The Steel Guitar Forum

I am starting this thread so folks can show their homemade guitars.

I am planning to build a low buck 8 or 10 string.

Please also show converted guitars like 6's turned into 8's etc.

OK, here we go:

My first, a 6-stting made from African mahogany/khaya wood & maple fretboard, Seymour Duncan P90 pickup:




My second build: 8-string, same kind of wood for the body, zebrano wood for the accents on the body, Jason Lollar Chicagos Steel pickup at the bridge, Vintage Vibe Guitars Stringmaster-type Pickup in the neck position:

Nice work!

Not exactly home made, I had the idea of a D8 travel steel (acoustic, with piezo pickups), did some sketch of what I wanted, talked to a Luthier, and after a few conversation, exchanging ideas on what was doable or not doable, he built it for me. The scale lenght is 22.5.

This was my first attempt, I am currently working on another.







Rocky

Beautiful..

Let's see some crude ones too!

We have some great builders on this forum

Here is one I did a while back that most of you have probably already seen.

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I really appreciate the guitars made from various woods and I did make a guitar from wood once, but my skills are in metal. This is a titanium (ti 6,4) tube frame with machined aluminum 6061 T-6. It has an 8 string bass neck, 34” and a 12-string neck 24” that has a "birdcage" changer, should I ever think it needs pedals. It weighs 27#.

edit

Man, George P. I can't wait until the "tone experts" get through working this one over. Well, maybe the wood, no it's in the pickup, probably in the little white box (they're using an A-B switch and some guy in the closet is playing an Emmons Bolt On P/P) through a Sarno box and an Evans amp. (Guess this little number puts some of the "sperts" ideas in the fridge.)

phred

Great to see so many builders on here. Lots of pleasure in building something yourself.

Here is my crude entry, made a couple of years ago.

I haven't seen a crude one yet.

Mike McBride wrote:
Let's see some crude ones too!

I can do that!



Mahogany body, brass nut and bridge, DeArmand 2000 pickup, stainless cover plate covers almost entire body. 22 1/2 inch scale.


The Headstock is kinda funny looking. My idea was to remove only enough material as necessary to install the tuners and strings. The headstock is a full inch thick.

Overall a pretty rough guitar, but it's working well.
I'm building an electric violin now and want to start another steel soon.

-- Keith

Here is a project that I need to finish one day before Haleys Comet comes back. It is a simple 6 string lap with a very simple hardware store parts changer on it that can raise two strings and lower one. There are two palm pedals and if you look close you will see a bent piece of stainless steel that is a knee lever. I need to make a cover mount for the vol/tone pot. I also need to experiment with some different size return springs. The changer works well and there are some springs inside the body and a concentric cam assembly for the knee lever. The fretboard is old Shobud stock I got from the late Ed Naylor. Someday I will finish it....just too many projects.

I don't think this is crude, but it is pretty plain jane...




A piece of poplar with a 1" x 3/4 oak stiffener running down the length of the back. Angle aluminum at both ends. An Altoids tin for a resonator with a $3 Radio Shack piezo buzzer inside the tin acting as an acoustic pickup that's wired to the 1/4" jack in the side of the tin. Bridge is a bolt with the head sawed off and square nuts on each end. $8.00 tuners at the head end. The most expensive piece is the real rosewood fretboard and nickel-silver frets. I had less than $20 into this before I added that fretboard.

It is 25" scale and the string spacing is the same as my reso. I carry this in the back seat of my car and play it during breaks and lunch time -- great way to get in at least an hour a day.

-Dave

I really enjoy seeing the ingenuity you folks have used. I am taking notes and accumulating parts.

I have 12 new Grover tuners and a board off of a shipping pallet. I have some 8 1/2" x 11" plastic dividers out of a 3 ring binder that are pretty thin and can be easily cut to size to make a pickguard.

I plan to secure a used George L pickup for use on this guitar.

I grew up on a small farm where being frugal was considered mandatory. I anticipate my total costs when complete at under $100.

Do Fankinslides count? I'm in the process of a putting avalco pickup on a Ohau with a lestrem vibrato bridge.
Phill

here are some models that french fo'bro Tony Quedeville made
he's not a pro builder mind you
just a down home cat that loves steels



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Ma patience n'a pas de limite

Are those slide guitars or sled guitars?

Those are incredible!

more like Catamaran steels Mike

I applaud all those who have come up with their own creations. Great imagination and ideas.

Bernard Beck,

I've always been intrigued by acoustic lap steels w/o resonator.
How does it sound unamplified?
Is it loud enough unamplified to compete w/other acoustic instruments?

Here's somehting I posted a couple of weeks ago. The complete thread is
http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=133232

Unfinished:


With finish: