The Steel Guitar Forum

I am considering building lap steels to market and would like feedback on what someone would look for in one retailing at 300.00 or so. Thanks

Plenty competition if it's a 6 stringer
Some competition at 8 stringer but not much
You would get me on board for a 12 stringer at that price point.



If you are looking to do well you have to either offer something the others don't. Like more strings or have a named artist endorsing your product who can play.

PM me if you need more info on that as I was thinking I'd like to work with someone to fine tune my setup more.

Thanks, I will PM.

At $300 retail, I would think one wouldn't expect a whole lot.

A decent piece of wood; decent hardware, a good but not great pup and a good set-up for starters.

Interesting question. If I was to be in the market for another lap, I'd be interested in something with 8 strings, 3/8th string spacing, and something fairly easy to mod or upgrade myself. Like tuners and electronics.

I looked at that and it would be a good market IF you could do it - your cost will get away from you quickly.

If you want to talk about it my email is joe.naylor@att.net or 480-215-8843

Just to let you know I am building seats and not steels.

Joe Naylor
www.steelseats.com

Thanks for the replies. I plan on using Grover tuners, Cts pots, not sure what pup and a wood FB with frets I also have some nice exotic woods for possible overlays.
Pick up is the pricey item . I have used Allparts P90 with nice results and their vintage humbucker . I can do 6,8, 10 Thought about using vintage laps for body shapes. Here's one I did as a prototype. Kind of lost my center line and got bridge out of line. Otherwise plays great, poplar body with curly maple overlay.CM fretboard and peghead overlay.Grovers abalone dots

Stephen Abruzzo wrote:At $300 retail, I would think one wouldn't expect a whole lot.

i think the issue is that you can get a real nice vintage steel for hardly more than that...

I agree about vintage however, There are people who build laps and I guess they sell them. Georgeboards etc. I love the Mojo of old I have a couple myself. I was looking at something a little nicer than what is available at the 300.00 mark. I guess the only way to know is to do it.

are you looking to sell them?
i'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but you'd be fighting a serious uphill battle to make anything competitive for $300, if you're doing it all yourself.
maybe they don't sell them anymore, but recently anyways, you could get a Chandler RH2 for $300. that was my first steel. maybe i paid $350, don't remember. pretty nice axe...

maybe look at the feature set on that guitar and use that as a ballpark.

j

Thanks for all the replies. I am not intending to mass produce just a few for fun and maybe profit. I have been making dulcimers for 33 yrs so I have all the tools , wood etc I have stockpiled and would like to build a nice alternative to Chinese stuff. I could also offer custom builds. Body shape , string # so on. Trying to help out the lap steel community .

I've made and sold a few. Better if you look at it as a hobby that (mostly) pays for itself rather than as a profit-making enterprise.

6 stringers have to be given away for the cost of parts unless you can make something that looks and feels super premium.
8 stringers garner some interest, especially if you can offer something that looks vintage.
People will actually contact you and pay OK money for 10 and 12 stringers, presumably because there aren't too many options on the market for these.

For me, the cost of parts was the limiting factor. We can't go buy pickups and tuning machines in bulk like Fender can, we have to pay retail.

Best of luck, they are fun to make just because you can experiment so much with them.

Thanks Iestyn,
This is part hobby for sure. Dulcimers are my mainstay . I make decent money on them. Lap steels an experiment. Gives me break from the above. Any advice on a pickup ? Looking at Gretch Pu , Allparts,

the frets look nice, but it seems that would be alot of extra unnecessary work if you are trying to keep the cost down.

Bob - I used GuitarFetish.com for 6 string pickups and tuners. Bought one Wallace TrueTone 12 string pickup new. For 10 strings, you can go over to the forum For Sale section and 9 times out of 10 someone will be selling a George L pickup. They sound fine. I used a Duncan Antiquity Stringmaster set for the one 8 string I built. They are expensive, but the guitar sounded great.

Thanks again. The fret work is fairly quick, I have a fretting system set up with various templates and use my table saw. Blade is Luthiers Mercantile system. besides my time is really not worth a lot these days. 7.50 /hr in town. Rather make that on my own time. I was looking at the Clinesmith steels. Very nice. I like the solid flame maple body , I can do a full body overlay in exotic wood for cheap make a nice touch in
300.00 lap. Looking at the Epi Electar Century shape simple and nice.

