I've been playing lap guitar since the mid 70's. About 10 years ago I did some tree climbing work for Paul Chandler and got to choose a new electric steel from a batch of 20 that he and his wife were making in their Northern California workshop.
A few years ago I visited McCabe's Guitar store on my way to a camping expedition in Baja California and picked up a Wechter Scheerhorn resonator guitar that I keep in a G tuning.
Last year I added two Brauchli Hollownecks to my collection and they are such a joy to play! One is a Tasmanian Blackwood fixed bridge instrument with a rubbed oil finish that reveals the natural beauty of the wood. I like to think that the openness of the grain adds to the hearty vibrations I feel when playing. The other Brauchli has a cedar soundboard and a floating bridge. Daniel Brauchli's website goes into some detail about the tonal differences in these bridge designs. They both have extraordinary volume for non-resonator lap steels but, as promised, are quite different! By rotating between acoustic instruments my ears stay clear and open allowing long playing sessions.
I look forward to reading the interesting discussions in this friendly forum.
Thanks,
Jim Brobeck
