The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey folks - I'm a new member, just "paid my dues". Been playing guitar about 40 years, slide guitar for about the last two years (resonator and electric). Favorite tunings are G, D, E & A. I recently modified my Strat with a Hipshot Trilogy bridge to facilitate all of the tuning changes. I play mostly rock and blues in various bands, but my original stuff tends toward more roots sounding - combining blues, rock & country. I have recently fallen in love with the sound of lap steel guitar, so that's why I'm here. I hope to get good enough where I can work it into my sets and songs.

Anyway, I'm looking to get started with this so I'm hoping to pick up some good advice from all of you. I don't yet own a lap steel guitar - but I do have a short-scale travel electric guitar that I just tuned up to C6 and I'm messing around with that, trying to find my blues scales.

So, please fire away with advice on how best to get started. I'd like to know your opinions of the various "budget" lap steels out there as well.

thanks!

Welcome Chuck! Don't hesitate to ask questions. A lot of talent hangs out on this forum. Most are willing to share anything they have picked up. Also utilize the "search" function at the top right corner of the page for info on a particular subject. Happy to have you join us.

Check out this guy www.wishnevsky.com for a great bang for the buck custom steel.

Hi Chuck and welcome from the left coast. I personally don't care for entry level budget steels, but there are some decent offerings out there. Customs are a completely different subject and way cool. I prefer the budget enty level lap steel guitars of the 30s, 40s & 50s! There are plenty of them out there at reasonable prices ($200-300)from National, Magnatone, Gibson and many others that sound great and also offer the chance to collect some vintage instruments at reasonable prices.

I found this place about a year and a half ago after taking up steel from a 30 year six string background. There are some very talented people, great players, here who are always willing to answer questions, help with tunings and help with technical issues. b0b's string/music store is cool deal too.

You might give E7 a try on the travel guitar, it feels real natural to me for bluesy licks and chording.

Have fun!

Rich

Welcome Chuck,from Alabama,have fun and happy picking.DYKBC.

I too just recently signed up. I've been reading the forum off and on for years and there are a lot of friendly and helpful people out there, just a keyboard away. Best of luck with your efforts.

Welcome to both Chuck and Steven. There are a lot of different good quality lap steels out there right now at various prices. I'd agree that a good vintage instrument may be your best investment, but you have to be aware of what you're getting.

The biggest problems with older guitars that I watch out for are:
1) Disintegrating tuner buttons. The plastic buttons on the tuners of many earlier lap steels are crumbling due to age and the type of plastic used. Fortunately replacement tuner buttons are easy to buy at your local music store or online, and very easy to put on.
2) Old style Amphenol (screw on) connectors rather than the standard guitar input jack. A new cable or adapter is available, or you can have the connector converted to a standard guitar jack by an experienced repair person.
3) Weak or non-functioning pickups. There are a number of people making replacement pickups or repairing existing pickups, with Rick Aiello and Jason Lollar being singled out for their work with lap steels.

If any of this sounds daunting to you, then check out the wide variety of lap steels currently being made. I have a listing of a few of them on my web site.

Welcome Chuck and Steven!

I second the advice above (and Brad's pointers of issues to look out for) about vintage lap steels. Plenty of great ones at good prices popping up on eBay and here on the forum.

Fred

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll definitely keep my eyes open when shopping. I've been looking at some of the "build it yourself" websites as well - lap steel certainly looks like something I could build (If I had time!).

I'll try the E7 tuning. I found that in C6 if I pull the 3rd string while barring (correct term?), I can change the 6th chord to a 7th, that's cool.

Brad Bechtel wrote:
If any of this sounds daunting to you, then check out the wide variety of lap steels currently being made. I have a listing of a few of them on my web site.

BRAD! hey man - I love your site, it's been very helpful already, especially your info about tunings. I laughed when I read your comments about starting out in C6 and everything starts to sound Hawaiian - it's true.