Wish I could do MOTS in the old fashioned way

Hello from George Mr.Boards

From the photo you provided , I am estimating your market price range to be 600 - 900 US Dollars for some thing in the style shown.

300 is the typical cost for parts alone even at wholesale.

All of the builders sell off their seconds- blems - oopsies at major discount to roll them to folks looking to get a deal not concerned about perfection
and to raise coins to put into the future builds.

So far as going forward , GeorgeBoards Manufacturing division can help in a big way.

We are currently seeking folks looking to get into building to purchase CNC Routed Body's, FretBoards Nut and Bridges - and many more parts.
I can provide consistency in shape - to help you create "Models". Basically 12 piece minimum order to get it all happening for you (whomever).

The thing to remember about OEM GB Parts is: we know what a steel guitar is , how they are supposed to sound - how they are laid out - what materials have desired and not desired tone and sustain.

Going with a bunch of Music Store type guitar parts can save money and it can also associate your product with guitar mentality,
a major turn off to Steel Players - Buyers.

It is well know we have been trying to retire from building.
I have been moving into parts for DIY Builders and now OEM parts for folks interested in getting into it at a larger level.
(Original Equipment Manufacture).

If anyone is serious about going into Steel Guitar Building we are glad and happy to help in what ever way we can.

George,

That is very generous of you to help a budding entrepreneur.

As others have pointed out, at that price point, you are competing with some very nice 6 string vintage instruments and, for me, I'd pick vintage every time.

If you could build an 8 stringer for that sort of price (or even a little more), you could be on to a winner.

Looking at the pictures you posted, my feedback would be that I don't like the frets - I'd rather see a printed or silkscreened fretboard of some kind (which would also be less work for you).

Also, I don't like guitar bridges on lap steels - it always looks like cutting corners to me. All you need is a round bar of some kind with some sort of adjustment to move it forwards and backwards and change the angle - such as on a Stringmaster. Doesn't have to be sophisticated or even pretty - just not something you would find on a Les Paul or a Strat.

If you could find a way to make the tuners vertical rather than horizontal, that would be a nice touch.

Bob Thomason wrote:Thanks for all the replies. I am not intending to mass produce just a few for fun and maybe profit.

i assure you that you will be having more fun..... building is sometimes more about building than making money...providing you have another source of income to make it about fun.

I build lap steels as a hobby, 323 so far and counting. However, I put food on the table with the other parts of the business; Lessons, repairs, sales in the store. My cost to build an 8-string lap steel with high quality parts is approximately $325 and I get OEM pricing on many parts. Other parts are dealer net pricing. It isn't just the cost of parts. You'll have to factor in paint, sandpaper, tools, router and drill bits, and warranty repairs for parts that fail through no fault of your own. Then add advertising expense and overhead in the shop such as heat and lights. Additionally, many customers will think you're cheating them if you charge the actual shipping cost. The big companies have a "negotiated rate" with carriers so customers expect cheap shipping. Difficult for the little guy to compete in this market. You'll have to approach it as a fun thing to do because it's unlikely to be a profitable venture. I do it because I enjoy it, and the other parts of the business pay well enough to support my hobby.

Any lap steel assembled with a standard-spaced 6-string bridge to match up to a standard-spaced mass market guitar pickup, you'd have to give me at least $300.00 to take it off your hands.

But that's just me.

good...won't have to ship anything to lake
wayfargone then!

Thanks for all the replies . I have been building dulcimers since 81. I did this for a living and performed , did lessons , etc. I know pretty much the ins and outs of the biz. Just wanted to do something different and add to my line of instruments. The forum is not my target market. I have had to educate the public about dulcimers and would like to do the same with LS. George, thanks for you offer but am at a point in my life where I am slowing down .I admire your work. The retired boomers have had an impact on sales of whatever. They retire with a good pension and make stuff and show up at all the gatherings and try to sell. Some of it is good some not. Most people don't know the difference. price is king. Just want to offer an alternative to China. Nice woods and decent hdw. Thanks again.