The Steel Guitar Forum

Maybe some of you more experienced builders can help me out. I will be starting in the next couple of months a new build. Body will be either walnut or cherry. It will be a short scale LS. One of my questions is, should I hollow out the body and neck. If I did, I was planning on leaving a quarter inch of wood on the top and bottom sound boards. The walls of the neck would be 3/8"to a 1/2". Is this a good or bad idea? Should I leave it solid? My next question is, Pup placement. I am currently using a Foundry tone Pup. It's a single coil and trust me for the way I play, it is plenty good. I like a more mellow sound on my steels. If you ever listened to Doug Beaumier, that is the sound I like. I currently put my Pup around 3/4" from the center of the coil to the center of the bridge. Is this good? Should I move the Pup closer to the neck? The sound I have now, isn't bad, but my question is, if I move the Pup would it get even better? I am using a C6 tuning with .015 to .036 GHS strings. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Bill

I would not go for all of the hollowing for a 1st steel.

Pickup at 2" center of pup to bridge zero.

George

George, thank you for your advice. I have visited your website and in fact bought one of your stick on fret boards.
This is my 4th steel and I have built other guitars in the past. I am not hesitant to hollow it out, my question is, would it make it sound noticeably better?

Many builders do hollowing, no doubt it adds a flavor. Season to Taste.

For certain it will lighten up the weight.

In my experience with wood , I prefer the weight.

Looking forward to seeing photos and hearing audio clips of your builds.

George -io

Bill, the sound of a lap steel also depends on the players hands. And the character of the guitar itself depends on the construction. Check Doug Beaumier's playing. His right hand changes position over the strings all the time, following the position of the bar to get the best sound. It really makes a difference. Doug always sounds great, even on very different guitars.

I agree with George-io about solid wood. I got several blank bodies from George and the result is lap steels that almost play by themselves. I cannot play very light lap steels as they move all over the place.
But there is nothing to stop you to do it your way.

Thank you for your advice so far. I never noticed Doug moving his right hand, but I know I have much to learn and maybe not much time left to do it, but I am having a great time learning all I can and advice from people with experience is greatly appreciated. I guess I just might leave it solid. It will be a lot less work for me. My first and 2nd build were out of curly maple and left solid, and they sound very good. 1st one is 10 pounds, 2nd is 6.25 pounds. I prefer the 2nd one for size and weight. As far as moving around I put jar lid openers on the bottom and they do not move. So, that is my tip for the day from someone who knows very little about my new hobby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK5aT07 ... ture=share

Watch Doug's right hand.

Your guitar looks great!