The Steel Guitar Forum

Wanted to see first hand what it takes. I'm learning and having fun. Now, tuner head stock and wood body is next. Then deciding what color to finish five guitars. Any constructive input is appreciated. Thanks

Are you doing a Quad neck?

Not yet Ron. Starting with just five single 8's
Any color suggestions?

Looks Stringmaster-inspired. Nice! Are you planning metal tuner pans also?

Jim

You're right Jim. I've designed a mold for stamping the pans but not sure if I want to go that route. I thought about making headstock part of the body. I will try the stamping soon to see if it's worth it. Any thoughts on this.

The shiny tuner pan is key to the SM vibe, but is probably not important functionally. You have gone to great effort to replicate the SM control panel. It would look a little incongruous to have the SM control panel and body but not the tuner assembly. If you made a pan that would fit existing Stringmasters and would accept modern but vintage looking tuners... and also sold the pans separately... you would make dear friends of many(?) forum Stingmaster owners!

I don't like the Fender tuner pans mainly because at least the older ones are notoriously hard to replace a tuner on. I'd look at all the headstock/keyhead designs I could find, and see what else might be simpler to produce, and still esthetically pleasing.
BTW, you could definitely sell a few of those plates, bridges and nuts if you were a mind to, and could keep the price within reason. Are they steel? What gauge? Did you mill them, or were they lasered? Stamped? Will they be chromed?
I made the mistake a while back of making some replacement bridge plates for my National D8 out of stainless steel, and hand filing those string hole shapes like in your plates was very difficult and time consuming.
As for bodies, I'm a big fan of visible wood grain. I personally would probably try to choose a different exotic wood for each instrument. Get some Curly Maple in there, Walnut, or Cherry, at least. Maybe a sunburst or two.
Whatever you do with these, I will be excited to see them finished, and hopefully to see your progress. You're off to a great start. Lookin' good.

Are you fabbing the pickup covers? Any availabilities on them?

Hi Lonnie,

Very cool. Beautiful work. It must be a lot of fun.

With regard to finish, I enjoy the classic colors Fender used on Strats. My Allison 8 is surf green and gives me great visual pleasure every time I sit down to play it. I always wanted a Fender steel that color, but didn't dare refinish a vintage instrument.

Re tuner pans: If you use the slotted-head type design without metal tuner pans the headstock area will eventually get cosmetic damage from changing strings. And slotted heads are a bit of a pain when changing strings. The modern design used by Sierra and others is easier to make and has a straight line string tension. Of course, it's a different look. Tough decision, but I would tend to choose the more functional modern design.

Please keep us posted on the progress.

Happy new year to you and yours,

Bob

Those plates look great. I'm doing something similar in aluminum for a couple guit-steels I'm making. My only problem is the bridge mounting tabs but I think I have that worked out.

Hey Guys
Thanks for all of the input. All of it very good. All the pickup covers are done. I chose this look on purpose to be a little different from the Fender. All metal though are Steel. Starting on the wood would like to get that done to do a dry run for fit before I send out for finish. I have finished the design of die just need to test.
If these five turn out favorable I might consider making more. I would like some more input/advice on tuners and blend pot vs selector switch.
Thanks

Don,
The plates were laser cut (approximately .060 thick), the turned parts and pickup covers were done on CNC. Learning operate and program these machines have given me even more respect for the people that do this every day.

Pickup covers on CNC... thanks... they look great. Perhaps you could fab replacement covers for the aftermarket that a) don't have slots and b) are taller so as to encompass the entire pickup's height.

Be aware that the plate has two raised spots for the bridge to ride on... I don't think these were just for show. They *could* be built into the bridge rod itself (free idea of the day).

Thanks Steven. appreciate your input.

Still having fun but it's evident that guitar making is NOT MY calling.