I saw a lap steel bass on youtube a while back that got me thinking that it would be a fun project to do since I already had most of the hardware and materials on hand. I have never played one and had no plans so I just winged it. Ended up a 29" scale because that's all I could fit with the material I had which seems like it worked out fine. For now it's tuned to standard bass E-A-D-G but once I start using it I may change to something else and I'm open to suggestions. Here is a picture and a quick video I did:
very cool. i made a few lap basses. i found that the types of strings used made a big difference in how it sounds as does the scale. the longer the scale the better.
Thanks Bill. I did see one of your basses that I think was an 8-string? What I remember for sure is that it looked and sounded great. Mine is definitely not in the same league as yours. I actually wanted it to be at least a 30" scale but I'm happy with 29" since it does seem to have good tension and I don't think I would like the frets any wider than they are now. I tried a set of round wound strings but ended up with flats that work better on this guitar.
I like octaves 5ths and 4ths a lot in my bass lines. I'd try something like EAEA or EAEG# if I had one to play with. If you palm mute while plucking I bet you can get a real thumpy sound out of it. It's a bit tricky on bass when playing with two fingers, but I found it works if your hand position is pretty close to what we use for palm blocking.
For those of us who lack the skills/tools/patience to make our own, are there any builders out there offering bass laps at a reasonable cost? Alternately, has anyone tried modifying a standard bass guitar?
When I was playing a T-8 Stringmaster, I put bass strings on one of the necks, just the bottom four.
On the Stringmaster, one of the necks was made to do that.
Erv
Lee Gauthier wrote:Cool looking build. What kinda pickup did you put in, I have something that looks similar in one of my basses and I really like it.
Lee, I don't know the brand since I've had it a while and there is no ID on it. There are a whole bunch of MFG's that make pickups that look exactly the same so I have a feeling they might all be made in the same factory. This pickup does sound good and the guitar is dead silent between notes.
Chase Brady wrote:For those of us who lack the skills/tools/patience to make our own, are there any builders out there offering bass laps at a reasonable cost? Alternately, has anyone tried modifying a standard bass guitar?
I personally don't know of anyone who builds lap steel basses which is why I picked this as a project. Before I started I tried my regular bass with a steel and it seemed to work but the strings were too low. I don't see why you couldn't raise the strings and play with a steel. The main difference is that the neck won't be as chunky as an actual lap steel guitar and string spacing will be closer together.
Chase Brady wrote:For those of us who lack the skills/tools/patience to make our own, are there any builders out there offering bass laps at a reasonable cost? Alternately, has anyone tried modifying a standard bass guitar?
If I had a lap steel bass I think I'd try this tuning...
E-A-C#-E
It gives you a 4th
E-A-x-x
a 5th
x-A-x-E
a Major 6th
E-x-C#-x
a major 3rd
x-A-C#-x
a minor 3rd
x-x-C#-E
an octave
E-x-x-E
and a major chord
E-A-C#-E
You could get some really nice 2 note harmonies going up high on the neck with that tuning - and of course the obligatory disco bass octaves from the 70's lower down on the neck.
i would only recommend tuning a lap bass like an electric or upright. so easy to play anything you want. here is a lap bass i made playing some music that really should not be able to be played on a lap steel ....thats what cool about tuning like a bass. you can play any style a standard bass can play. tune it like you like, but E A D G will get you any bass part played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s330c5gBx8s