Martin,
first of all, I think you'd get more answers to your question if you posted it in the "Steel without pedals" section instead of in "Pedal Steel".
Then you should search the old, closed "No Peddlers" section - you'll find LOTS of answers there.
For starters, here's a thread about how I built my own 6-stringer (I'm currenlty building an 8-string):
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... highlight=
As for tips, I can give you a couple:
6 vs. 8-string: Both are about equally difficult to build and learn; an 8-string will give you a few more options, but depending on what style you want to play, a 6-string might also suffice (say, for open tunings, rock/blues playing, etc.) One problem with 8-string building is sourcing the parts - there are literally hundreds of available (regular guitar) pickups you could use for a 6-string, but only a few makes of 8-string lap steel pickups (like Pete Biltoft from
www.vintagevibeguitars.com, Jaon Lollar, or Jerry Wallace's TrueTone pickups; make sure the pickup you get has the wider lap steel pole spacing, not the narrower one for pedal steel).
Tuners are usually sold in sets of 6 - so for an 8-string you'll need two sets, and have 4 left over after you finished...
About pickups for 6-stringers: I personally love the sound of full, warm, powerful P90 pickups for lap steel, Tele-bridge-pickups will also work well.
About wood: depends on what tone you're going for: Mahogany: full & warm; maple: bright & clear; alder: balanced; basswood: similar to alder, but dents easily; swamp ash: spanky, clear, with less mids. Sometimes bass neck blanks work well for building lap steels; since lap steels don't have trussrods, make sure that youw blank of wood is at least about 4 cm or 1.75" thick, so that it doesn't bow.
About bridges& nuts: lots of ways to do those; some people use regular Tele ord hard-tail strat bridges, some use regular bone nuts (blanks for acoustic guitar saddles work well for this, since they are higher than nut blanks); some people use round brass stock; I used aluminium angle stock - inexpensive, easy to find at hardware stores, easy to work with, very beneficial for the sound (clear treble, lots of sustain).
ABout fretboards: since you aren't really fretting the strings, you don't actually need real frets, but some people still use them for looks (no fret levelling needed, though...); or you might use contrasting wood or binding material inlaid in the fretboard for fretmarkers (that's what I'll do for my 8-string); or do it like I did on my first lap steel, and simply draw/paint the markers on the fretboard - doesn't look so professional, but works just as well...
Other construction details:
string spacing: at the bridge it is kind of dictated by the pole spacing of the pickup - usually around 10mm / 3/8" ; at the nut you have more freedom - some classic lap-steels, like most Fenders, had a considerable taper to the string spacing, with the the spacing at the nut almost as narrow as on regular guitars; I personally like the strings more parallel, that makes bar slanting easier, on my 6-string I used 10mm on both ends, my 8string will have 9mm ath the nut, and 10mm at the bridge.
String scale: classic lap steels used anything from 20" to 26" - longer gives more sustain, shorter will make playing slants easier; the most popular scale seems to be 22.52 or 23".BTW, the strings have to sit much higher above the fretboard than on regular guitars, so that you don't hit it; too high is bad, too, since due to parallax you'll have a hard time lining up your steel bar with the fret markers; I'd say use anything from 7 to 12mm (1/2" to 1/2").
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