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Topic: New Species of Steel sort of |
Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 12 Feb 2006 3:53 pm |
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OK. This has been waiting for me to get it more or less playable. It's ready for its close-up.
This was a Melobar. It came with a squishy gumby body. I wouldn't be caught dead with that thing under my arm. I don't like the original design--the guitar ends up way too close to the body and it sits at a bad playing angle. Maybe it works ok for slide guitar.
I have extended the scale to 24". I have added a Fender 10 string pickup in addition to the stock GeorgeL . I have turned the tuners from face-down to face-up. And I have added hardware that holds the guitar away from the player's body. How to keep the guitar from spinning and flipping out of control? I added an extra neck strap that hooks to the gut rest. Think 'saxophone strap'. It works! You can apply full bar pressure without the guitar moving around.
It has some problems--string 1 (high) does NOT like the sharp angle from saddle to tail. Several of the strings sound dead. This may be a nut/bridge slot issue. But in the end, this is not a great piece of wood. I hope to tweak it out and make it an acceptable axe. As it is, it is a success from the standpoint of figuring how to strap this on and be able to play it securely like a console steel. If I can't get it sounding better, though, it will have just been an excercise. I am somewhere between pleased with some of the small successes here and disappointed with the unavoidable truth that it's all about 'how does it sound' and right now the answer is 'eh'.
It needs a name. I'm open to suggestions. Gut-steel (not Guit-steel) comes to mind.
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Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
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Posted 12 Feb 2006 5:08 pm
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Jon -- that's some serious Yankee ingenuity. I've often wondered if the old Melobars were "all that" -- apparently, it's a good concept but needs work. I don't know what will help with the tone, but I'm also interested in coming up with a "made to be worn" steel.
Right now, I use a Melobar lap steel in an "outrigger" -- it's a Melobro shell that Ted Smith made into a tray to hold a steel like a Dobro. Works pretty well, but inelegant (see photo).
Question -- how does that bar feel against your stomach? Looks like it's concentrating the pressure along the bar. Is it uncomfortable?
BTW, he only name for your creation I can think of is what the bar reminds me of -- the "kickstand".
Peter
[This message was edited by Peter Jacobs on 12 February 2006 at 05:12 PM.] |
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Billy Gilbert
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 12 Feb 2006 5:10 pm
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Jon,
You have done too much work on it to quit now. The nut and bridge issues shouldn't be that hard to remedy. Maybe you just have some dead strings.  Billy |
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HowardR
From:
N.Y.C.-Fire Island-Asheville
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Mike McBride
From:
Indiana
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Posted 12 Feb 2006 8:07 pm
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| Luv it!! I was mentally designing something similar after seeing a Melobar on ebay. Their body seems obstructive. [This message was edited by Mike McBride on 12 February 2006 at 08:09 PM.] |
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John Cook
From:
Sarasota, Florida, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2006 12:00 am
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| MSA Super Slide with freedom bar. done jc |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 13 Feb 2006 12:39 am
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| Wait'll you see my combination of a Hondo travel guitar and the bustle from a hoop skirt - Scarlett O'Hara, doin' the Boogaloo.... |
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Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
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Posted 13 Feb 2006 6:14 am
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I like what you've done; reminds me of a Chapman Stick, played horizontally.
It seems like the Melobar design was for guys who are fat in the wrong places.
Maybe you could just strap it around your waist.... |
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Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 13 Feb 2006 1:15 pm
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Thanks for showing interest. A few comments/responses:
Peter--I remember that Melobar rig. I was looking for products and/or ideas for this purpose and that was one of the few commercial options available. Long after I had designed this, I saw the Super Slide (which I am eager to meet in person when Reese comes up in a couple of weeks). Cool that it balances well enough to not need all the extra stuff I had to do.
As to comfort--while still in the daydream stage I envisioned the need for either a cushioned curved bar or a flexible sling sort of contraption and I kept running into dead ends trying to mentally engineer this (with hardware or found objects) so I tried this and I find that it really isn't an issue. The pressure isn't a big deal. (Also, the picture above was the second attempt---the first one had the bar well buried in my gut. I went back, sucked it in and tried again. So the more one likes his beer, the better, far as comfort goes.) The biggest comfort issue, though, is the center neck strap which carries a fair amount of stress to the neck.
This strap is essential, though--without it the guitar just rolls on you. Without the harware it rolls away from you. With the weight of the hardware it rolls toward you. With the strap, it rolls into the strap and is nicely stable.
Here is the string 1 issue, illustrated---I just can't imagine a string being happy with that sort of angle on it. If this guitar holds my interest long enough, I'll probably go and replace the whole tailpiece.
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John Bechtel
From:
Nashville, Tennessee, R.I.P.
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Posted 13 Feb 2006 1:43 pm
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Sorry, but; I have a little trouble standing for any length of time, even when not playing! So, it doesn't interest me personally, but; it does l©©k like a workable idea!
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“Big John”
a.k.a. {Keoni Nui}
’05 D–10 Derby
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15”
Current Equipment
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