The Steel Guitar Forum

My compact, lightweight #5 Gronertone is finished. It tips the scale at 4 pounds. 22.5" scale, 29.25" total length. I have to shim the Pup down a little but other than that it all worked out well. Thought you guys might like to see the inside? Jack shaft was a minor problem. Guitar was so thin (1") the shaft protruded out the bottom. I made 3 feet for it to set on (one at the head and 2 at the tail) The one bottom foot I made hollow to house the jack shaft. Sounds pretty dang good with the Aluminum Spine! I can't wait to hear my friend Jim Hartman come over and give it a spin.

Bill

Excellent looking guitar....very clean , classic lines.

It is truly " Gronergood"

Congratulations on a fine build.

What brand of pickup did you use?

Pretty darn cool Bill!

Very impressive workmanship.

Very Very Nice Bill!!! How about a Demo.
I liked when i saw the first Picture. Then the WOW factor at the end. Nice Nice
Joe Elk Central Ohio

I'm in love with that frame and head stock! Strong, light, and beautiful... My kind of girl

Stunning! What kind of wood is that on top? I love the fretboard. The whole thing came out great.

Thanks guys for the positive comments. I will answer any and all of your questions this weekend. Tomorrow night I will be helping my Grandson's Cub Scout Pack get their Pinewood derby track set up. I sure am going to miss not being able to play the new build.

You have the right to feel pride. Looks great. Joe

Looks great Bill!!!

The addition of feet to fix the jack problem is very clever!

The whole thing looks fantastic. I want one!!!!

Very nice, Bill. Keep up the good work.

C. E.

Thats a really cool guitar with very clever design features. I have a feeling it will sound really great. Hats of to you Bill.

Michael, the pick up is a cheap strat style Pup. I made a cover for it and that is probably what threw you off. I had it in a box and quite frankly the whole guitar was an experiment so I wasn't going to spend a lot of dollars on a pickup if the guitar didn't sound good. Much to my surprise it does sound good. I am looking into getting a Lollar string through for it.

Steve, the wood I used was walnut and maple. I got the maple from Lowes and the walnut was salvaged from a dumpster outside a cabinet shop. The walnut was big enough to make a lap steel, however, it had a nasty knot that no matter how I laid it out, it seemed to be in the way. I ripped some 1/4" pieces from it and used it that way. I bought the fret markers on eBay. I never used anything like them before, but I went on good old Youtube and watched a couple of how to videos and they worked out great. Finish I used Formby's gloss.

Mike Holland and Andy, the jack had me scratching my head for a while, but I think my solution worked out quite well. White dots in the feet are teflon........keeps the wife happy when I lay it down on the night stand.........no scratches.

Joe Elk, I will email you about the Demo. I can tell you it looks better than I can play, so maybe you should just look at it and not ask for a Demo. Maybe hold off till I get a new Pup?


My next one will take pretty much planing. I loaned a lap steel I made to my boss. He plays guitar and was eager to try a lap steel which he had never heard of. He loved it and asked me if I would build him one. The one stipulation was it had to have a Union Jack theme on it. He comes from the UK......so I guess Mike Holland you will appreciate it when done. It won't be till the weather gets warm so I can spray paint it outside, but I have all winter to figure out how am going to make it.


Thank ALL you guys for the nice comments, I appreciate them.

Beautiful, Bill!

Can you explain the plexiglass (?) thingy? Why is it needed?

Andy Henriksen wrote:Can you explain the plexiglass (?) thingy? Why isn’t it needed?

I can. 2 screws and it's off. I have been blessed with hands that sweat. I tend to rest my hand on the body and after awhile it tends to dull up the finish, so it's there for comfort (heel rest and sweat protection) I used clear so the grain would still be visible. When I work with walnut the sweat in my hands and the sanding dust causes my palms to turn a purple hue from the tannic acid in the wood and my chemical makeup.

Hi Bill

That looks awesome. I am from Perkasie, I would love to stop by and play it some time.

BTW, what tuning do you use on the pinewood derby track, and what is the scale length??



Eric

Eric Gross wrote:Hi Bill

That looks awesome. I am from Perkasie, I would love to stop by and play it some time.

BTW, what tuning do you use on the pinewood derby track, and what is the scale length??



Eric

PERKASIE! That's like next door! We will get in touch.

Tuning on the Pinewood derby track........don't "B" flat, with a scale length of 42'......6 lanes, not 6 strings.

Bill Groner wrote:

Andy Henriksen wrote:Can you explain the plexiglass (?) thingy? Why isn’t it needed?

I can. 2 screws and it's off. I have been blessed with hands that sweat. I tend to rest my hand on the body and after awhile it tends to dull up the finish, so it's there for comfort (heel rest and sweat protection) I used clear so the grain would still be visible. When I work with walnut the sweat in my hands and the sanding dust causes my palms to turn a purple hue from the tannic acid in the wood and my chemical makeup.

Makes sense! And another clever solution!

When I first played this little beauty a couple weeks ago, my first thought was this instrument deserves a much better pickup. It had one of those pseudo Strat pickups with steel slug pole pieces and bar magnets underneath. Happy to report it's gone from rags to riches in that department:










Now sounds as good as it looks. It's so small and light weight, really a pleasure to play.

Beautiful! Great detail/finish work...I love the inset pots...the feet look really nice, even if added as a practical workaround. And I think the pickup / chrome knobs are a great upgrade, personally!

SOUND CLIP! SOUND CLIP!!!!

Is that a Supro string-thru pup in there now?

Or maybe a Lollar or Mojo-tone Supro?

That thing must really growl now.

Stephen Abruzzo wrote:Is that a Supro string-thru pup in there now?

Or maybe a Lollar or Mojo-tone Supro?

That thing must really growl now.

It's a Lollar with a .047 cap. Jim came over last night and wired it up. I know my limitations. I can build them, but when it comes to wiring and playing I will, for now, leave that up to Jim. Hopefully after Jim's patience and knowledge last night I have learned a little more in the process of how to do a proper wire job. Jim is a great teacher.

Bill - That’s a major league looking lap steel. Perhaps Jim can help you post a sound clip.