The Steel Guitar Forum

Just joined the forum after reading for a long time and wanted to share with everyone here the beginning of my custom lap steel being built by Ryan Rukavina in Missoula, MT.

For starters, I just want to say that Ryan has been great to work with. He's answered more emails than I would have expected from anyone (I ask a lot of questions and have changed my mind about things more than a few times) and so this is in part a homage to his patience and dedication.

The first picture is of the Bastogne Walnut billet that I purchased from Cyril Jacob in Oregon (thanks again Cyril for an awesome piece of wood):




The next two pictures are of the board (one wet with mineral oil to show the figure and flaming better, one au natural) with the body traced out.







And this last photo (for now) is of the body and neck blank already cut out.




More pics as the project progresses.

That's going to be beautiful. I had been thinking of building my own and when I had questions about the bridges and nuts he makes, he was a super nice and helpful guy.

Too bad you couldn't find a nice piece of figured wood...

Mike Neer wrote:Too bad you couldn't find a nice piece of figured wood...

It is not exaggeration to say that is the funniest thing I have heard today...

Thanks, you made my night.



The hardest part was deciding whether to bookmatch the top or to do one-piece...I am happy that Ryan convinced me to let the natural beauty of the wood win the day and do a one-piece.

Yes, it is going to be a killer guitar. I love walnut!

nicest wood selection you could ever make! a hundred years from now....someone will thank you!!!!

It's beautiful! I love that body shape too.

Yeah, that's gonna be really lovely. I hadn't seen Rukavina's stuff before, but after taking a look at his website I'm really looking forward to your updates.

LP

Thats a great looking chunk of walnut Juan!
Now that Ryan is doing Tru Oil finishes, the natural colors should really come to life.
Are you going to go for a mirror glossy finish or just a satin?

Tom Pettingill wrote:Thats a great looking chunk of walnut Juan!
Now that Ryan is doing Tru Oil finishes, the natural colors should really come to life.
Are you going to go for a mirror glossy finish or just a satin?

Probably a satin finish, though to be frank, I did not know that a mirror glossy finish can be achieved with the Tru Oil finish...

Sure, I do it all the time. It takes a lot of work, but Tru Oil will build a film and you can get a gloss that rivals lacquer.
Here is a steel with walnut very similar to yours all decked out in Tru Oil.
Also lots of other high gloss Tru Oil examples in my Photobucket link.

.

Tom Pettingill wrote:Sure, I do it all the time. It takes a lot of work, but Tru Oil will build a film and you can get a gloss that rivals lacquer.
Here is a steel with walnut very similar to yours all decked out in Tru Oil.
Also lots of other high gloss Tru Oil examples in my Photobucket link.

.

That is just lovely...could be that you have just given Mr. Rukavina more work...had no idea the Tru Oil finish could be made to be so shiny, however, the satin finish has an understated grace to it as well...decisions, decisions...

Out of curiosity, which would you choose for yourself based on this cut of bastogne walnut?

Thanks Juan! That is my Junkyard Dog model and I was tickled how it came out.

Out of curiosity, which would you choose for yourself based on this cut of bastogne walnut?

I don't think you could go wrong either way, the beautiful grain and color will come through regardless.
For myself, I'd probably go glossy, but I'm a glutton for punishment. Like I said though, I don't think there is a wrong choice.

More progress, more pics...

Beautiful, Juan. That'll be a helluva lap steel.

Tom, that Junkyard Dog really is drool-worthy! Really stunning.

Again, more progress, more pics...

Time between postings should be speeding up here as Ryan has just cleared his bench of other projects and will have more time to work on this one.

Thanks for posting these, Juan. I love the way the cut of the fretboard echoes the wood grain. This one will be a stunner. Can't wait to see it finished. No pressure, Ryan.

Liz Williams wrote:Thanks for posting these, Juan. I love the way the cut of the fretboard echoes the wood grain. This one will be a stunner. Can't wait to see it finished. No pressure, Ryan.

The body, neck and fingerboard are all from the same piece of bastogne walnut and so Ryan has been able to keep a kind of "asymmetrical symmetry" with this build and yes, I agree, it is going to be stunning...

No pressure Ryan...

Thats shaping up real nice

Psychedelic baby!

And then there was binding on the body...well, half of it at least...

Getting faint, over here. Lordy!

And he said, "It was good" and bound the other half...and took a picture of the back too...

Neck, meet body...body, meet neck...

So how is the neck joined to the body? Is that a glued butt joint or is it more complex than that?