The Steel Guitar Forum

I'm about to fit a Deusenberg Multibender to my Recording King Lap Steel. The scale length at present is 23.5 inches, if I duplicate this with the 'Bender, it will 'overhang' the end of the guitar. (Probably, it's not here yet)
That's no big deal, though it will look a tad odd...but I was just thinking...what's the minimum acceptable scale length if I wanted to move the bridge nearer the nut a little?
In fact, could someone educate me about scale length on lap steels generally?
And speak slowly, I'm primarily a banjer-picker.

Tony,

You can't change the scale length without changing the fret board layout. If you are up for that, a 22.5 inch scale is very common on lap steel guitars and would give you and extra inch for the multi-bender. Steel Guitar Nashville has replacement 22.5" fret boards for Fender guitars that might work for you. I like the 22.5" scale a lot, although lately I have been playing a guitar with 24.75"

Very best,

Gary Meixner

Thanks Gary, I'll look into that...

I've just measured my RK scale length...it seems to be 23 and 1/8".....could I get away with reducing to 22 and 1/2" using the same fretboard?

Tony...the 12th 'fret' has got to be mid-point between the nut & the bridge...all else basically works in around that...unfortunately basic harmonics comes into this and you can't get past that...

On a slide guitar of any type, you can place the steel wherever you like, independently of where the fret markers are, but you may have trouble working out where you should be putting your left hand if the fret markers don't line up with where they should be for the appropriate scale length....

If you can play your guitar in tune in the dark already, then you don't have a problem!!


Cheers, Peter (in 40C+ Oz!)

Thanks Peter...back to basics time! I knew all this years ago, forgot most of it as the years rolled by.
Thanks for the timely reminder.
40 degrees? Thanks, but no thanks!

Tony ... I've got one of the Dusenbergs here for a project and took some measurements for you. The base / footprint is about 82 mm long x 74 mm wide. The saddles are adjustable and have around 17 mm of travel. With the saddles set all the way back, you have about 63 mm from the center of the roller / saddle break point to the back of the bridge. So, if you measure from the existing bridge to the tail of the guitar and have 63 mm or more, then it should fit.

Beyond the possible fit issue, the string spacing on the Dusenberg is 54 mm and is wider than the 50 mm spacing on the installed P90. Many pickups can tolerate being off a little, but know that P90's are often very sensitive to pole position and height. Definitely see how it goes and evaluate strings 1 and 6 for volume and response in relation to the inner 4.

One other thing to know, the bridge does not come with any mounting screws. Rather than hunting down some plated screws, I'd suggest picking up some appropriately sized screws at your local hardware store in stainless steel. Stainless is strong and you can polish it to a high chrome like shine.

If you can play your guitar in tune in the dark already, then you don't have a problem!!

LOL............

From nut to 12th fret multiplied by two is your scale length to the bridge. You may buy all types of scale length finger boards on Ebay for a reasonable price. It is my understanding that what would be the 24th fret is the best placement for the neck pickup. Many people argue about this though!

You may also consider adding a nicely made additional piece of wood to the end of the lap steel.

Hi Tony et al,

New guy here and I'm going to try and make my first proper post helpful.

I have a custom build 8 string lap with Multibender and I ended up going with the rather oddball scale length of 22". This was after quite a bit of experimentation with a "plank" prototype.

The big factor for me was the travel of the levers. For example, on say a Strat, I think the common lever to raise the B to a C# has way too much travel and this makes playing quite tricky if you plan on using the lever a lot.

With the 22" scale, the tip of the lever on my B string moves down pretty much spot on 1/2" to raise a whole tone. The G# to A is less than 1/4".

Even changing from 22.5" to 22" (yep, I tried it) made the difference between cumbersome and manageable.

Something you might want to consider if you've got a spare plank of wood lying around

The guitar builder and I spent weeks on this - quite a project - mine's got 5 levers including two lowers!

Hope this helps.

Well, thanks to Tom for taking the trouble to check out all the 'Bender dimensions. Really useful, it looks like it will just squeeze in with maybe a tiny overhang. And as Loyal says, maybe a tasteful slip of matching timber? So problem solved....but wait! Now Rob chips in with his 22" scale suggestion, which actually makes a lot of sense with regard to lever travel. (I'd love to see some pics of an 8-string 5 lever creation!)
So, anyone out there gonna say I can't reduce my scale length to 22" because...??????
Next stop George Boards for a price on a peel-and-stick 22" scale fretboard. This is all amazing stuff, where would we be without the SGF !

GeorgeBoards can produce a Peel N Stick FretBoard in any scale.

WE stock 22.5 and many other common scales with a few popular marker themes. 15.00 usd + Shipping 10.00 to Europe.(Post has gone way up)

To make a 22 or any other scale Custom there is a 2 piece minimum + Shipping , we have a much larger minimum order at the print specialties shop and I pick up the remainder of the cost.

To make custom markers - back grounds and so on requires a graphics and set up fee , the possibilities are endless.

They come 4" wide you trim to fit -- each has a center line and nut - bridge lines for exacting placement without need for tape measures or yard sticks.

Hope this answers possible questions.

I'll post pics soon - it may end up in the "new products" section

I guess I should add, I've been using palm levers for a while now, initially on a Telecaster so I'm kinda use to having them under my palm all the time and blocking with my fingers.

When we looked at the lever travel issue, another problem was actually the high G# - I guess the Multibender was never really envisaged in that scenario. Eventually, I had to sacrifice some tone and go down to a 10 on that string simply because the tension was more of an issue than lever travel, and I had quite a few string breakages with an 11.

FWIW, this is my current set up - co-palm-ent?

1 C# (15) (yeah, I know, weird)
2 D# -> D (14)
3 G# -> A (10)
4 F# (12)
5 E -> D# (14)
6 B -> C# (17)
7 G# -> A (20)
8 E (30w)

So, it's a sort of hotch-potch E9 with the 6th note in there because the lever on the 6th string is not always that easy to get to.

10 strings would be cool (I miss the F# between the 8th and 7th string) but the wide string spacing of the Multibender bridge made that look a bit too "out there"...

Anyhoo, sorry Tony, don't mean to hijack your thread - just throwing some ideas around. Nice thing about the Multibender / lap steel setup is that it's quite quick and easy just to try ideas out. And good fun!

Good luck and have fun! Please keep me / us posted!