The Steel Guitar Forum

Here is my Dad's latest creation. This is like heaven for a lap steel guitarist! I just love the traditional guitar body look of this lap guitar. I hope to get you some video demos of it up soon. Let me know what ya think.

Very nice, Zane -- that's a great look. Tell us more -- scale length, string spacing, pickups, etc. Any issues having that middle pickup? Does it get in the way of your picking fingers? I love the idea of getting Strat sounds in a lap steel.

25 inch scale! Yes, with the 3 pickups and the 5 positions you can have so many different tones at a single switch! I'm going to sell this beauty if anyone is interested.

Beautiful!

Very cool looking...would love to hear some samples!

when did pickguards become scratchplates?

hey zane... is there a website fot the zking steels yet? keep them reasonable and you'll sell everyone you make!

chris ivey wrote:when did pickguards become scratchplates?

That's the term my luthier friend uses, so without even realizing I've been saying it too. Apparently it's what they call them in Europe.

Having lived both sides of the Atlantic, and built instruments on both sides, I can say that "scratchplate", "tapplate" and "pickguard" are all used indiscriminately by everybody. All the terms are correct and accurate.
There is very little difference is musical terminology between the U.S.A. and Britain. The only one that comes to mind is that the British tend to use the word "pleck", short for "plectrum", where Americans would tend to use the word "Flat pick."