The Steel Guitar Forum

There's plenty of great old round neck guitars out there needing neck resets to play regular that are bargain priced imo. I have reset necks on these and it's work but not impossible, also, many have only been played Hawaiian style, like this 1939 Harmony, it cost me $150.00 and is just a lovely little thing.

Mike Neer wrote:I have had an urge to play an acoustic instrument again. I would want something with a big pianistic sound and at least 7 strings, probably 8. The music I am working on now would sound grand on an acoustic instrument. But I have gotten used to playing an instrument on a stand and don’t think I want to get into adjusting my playing posture just for that. Also, some of the techniques are demanding and I think that the stability of playing on the lap could affect that negatively.

https://reverb.com/item/17318207-gibson ... g-bag-case
The Grand Piano of acoustic guitars. You need a grand bank account to afford one as well!

Tim! I have an offer in on that Gibson and now I will have to compete with everyone here!

Oops sorry Tony! I don't know why anyone would want that anyway, probably just a piece of junk

This one looks fun, not many vintage 7 strings. https://www.honeybeeguitars.com/shop/19 ... tor-guitar

I like this one as well, these are maybe a little more common https://reverb.com/item/11842788-rare-7 ... ch-changer

I spent a bunch of time looking for a 7 string.... (I probably should have been practicing) here is another one that looked interesting. I don't know if these are still being made. I think they are solid wood, but I wonder about the quality?
https://reverb.com/item/4112774-doff-re ... semi-matte

I’m inspired by these acoustic guitars for lap steel playing. It seems to me that they all have a glued bridge and saddle, not a tailpiece. Is there a reason for this?

Joe Burke wrote:I’m inspired by these acoustic guitars for lap steel playing. It seems to me that they all have a glued bridge and saddle, not a tailpiece. Is there a reason for this?

My guess that for manufacturing ease they use as many parts as a regular acoustic does to save costs. If you really want a tail piece, any luthier could remove the bridge, patch the top, add the tail piece and make a bridge like a jazz arch-top has (flat across the top of course).

This actually has an advantage for a steel player: you could get any string spacing at the bridge you want. And it would simplify conversions to a 7 string.

Glenn Wilde wrote:There's plenty of great old round neck guitars out there needing neck resets to play regular that are bargain priced imo. I have reset necks on these and it's work but not impossible, also, many have only been played Hawaiian style, like this 1939 Harmony, it cost me $150.00 and is just a lovely little thing.

Glenn,

Nice guitar! I lightened up your photo a bit to show more detail.




And some detail:




I'll have to keep an eye out for one.

Just looking at this Koa Washburn and it looks like it would make a nice high nut conversion, 23 1/4 scale.

https://reverb.com/item/62819083-washbu ... oustic-koa

I have a Seagull S12 that I would like to turn into a steel.
My question is; to straighten thé compensated bridge, which part of the bridge
do you measure to to keep the scale correct or does it matter?

Dobros and resonators need a 7 degree angle. Paul Beard taught me that years ago…

Paul DiMaggio wrote:I have a Seagull S12 that I would like to turn into a steel.
My question is; to straighten thé compensated bridge, which part of the bridge
do you measure to to keep the scale correct or does it matter?

Ideally you would position the saddle so that the string break point where it leaves the saddle is unifornly at the scale length (straight across) This would probably be just in front of the existing High E saddle position. But unless you have the tools and skills to fill and recut the saddle slot, dont bother, you will be able to make small adjustments in bar slant to bring it back in tune.

These are the some of the finest looking Smeck copies I have seen. I have no affiliation with the builder, I am just a fan! His waiting list is stretching into 2024. I wish I would have snatched up one I saw on Reverb he sold for around $1000. He called it his shop guitar and it was a bit banged up. That would be a steal now. He seems open to customizing them in any way.
https://www.minervafretworks.com/de-luxe

Tim Toberer wrote:These are the some of the finest looking Smeck copies I have seen. I have no affiliation with the builder, I am just a fan! His waiting list is stretching into 2024. I wish I would have snatched up one I saw on Reverb he sold for around $1000. He called it his shop guitar and it was a bit banged up. That would be a steal now. He seems open to customizing them in any way.
https://www.minervafretworks.com/de-luxe

Those look great. There's a company called Prewar making some real nice flattops too.

Glenn Wilde wrote:

Tim Toberer wrote:These are the some of the finest looking Smeck copies I have seen. I have no affiliation with the builder, I am just a fan! His waiting list is stretching into 2024. I wish I would have snatched up one I saw on Reverb he sold for around $1000. He called it his shop guitar and it was a bit banged up. That would be a steal now. He seems open to customizing them in any way.
https://www.minervafretworks.com/de-luxe

Those look great. There's a company called Prewar making some real nice flattops too.

https://www.pre-warguitars.com/

Bring your checkbook. These ain't cheap

Tony Oresteen wrote:

Glenn Wilde wrote:

Tim Toberer wrote:These are the some of the finest looking Smeck copies I have seen. I have no affiliation with the builder, I am just a fan! His waiting list is stretching into 2024. I wish I would have snatched up one I saw on Reverb he sold for around $1000. He called it his shop guitar and it was a bit banged up. That would be a steal now. He seems open to customizing them in any way.
https://www.minervafretworks.com/de-luxe

Those look great. There's a company called Prewar making some real nice flattops too.

https://www.pre-warguitars.com/

Bring your checkbook. These ain't cheap

Those are gorgeous! I am not sure how I feel about fake distress however. For that price you can get the real thing. They really make them look old though. Pretty cool...

I keep waiting for someone to make a 12 fret dread with a short scale for less than $1000. I am ok with laminated back and sides as long as it has a solid top. I may be waiting forever I guess. Recording King made a 12 fret slope shoulder, but it had a 25 1/2" scale. They can be found pretty cheap, but are quite rare these days.

Have acoustic steels fallen out of favor? They haven't with me. I still write songs for acoustic and I currently have three acoustic steels. In my case I found that I actually like to convert 12-string acoustics to 6-string steel. I have two of those plus a 6 string cigar box (cedar).

The 12-strings are great because they are built to withstand the stress of 12 strings unlike their 6-string counterparts that might not fare so well after jacking up the strings.

So, here's another idea for a flattop steel, I really just bought this one on a whim, there weren't many details in the listing, I couldn't tell that it was a 3/4 size guitar or much else, it looked complete and was real cheap, $75.00 I think, at least I'd have a nice decoration. Well, the neck is warped, so it's either a steel or neck reset and I don't want to put that time into it. Turns out it's a fun little steel, 22 3/4 scale makes it very comfortable under the bar, the spacing is a bit tight at the nut but I've ordered a grover for it, at the bridge it's exactly like a Valco steel.
It's made by United Code in the '50s and is real fun to play. Here it is next to a regular electric steel.

And a little Hawaiian teacher's steel.

Miles Lang wrote:Here’s a little garage recording I did with it (mix of pickup and mic). It ended up on the next album https://youtu.be/CeVX7NA3Xac

That's a great sound! What tuning did you use on that recording?