppose you'll say 'whatever you want...you choose the electronics', but what is this available tonal spectrum? are there some examples out there for us to hear to compare to what we have heard from other existing models?

Chris, Go to the web site www.scanticriverguitars.com and read the review that Vintage Guitar Magazine wrote about our guitars and what they sound like. Yes it does make a difference what pickups you choose obviously different combinations produce different tones. I also believe that a lot of the tone comes from the individual players technique. When we were at NAMM last Year we had so many people stop by and play the different pickup combinations and honestly I heard so many different tones that I couldn't believe how different they sounded in each individuals hands.There are some examples on the web site, but we are currently working with our players on getting some updated video clips so we can show the diversity of our instruments in different players hands.As to how they stack up tonally, most of our players play for a living and have owned some of these cool,weird,old lap steels. The feedback from them (not my words)is that this is the best sounding,best playing (action wise)Lap Steel that they have ever played.Also knowing that they can play any instrument out there and they choose us makes all this worthwhile. I hope that you play one of our guitars someday then your questions will be answered.

[Mark Eaton]

Being out here on the west coast, don't know when I would get the chance to play an SRG, but I'd sure love to at some point. I have a feeling that I'd be getting the old wheels turning in my head to sell stuff, Rob-Peter-to-Pay-Paul, etc., to get my hands on one of these babies!

Thanks for chiming in Tom.

[Thomas Ford]

Being out here on the west coast, don't know when I would get the chance to play an SRG, but I'd sure love to at some point. I have a feeling that I'd be getting the old wheels turning in my head to sell stuff, Rob-Peter-to-Pay-Paul, etc., to get my hands on one of these babies!

Thanks for chiming in Tom.

Mark, Thanks for your compliments. We appreciate it very much. We put a lot of work into these instruments and it's nice to get some positive feedback. If we get out to the West Coast I will make sure to let you know. Thanks again

[Dennis Smith]

If they made me sound like this. I would get TWO!
http://youtu.be/oQCbeBh0CUw

[George Piburn]

Hello from GeorgeBoards - Congratulations to Thomas - Your Lap Steels are awesome.
Visual excellence and great sonic quality too.
I think you have something very nice going on.

Hopefully you will not need to continually justify your reasonable - if not too low - price structure.

Clearly these are for folks who "Can Afford" and want to support contemporary builders with their advanced skill set and visualization.

Looking forward to more of your instruments.

Best Regards

George Mr.Boards

[Thomas Ford]

Thanks George, We appreciate your kind words. You would know what it takes to build a high quality great sounding instrument. Thanks for the support Tom