Best quality lap steel guitar manufacturers

[Stefan Robertson]

Seeing the new lap steel players struggle with this question I once did as well. Might help if we post some of our favourite companies and brands to help them.

My favourites are:
1. MSA Superslide - construction/tone/sound designed by steel players for steel players

2. Gibson lap steel eh150 however the price is not worth it based on quality but nice to have if you can afford one.

3. Bespoke lap steels made by people on the forum. They are players who know and understand what real players need and are also more responsive and innovative. This is always a great choice.

4. Harley Benton German lap steel guitars the 8 string is of great quality and sound. Also can be played around a camp fire as it has some acoustics when not plugged in. Do not get the crappy Chinese Harley Benton one that has legs and six strings unless it’s for a beginner.

5. Of course goes without saying I recommend cheap Chinese crap steels for all beginners. Didn’t joe Wright say “ I’d rather have thousand dollar hands and a $2 guitar” ie get your skills up then invest in a better instrument.

What are some of your suggestions on favourite manufacturers?

[Brooks Montgomery]

#1–Clinesmith

#2–Asher

#3–Duesenberg

[Bill McCloskey]

Sierra. As much as I love my Superslides, this is the finest lap steel I've ever played and my goto steel.

[Greg Tucker-Kellogg]

Jason Dumont (Lap King).

[Allan Revich]

I have a Clinesmith and a Fouke. Both are excellent instruments.

[Stefan Robertson]

Great makers indeed. Keep them coming.

I’ll add some more.

Bill Hatcher - bespoke plus the emmons pickups are so warm when needed and pedal steel bright when needed.

Surprised no one said the Bakelite steels yet.

Rickenbaker panda etc.

I also recommend the early Fender/Gibson steels
I once got a double neck for my Dyson vacuum cleaner and dehumidifier in Canada at a pawn shop.

[Phillip Vaught]

Georgeboards

[Nic Neufeld]

Clinesmith...but I wouldn't recommend that for a new player, unless they are just leaking money from every orifice. They are what I would consider a top line professional instrument. They aren't cheap, but compare them to a top of the line pro instrument from a variety of other instruments...quite reasonable! I know there are a lot of other boutique makers that churn out excellent guitars, but Todd's work is the one I have the most knowledge of (Alan Akaka's Asher sure sounds great, but it has the unfair advantage of being played by Alan).

Really for beginners two of the best options are 1.) cheap import and 2.) reasonably priced vintage.

Downsides of #1 is that sometimes they need some love. The Rogues are an amazingly cheap place to start, but having started with a very similar 20" scale base model Morrell, well...I never play it any more, and I never really sounded good on it. The scale is just so short, it's hard to play in tune (for me, maybe you sound great on them ) and it doesn't sound that great (I replaced the buzzy single coil with a PAF, too). So there are kits to expand the scale to a reasonable (what most people call "short") scale of 22.5"...with this, and maybe a pickup swap, you'd have a fairly solid instrument I think for most players. But that's a fair amount of extra love you'd have to put in to the instrument. Similarly, because I wanted 8 strings, I went with the SX 8 string, for less than $200. Nice gig bag, legs, and best of all the longer 24.5" scale I wanted and am used to. My only issue with it was string balance and a noisy hum but both were rectified with an alumitone pickup swap. That's a great guitar now and it does -some- things even better than my Clinesmith (bass response is amazing).

Option #2, vintage...this is going to be the most variable one. You can get great deals on vintage lap steels...not the "big" ones necessarily like Bakelites, fry pans, Stringmasters, the ones that are best known, etc. But Magnatones, some off brands, Nationals, lesser revered Ricks, that kind of stuff. The trick is, some of them may be a bit goofy or odd. I love my Magnatone D8...adore it. But for the life of me I've never understood the wiring or how the tone pot actually works...and one neck sounds significantly different than the other (Alan Akaka owns the same model...that was once owned by Jules Ah See and given to him by Benny Kalama! and he reports the same oddness between the two necks). So you have to be willing to live with some degree of unique or odd characteristics. The good thing is, these instruments, other than the collectible ones, have already depreciated as much as they likely will, so if you don't like it, you have a decent chance of getting your money back if you sell it.

I guess the third option is the middle of the road new option...there are a bunch of them in the $400-$1000 range, including some handmade options, and some imports. I don't have much experience with these, but like the Gold Tone LS-8, it is $800 or so, and I think it's an import just like the SX. Maybe its a better guitar, stock, but my SX 8 with the pickup swap is a formidable guitar, for my purposes, for a lot less money than the stock Gold Tone, so it made sense for me to go that route.

[Lloyd Walsh]

Still in production:

Asher
Duesenberg

Vintage:

Rickenbacker B6, B7, B8 (either sized pickup).
Sho-Bud Jerry Byrd Frypan

Beginners:

Anything vintage in decent shape with a Valco pickup.


These recommendations are based on my very limited playing experience and what I’ve actually had my hands on. I’ve tried a lot of cheapo vintage steels and a few expensive “desired” models. My opinion changes regularly as to which are my favorites so these aren’t in any order, but collectively they stand out from the batches I’ve played.

What I’d still like:

Here’s a list of what I’d still like based on Forum anecdotes and recommendations:

If i could afford them:
Clinesmith Frypan
Rickenbacker Frypan
Jackson Slide King with the EDGE bender system

For Looks Alone:
Any of the oddly designed futuristic looking Guyatones and Teiscos. Like the Model A, R, HG-66 and 56.

[Jon Light]

Interested to see if Beard is going to go into production on their Megan Lovell guitar or if it's a one-off.

[Nic Neufeld]

Interested to see if Beard is going to go into production on their Megan Lovell guitar or if it's a one-off.

