The Steel Guitar Forum

Well after viewing Tom's latest creation, I almost hesitate to post this. But we all can't build the same or they would all be square and black.LOL

After viewing my pics, I thought I would add this for a better view

That look great Gary, I like it a lot
The way you framed in the fretboard makes a nice clean detail.
What are the woods?

Thanks Tom The fretboard is oak banded with mahogany. the wood for the tuners is maple. the upper dark layer is mahogany and the lower is native Red oak grown right in my back yard. I tried an oil finish, but it does not have the shine that yours does Tom. Maybe not enough coats, I did four and hand rubbed the last.That sure is nice lumber you have access to Tom. Your finish is one of the secrets to the beauty of yours.Maybe I should send you my creations for your finish work.Just kidding , but I have built enough furniture and steels to know that it takes a certain touch to get a great finish!!!

Cool to use some lumber from the back yard

For wood, I'm lucky to have a couple good hardwood dealers local.
Check around with some of your local custom cabinet builders and see where they are getting their material.
They might even have some for sale.

On the finish, Tru Oil is a little different than a typical tung / danish type product.
Its a modified linseed oil that drys faster and harder than tung and can be built up to a gloss..
But, it still takes a load of coats and level sanding to grain fill an open pore wood like mahogany. oak, ash, etc.
I'll bet I've got 25 - 30 coats on my latest.

looks greats!

Tom- this sounds like what my friend a gunsmith told me when I asked him how they got the great finish on old gun stocks. He laughed and said: You take this little pc of emory paper, soak in linseed oil and make lots of little swirls and do this for days. I will get some tru-oil and try to see if I have the patience to do that many coats. I have done some real varnish jobs on the small child's chair and it took many coats with light sanding between coats

Gary, I think you will like the Tru Oil. It is easy to use and very forgiving.
It is marketed as a gunstock finish and is more like a vintage instrument varnish than an oil really.

And you don't have to do 30 coats to get a nice finish, I went a little overboard on the last one.
Below pic is around 7 - 8 coats and has a nice gloss, but there were still a few minor pits / open pores showing so I decided to go all out till they were all gone.

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Anyways, depending on the wood, around 4 coats starts to look like something.
Rule of thumb, closed grain woods like maple will take less and open grain woods will take more.

Looks good, Gary. I've always liked the looks of lighter-colored fretboards against darker woods. The grain of that particular one adds a lot of character. Dig the humbucker, too!

Vince

After single p/ups and P-90's the humbucker style p/up really makes a big difference in the sound. I wish I had recording capability so I could show off the tone and sustain I get with the humbucker p/up. I just went for broke and bought the steel guitar black box and have to say it makes all of my steels sound better.I have a Fender Champion 30. Peavey 30 tube amp and SWR accoustic amp. It seems to help all of them, but especially the champ and Peavey. I see a lot of players using them, so I bit the bullet and ordered one. Got the sound ,now I need the jive.

That is a nice looking guitar, Gary, if you can, I would like to hear how it sounds.

I am working on a 'homemade' lap steel and I get a lot of ideas from the pics of others. I really like the way you did your fingerboard.