Lap Steel .. First one

[Phill Morris]

Hello to all
I have just built my first lap steel guitar .. purely because I could not get one locally at a reasonable price so .. a plank of ash and an old kitchen maple door later .. electrics from a squire tele and one guitar .

This is it .
I use d'darrio jazz strings ribbon wound on this one .. very smooth sound 12s to 48 tuned to open G .. GBDGBD
25.5" scale lenght and bone Nut with telecaster bridge and through body stringing.
Phill

[Mike D]

Nicely done. Cool vintage vibe and i like that you kept the neck p/u.

[John D. Carter]

Nice looking guitar Phill! Now, how about a sound sample? It is satifying to be creative with guitar design isn't it?

[Andy Sandoval]

Phill, that's a sweet lookin guitar there.

[Gary Stevenson]

I have built two homemade lap steels and I have to say that you did a real nice job on your first one. I really like the tele control switch setup.

[Roman Sonnleitner]

Nice! I like the twin-pickup concept, and the tele control plate (hey, I think I will borrow that idea if I ever get around to building my eight-string).
Not a fan of the headstock, though...

[Phill Morris]

Thanks Guys
Will post piccis of second one once it is finnished.
Body of hickory . all gold hardware inc lipstick neck pickup alnico mag .. with a fender strat at bridge position.. grover self locking tuners tele mex tone and volume with 3 way selector. through body stringing with a strat style bridge ( no trem).
blue body with maple fretboard with black resin fret s and markers.. recessed jack .
Revamped the headstock ..cos I did not like the first one either.
Bone nut ..and a sound like a tele when set right ..or sweet and smooth in middle position .
Next one will have a humbucker at neck position .
26 fret 25.5" scale. wieght will be about 3 kg..maybe a bit more.
Phill

[Randy Reeves]

really nice. I enjoy the 'teleness'.
lap steels are a delight to build. your first effort shines.
wonderful.
I need some details about the fretboard. what did you use for markers?

[Phill Morris]

Hi Randy
The markers are the screws used to fix the fretboard down .. all I did was fill them over with a resin bonding compound then sand them back and polish . It is the same product that is used to join corian worktops and is available in a myriad of colours .. so essentially you can rout out any shape you want and fill it and sand back .. even marbled effects can be achieved quite easily.
I am gonna experiment with some of the corian material to make inlays for the control knobs and pickups in the near future .. once I have my workshop up and running I will be deovting some more time to these projects .
Thanks for the kind comments also .
Phill

[Don Kona Woods]

Always nice to see this kind of creativeness. Job well done Phil. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

Aloha,
Don

[Carroll Hale]

I have not been on SGF for very long and this article on building a lap steel is so interesting....I have been a woodworker for 40 yrs and feel like this would be a great project....anyone have plans...or places to get plans...parts,etc....any help appreciated.
thanks,
ch

[Randy Reeves]

I have not been on SGF for very long and this article on building a lap steel is so interesting....I have been a woodworker for 40 yrs and feel like this would be a great project....anyone have plans...or places to get plans...parts,etc....any help appreciated.
thanks,
ch

some parts can be had from
http://www.stewmac.com

I think most builders (if I can humbily include myself) create thier own plans or base them on vintage lap steels.
creativity is needed in the problem solving which arises from "where do I find that?".
my steels start at the lumber yard. I pick out nice six quarter stock and hit the saw and planer.