newbee looking for advice

[James Fleming]

Hello, I purchased my first Lap Steel the other day. I am going to call this one a beater. It needs a new nut, refretted, stripped and refinished. All that is OK, as I like fixing things up. having said that I could use some advice from folks that know about these things. Here are a few questions I have.
Can I use Ivory to build a new nut, or is there other more desirable material?
How high of the neck should I have the strings? They seem to be very low because of the replacement nut that was on the guitar when i got it.
Do you know who made these wooden body Lap Steels for Bronson?
What size fret material should I use when I refret?
I'm sure I will have plenty of questions as I get into this, hopefully your answers will get me headed in the right direction. I will upload a couple of pics of this one as well as a pic of the first cigar box lap steel I made for my son.
Thank you for your help, Jim

[Corwin Colebrooke]

Unless it's a cosmetic issue, you won't need to refret since the strings never touch the frets

[Dom Franco]

The strings should be at least .250 above the fretboard, and of course will never have to touch the frets. Ivory, like bone could be used for a nut, but newer plastics like "tusq" are now available, and no elephants were harmed in the making!
Dom

[John Billings]

Interesting! Your axe has obviously been played as a regular 6-string guitar! Look at all that wear on the fingerboard! Somebody played it a lot like that!

Edited to add; Is the neck round? or square?

[Richard Shatz]

Interesting steel.
The Amphenol jack, pickup cover and bridge cover look like some of the early Supro models to me.
Most prewar Bronson steels were made by National-Valco (Supro), but I don't recognize this particular model.
If you can make it playable by replacing the nut;that's great.
Please post a photo of the pickup. That will nail the ID.
I'm think Michael Lee Allen will have more info.

[James Fleming]

Cosmetics is the issue w/ re-fretting. There seem to be 3 different sizes of frets on the guitar right now.

I have some scrap Ivory that I think I will try for the nut.

Good eye John, This was definitely played as a standard 6 string. The neck was originally square, but someone rounded off the corners. This guitar looks like it got much use as a standard 6 string.

Richard, here are some pic's of the guts, I hope this sheds some light on the maker. I have only seen a photo of one of these before, and I thought it had a Gibsonish or Oahu look to it.

The pot on the right reads:
UND LAB INSP
S.C. CO PAT.PEND
1A 250V 3A 125V 10A10V

I will take a little ammonia to the top and see if I can get the brown top coat of paint off the guitar. I suspect because it was played as a standard 6 string, there is going to be some pick rash on the original finish.

Thank you for your help,
Jim

[Tom Pettingill]

Looks like a fun project! StewMac sells a few different sizes fret wire.
The smaller stuff is probably going to be your closer match, but it may be hard to match it exactly.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_su ... twire.html

[Don McGregor]

To keep the string height uniform up and down the neck, I suggest the height at the nut should be adjusted accordingly. As Dom said, 1/4" is usually enough height to keep from banging your bar on the frets, though some steels have higher strings. The other thing to consider is getting the pickup at the best sounding proximity to the strings.
Ivory should sound good, but it will wear quickly if you do much string pulling. Bone, brass, or aluminum may give more sustain, and hold up longer. I've made guitar picks out of old piano ivory, and they wear out faster than either a fender plastic pick, or real tortoise shell.

[James Fleming]

OK Ivory is out for the nut. Would a wooden nut work if the wood was hard enough? I have a small cashe of Lignum Vitea I was going to turn some duck call from. I'm not going to use it for call making, it is just too heavy.
Jim

[Rich Hlaves]

I have an old Ric that has a ebony nut. Your material is similar and should work. I prefer Tusc if you can find it in a tall enough blank.

I have built a few nuts lately out of Dupont Corian, the counter top stuff. I went to the local Lowes store and smiled at the sales lady (SYT actually) and she gave me enough sample pieces to make 20-30 nuts.

My take on nut material for Lap Steels is that the material is not so important. The correct bar and bridge gives you the sustain unless you are playing open strings. I just think nut material is going to have less effect in this application.

If you want a chunk of Corian, I'll send it to you.

Cool project,

Rich

[Don McGregor]

With its density and hardness, I would think lignum vitea would hold up better than just about any other wood. Honestly, you can use anything. I've seen guitar nuts made out of toothbrush handles, and they worked fine. As long as the material will hold a pretty sharp takeoff point for the vibrating string, it will work. In my opinion, it seems the harder the material, and the sharper the takeoff point, the more sustain. On the other hand, pedal steels all have that large, round changer where the string comes off at the bridge point, and they certainly sustain well. Go figure.
My opinions are just that. Opinions. Someone with more experience than I may have another.
Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.