If I had to guess, it's a one-off. I could be wrong, but based on the black finish on the pickup, which as far as I know is not something either Lollar or Clinesmith are doing (the latter's black finished frypan still has a shiny chrome pickup)...my thought was that maybe it was a borrowed pickup from a less-collectible Ric like a B59 or NS, like the following:



Given the steep prices of new-made horseshoes, it might have been cheaper (and probably from her perspective, more desirable, since she has been almost exclusively playing on vintage 'shoes) just to find a vintage pickup like that, which would be easy for a one-off, but next to impossible for a production item. So I'd be surprised if it ends up on the product line.

[Jon Light]

Interested to see if Beard is going to go into production on their Megan Lovell guitar or if it's a one-off.

If I had to guess, it's a one-off. I could be wrong, but based on the black finish on the pickup, which as far as I know is not something either Lollar or Clinesmith are doing (the latter's black finished frypan still has a shiny chrome pickup)...my thought was that maybe it was a borrowed pickup from a less-collectible Ric like a B59 or NS, like the following: .........................

.................Given the steep prices of new-made horseshoes, it might have been cheaper (and probably from her perspective, more desirable, since she has been almost exclusively playing on vintage 'shoes) just to find a vintage pickup like that, which would be easy for a one-off, but next to impossible for a production item. So I'd be surprised if it ends up on the product line.

I hear you and I agree that a horseshoe would be an impractical choice for a production model. But I'll tell you -- with the sound of my bakelite Ric as a baseline standard for what I was looking for in a steel guitar (at least one of my 'standards'), I spent a lot of time studying sound samples of some Clinesmith players as I was considering ordering one a couple of years ago and I was just about ready to choose an option other than the horseshoe as, easily, close enough to what I was looking for. IOW I (personally) would not insist on or demand the expense of a horseshoe pickup in one of those. And no, I didn't buy one so I can't follow-up that statement. But I'd encourage Beard to consider other options, if they were considering a Megan Lovell signature model.

The Megan Lovell Beard

[Nic Neufeld]

Well, and as is mentioned in another thread...some of these "horseshoe pickups" are not actually magnetized in the 'shoe but are conventional pickups in a horseshoe cover! Pure aesthetics. My Rick 4003 is that way. So there is a (somewhat remote) chance that that is a cover on a conventional under-string mag pickup.

Kudos to Beard for keeping with the aesthetics of her instrument...shaped exactly like her Panda in its uniquely odd strap rig, even including pickguard equivalents of the panda panels! (if they'd routed out channels in the back of the neck...well that may be going a bit too far, heh)

[Tom Campbell]

Melbert...can't believe no one has mentioned this quality builder.

[Dave Mudgett]

I think virtually every custom lap steel builder is making excellent steels. After that it comes down to personal preference and price. The word "best" is not in my lexicon. Reminds me of a technical paper from the 1970s: "Control Systems: Good, Bad, or Optimal" (the authors were arguing against the general concept of 'optimal', which was the rage back then).

My personal preference, by far, is my Clinesmith cast aluminum long-scale 8-string. Mine has the Bigsby-style pickup, I love it to death. But I agree that someone starting out doesn't need a real expensive steel. But of course, if ya' got money to spend, I don't think one can possibly go wrong with one of these. Again, to my tastes.

I personally would try to ferret out a good vintage lap steel before messing around with a cheapo ($100-200) lap steel like a Rogue or whatever. Things have gone up in the last few years, but I still sometimes see Valco (National, Airline, Supro, etc.), Magnatone, and even some of the "lesser" (to some, not me!) Rickenbacher lap steels like the Model 59 and NS, for not-unreasonable prices. Try a guitar show - a lot of guitar dealers are truly clueless about steels of any kind. Some ridiculously over-price them out of ignorance and some sense of "rarity", but others just wanna get rid of them. My favorite 6-string for some time has been my circa 1940 Rickenbacher Model 59. It's outstanding, I prefer it to the Bakelites I've had - in fact, they're gone now. I also think the Magnatone-made stuff is under-rated, but sound just fine to me.

[John Viterito]

My top three choices for lap steel builders:

1) Rukavina

2) Rukavina

3) Rukavina

If I had to extend it to a fourth builder, it would be Rukavina.

[Stefan Robertson]

My top three choices for lap steel builders:

1) Rukavina

2) Rukavina

3) Rukavina

If I had to extend it to a fourth builder, it would be Rukavina.

Isn't your picture avatar a Chris Fouke lap steel.

[John Viterito]

Ooooops! Forgot about my Fouke BASS steel (soon to be put up for sale, BTW). I love all of my guitars (if I could only play them), including my Fouke and absolutely gorgeous Melbert. I don't know, though, there is just something about a Rukavina guitar that pulls at my heartstrings.

[Stefan Robertson]

Sierra. As much as I love my Superslides, this is the finest lap steel I've ever played and my goto steel.

Didn’t know Sierra did a 12 string. Pretty cool looking.

I’ll take your MSA superslide if it’s a 12 string off your hands.

[Bill McCloskey]

Which one?

[Terry VunCannon]

I am at the top on no list I know, but I am still making, playing and recording with my V-MUSE Lap Steels out of NC.
http://www.vmuselapsteels.com/

[Stefan Robertson]

Which one?

If you’re selling I’ll take the single 12. Don’t need a double neck.

[Bill McCloskey]

It was a joke Stefan. These go to the grave with me.

[Stefan Robertson]

It was a joke Stefan. These go to the grave with me.

fair enough.

[Bill Groner]

It was a joke Stefan. These go to the grave with me.

You're gonna need a pretty big casket!