Custom-made Black Walnut Lap Steel

[Remy Scalza]

(Posting here for my dad who makes lap steel guitars but doesn't use the internet.)



Gorgeous handmade lap steel guitar crafted from a single hunk of black walnut wood. This is an instrument that plays beautifully and also makes a unique conversation piece. Owing to the heavy black walnut body, it achieves remarkable tone and sustain (even when not amplified!)

I craft lap steel guitars out of unique hardwoods. See all of my guitars at Lap Steel Guitars by Tom: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lapsteelguitars

See some of my guitars in action on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk6kCWw ... xwxvvldRAN

I made this one from a single hunk of black walnut tree, which grew on my property in Upstate New York and fell over in a storm.

I cut, milled, sanded and stained the body by hand, then equipped it with a pair of Humbucker electric guitar pickups. Each pickup has a separate tone and volume control.

Length: 36"
Max Width: 9.5"
Scale: 26.25" from nut to bridge
Price: $749.00


The bridge and nut are made of real bone, for extra resonance.

The neck is inlaid with maple wood at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, and 17th frets.

Pickups are trimmed with Paducah wood.

Tailpiece and knobs are high-quality Gibson brand.

The lap steel is tuned to Open D, but can be strung with Open G strings, C6 strings for country playing, etc.

[Jim Rossen]

My playing benefits from clearly visible fret markers.

Jim

[Erv Niehaus]

The pickups seem to be located quite a ways from the bridge.
How is the tone ?
Erv

[Chris Harwood]

I liked the open peghead version on your website.
Nice sound clips of the guitars in action too. Rock n roll beasts!
Gibson-esque pickups and 'Les Paul' wiring?

[Remy Scalza]

The pickups seem to be located quite a ways from the bridge.
How is the tone ?
Erv

Hi Erv - I have a few other guitars here where the pickup is positioned closer to the bridge: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lapsteelguitars

For example, this one:



To my ear, the bridge pickup sounds solid, but thank you for the feedback.

[Remy Scalza]

My playing benefits from clearly visible fret markers.

Jim

Mine, too! I have a few lap steels with fret markers on my site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lapsteelguitars

[Remy Scalza]

My playing benefits from clearly visible fret markers.

Jim

Mine, too! I have a few lap steels with fret markers on my site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lapsteelguitars

[Erv Niehaus]

Remy,
Yes, I would think having the pickup closer to the bridge would result in a brighter tone.
Erv

[Dan Campbell]

Ideally, the middle of the pickup bridge is 1.5 inches from the bridge. If it gets much closer than that the strings don't vibrate enough and you have to have a very hot pickup. It looks like your guitar is very close to that if not on the money. In any case, the bridge pickup should be hotter than the neck pickup because the strings vibrate a lot more there and so are louder. The farther away the neck pickup is, the larger the tonal quality but it does begin to limit the length of the fretboard. Nice looking guitar.

[Remy Scalza]

Dan and Erv - Appreciate the insights on the bridge pickup placement!

[Larry Beem]

I like the idea of the PU away from the bridge. Some are very twangy because of that. My issue with them toward the fingerboard is, I tend to press the strings down onto the top of the PU when laying up the neck. If I could solve that problem without lowering the PU so low it dosen't work well,
man I would be gold.!! I play a lot of blues with distorted PU's, and louder than I would if it were country.