The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi Guys
Here's an instrument that is a cross between a pedal steel guitar and a lap steel, with a few interesting features.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TdapBSJ-fI
I suppose it's a variation on palm pedals. You'd probably have to play pick blocking style as you can't really get your palm or heel down.
apologies if it's been posted before. There is one for sale on Ebay UK.

Barry

Hi Barry,

I just saw that video yesterday. I agree, that is a super cool lap contraption, however the bottom line is: I could get that gorgeous Sho~Bud Sandy Martin is selling for the same price. Less actually. No way I would ever drop over two Gs on a Lap.

I saw one of the bender bridges on CraigsList here in Nor Cal about a month ago. But again, if I spend 2 or 3 bats on that, and another 2 or 3 on a junk strat to put it on, still kind of a lot... MHO. Nothin would make me want to start chopping up my Surf Green '82. Cheapest guitar in my collection, but still my fav to play...

Actually, that moveable capo device interests me more than the benders. That would be handy even on a PSG.

I was thinking if we could put some legs on it that would be convenient. Guess we could add 4 more strings. Kind of a chromatic thing. If we put some bars underneath we could play em with our knees which would open up more combinations. Never mind. Probably wouldn't catch on.

I attended the NAMM show and saw and played that guitar. I did not care for it. I was with another steel player at the time, and he didn't like it either.

Working the palm pedals is awkward, and a lot harder than working the pedals on a real steel.

I'm not surprised that somebody who bought one now wants to sell it.

I agree with Rich. The best thing about it was the capo, not the palm pedals.

What Mike said.

Palm pedals have their fans - guys who never move their right hand and play in one picking position all the time.

But 99% of us who have ANY experience, whether on lap, pedal steel or 6 string do not play with a static right hand - it's moving around to change tone, pick attack, and picking ease (on fast runs closer to the bridge is essential, while for mellower chords you might want to move your pick closer to the neck.

The few guys who REALLY play them well are true stylists - they play one way, with one tone. That's not going to fit varied types of music - it's the musical version of "one size fits all",,,except it doesn't.

I also do not understand what is so "revolutionary" about this gadget - seems like every two years or so out of the last 30 somebody has had a lapsteel with palm pedals on display

I saw a small write up on it a few months ago, but the $2000 price tag was a bit crazy.

Gordon

That model was discussed here about a year ago, along with the same video.

I watched the video a couple of times. I think the thing sounds pretty doggone good. Don't know about the amp and gear involved and the picker is pretty good. I can envision some cool applications for it.

But yeah, at that price tag, it'd be like a luxury item for me at the bottom of the priority list.

Rockinger Guitars in Germany are the only distributors of the Multibender. They were out of stock for over a year, but their new catalog lists them again, and that new lap steel that they have been promising for years.

I got the same result about 18 months ago with an SX lap steel that I fitted a Multibender onto. the unit comes with two levers, but I fitted mine with an additional two. In reality, you don't need more than two; three at the most. I found, by the way, that if you use a palm lever on the 4th string or lower, the spring is not strong enough to bring the string back to proper tension when you release the lever. Also, unless you fit a roller bridge you will get string breakage.

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... duesenberg

Check out the above thread.

In a previous thread, Alan Brookes wrote:I fitted the Dusenberg Multibender. It took longer than the 10 mins. I estimated. Most of the time was spent examining the way it worked and making sure I fitted it right. If I had to do another one I reckon on about 20 mins., most of which is changing the strings. It was very straightforward.
I tuned it to an open E chord. The first lever takes the 1st string up a tone, the second lever takes the 2nd string up a tone, the third lever takes the 3rd string up a semitone, and the fourth lever takes the 5th string down a tone. So, by depressing levers 2, 3 and 4 simultaneously you have an A chord. Pressing 1, 2 3 & 4 you have A6. To get B you just take the A chord 2 frets up. It's not so simple as using pedals, but you soon get used to it.

If you're building a lap steel guitar, or a pedal steel for that matter, it wouldn't be too difficult to build a sliding capo into the design. It's been done before. Melobar did some work on it at one time, among others. You could even rout out an existing fretboard.

Check out this thread, too....

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... sc&start=0

Hi Alan,

I built a strat copy using the Multibender, 3 Levers and play it lap style. Tuning is open E: 1st e->f, 2nd b->c#, 3rd g#->a, 4th e, 5th b(or d), 6th e(or b). I´m using a nut extender to lift the strings. My 2nd string breaks that often that I never took the lap guitar to a live show. Maybe the reason is that the scale is too long. But the string always breaks at the bender. I´m thinking of adding the bender to a lapsteel, maybe a 8 string, and use roller nuts. I´m not sure if that would help to avoid string breakage. BTW, the Pomona has the roller nuts.

Alan, do you also have any string breakage probs?

What IMHO is missing in design that you are able to move 2 strings with one lever. Has anybody done this before on such systems like multibender, palm pedals?

Thanks
Joerg

Jeorg: The extra string length of your guitar wouldn't be the cause of the string breakage. On any instrument with a fixed nut the nut will hold some of the tension of the string. This means that, after tuning your guitar, the tension on both sides of the nut will slowly equalise, throwing your guitar out of tune. On an instrument where you continually vary the tension, such as a pedal steel or a guitar fitted with palm levers, it's very important that the nut does not hold any string tension, and this is why almost all pedal steel guitars have roller nuts.

I've only broken a string once, and it was at the bridge.

Because of the way it is designed, it would be difficult to connect two strings to the same lever, unless you moved the Multibender back and used a second bridge. The problem then would be getting the palm levers in tune, because there is only adjustment per lever, limiting the travel when open and when depressed. Because your two strings would have different gauges and be at different tensions, it would be almost impossible to tune it. Pedal steel guitars have separate mechanisms for each string.

You mentioned using 8 strings. The Multibender only comes as a 6-string unit. To use 8 strings you would need a second bridge, with two of the strings bipassing the Multibender.