The Steel Guitar Forum

does anyone know where i can get a bridge for a 8 string lap steel, no specail brand of lap.

Dion, Most of us home building lap steel guys make our own. I make mine from aluminum angle or brass or alum bar stock. Give it some thought and you can do it too.
Norm
In Waco Tx

,,,,,or even wood as part of the body, with a piece of brass or S/S rod for the strings to ride on.
The other end is my keyless tuner with a wood "housing"

Sonny,

Neat design, I really like the headstock/tuners. Very unique and clean. How do you like that pickup? I have a pair of those for a dual 8 I'm plannig to build.

Best,

Rich

Here's a pic of one I made. It's a string thru design, using Fender type ferrules on the guitar bottom. The steel rod is the same diameter of the chain saw file I used to make the groove, and string spacing is determined by the "string through" hole spacing. I put this on a Morrell as I didn't/don't like the angle iron type of bridges.

Jude

The pick up is a Wallace Tru-Tone,,,I like,,,but have not tried any other pick up in the other guitars I've built. All my other guitars have been string through design,,,I wanted this one to be as short as possible for travel. It's 26" long with a 22 1/2" scale.

Sonny,

I bought two of the Tru-Tone PUs from Gary Sill (forum menber) on eBay but haven't had the time to start construction. I made a drawing of what I wanted to do then I keep changing it when I see other cool designs like yours. I'm now thinking a headless guitar would have a lot of merit. I own a traveler speedster travel guitar (a conventional electric with no headstock) and think headless might be the way to go now. It would solve the estetic issue of having the engrain of the body show at the headstock without having to veneer the body. It would open up the neck to some real swoopy curves! String through at the headstock and no-knob tuners behind the bridge. I like your guitar.... very nice.

Thanks,

Rich

jude great bridge! sonny truly aweinspiring design! i've been thinking of making a triple neck 8 string but i was having trouble with how to do the tuners & if you didn't mind i would like to talk to you about your design (keyless, WOW!).

As Norm said, most people make their own. One thing I've found is that if you use rod which has been tapped with a thread it holds the strings in place better.

Hey Dion,
I have a bridge based on the console grande design, machined out of brass not plated . Let me know if interested.
Will post pic if needed.
Phil

I couldn't see very well whether there were grooves filed in the bridge. One set of plans I have show grooves filed so the top of the strings were in the same plane. Your thoughts?

Charlie Campney wrote:I couldn't see very well whether there were grooves filed in the bridge. One set of plans I have show grooves filed so the top of the strings were in the same plane. Your thoughts?

I don't think it's that important to have the top of the strings in the same plane at the bridge as the bars not going to be in that area. At the nut, yes it would be nice as it would take less bar pressure at the first and second fret to keep things from getting jangly.
But herein lies the rub. Suppose you want to set your guitar up for C6 with the G on top. Low to high would be ACEGACEG so you file your grooves so the top of the strings are in the same plane. Then later you decide to try C6 with the E on top, GACEGACE. Now all the strings are in different slots.
Interchangable nuts and bridge saddles might be the solution to using different string gauges and tunings. Or be like me and have a guitar for each tuning you use.

Jude

Evolution of my keyless tuner

Charlie Campney wrote:I couldn't see very well whether there were grooves filed in the bridge. One set of plans I have show grooves filed so the top of the strings were in the same plane. Your thoughts?

I agree 100% with what Jude said. The other thing is that you need to have the bridge and the nut secured in some way. The pressure of the strings will hold the bridge down, but you need a shallow groove below the bridge so that it's in a slight hollow or it will move. Some instruments overcome this by having bolts or screws through the bridge.

At the nut end it's not as important as you imagine to have the tops of the strings level. With the strings descending in gauge they're almost exactly in a line when you put a bar across, and what microscopic amount of play there is is immediately corrected by the weight of the bar.

What IS important is to make sure the nut doesn't move as the strings are tightened. That's why nuts are almost always in a groove, and often glued in.

philip, i would like to find out more about your bridges most definently. how are you making those keyless tuners? if you don't mind sharing your building method. just amazing!