acoustic solution for lap steel ? dobro ?

Maxime Ledon · Post by **Maxime Ledon** » 4 Apr 2020 1:11 am

Hi everyone ! I was asking myself on how to play the lap steel when on vacation where I would have no electricity. Does 8 string acoustic lap steels exist or do I have to stick with 6 strings like dobros (I play a fender champ copy (guyatone

) ? If you have any suggestion on such a musical device that would really be nice to share it with me

. Thank you, please stay safe and have a great day.

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 4 Apr 2020 1:28 am

There are 8-string resonators - cheapest I know of is Gold Tone Paul Beard Signature - about $1200 from Beard. I'm not aware of any production 8-string Weissenborns.

I think the simpler solution would be a battery powered mini-amp for your lapper - the total package size would be much smaller. I carried a Cube battery/12 V amp with me when I was captain of a large day tour boat so I could practice during my mid-day break. This was my rig at the time:

I used the 12V adapter for the amp, but batteries work too.

You can get even smaller amps than the Cube, or just a headphone amp as well if size is an issue.

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 4 Apr 2020 6:29 am

The 8 string resos are unlikely to be cheap, but they do exist. I would think a lot of the playing styles that electric 8 stringers play might not adapt to well to the reso...ie., the big deep bass sound of Jules C13 or B11, probably not going to have that deepness on an 8 string acoustic...

I bought a Blackstar Fly for travel use, it was OK, but eventually have replaced it with the slightly bigger, but still battery-powerable Yamaha THR10. Sounds great with my lap steels.

If you really want pure acoustic, my preference would probably be just a 6 string, still. Plenty you can do with one of em, and a lot more choices/options with 6 string.

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 4 Apr 2020 7:49 am

I would concur that a small battery-powered amp is the way to fly.
Of the four or five models I've tried, I favor this one for steel (either lap or pedal):

Roland Mobile Cube

Brooks Montgomery · Post by **Brooks Montgomery** » 4 Apr 2020 8:29 am

Gene Tani · Post by **Gene Tani** » 4 Apr 2020 8:53 am

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... guitar-amp

second thumb up on the Vox plug, just they're small and easy to lose

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 4 Apr 2020 9:01 am

Brooks Montgomery wrote:

As an alternative, eliminate the middleman:

I have a set of VOX Amphones for bass. Not all that crazy about 'em, but they work as advertised.

Nic Neufeld · Post by **Nic Neufeld** » 4 Apr 2020 12:56 pm

And if you're playing just to practice, not to be heard...well, maybe I'm alone in this but I practice acoustically a lot. Not as pleasing to the ear...and my Clinesmith frypan is fairly quiet, acoustically...but still serviceable for practice. More often than not at home I don't bother plugging in.

Jeff Mead · Post by **Jeff Mead** » 4 Apr 2020 1:05 pm

I almost never plug in at home unless rehearsing with someone else or recording.

The only time is if I'm learning something and need to play a track while my wife is watching TV, when I will use one of those little plug in headphone amps which let's me connect my MP3 player to it as well.

Walter Webb · Post by **Walter Webb** » 4 Apr 2020 5:40 pm

The Paul Beard Signature (PBS-Eight) is very loud! Tons of bass, too. I bought one here, about a two months ago, for $999, but the price just went up to $1099...
Some stores try and bone you extra for the case and shipping, but this place includes both, free. They come strung up EGBDEGBD.

https://www.instrumentalley.com/Gold-To ... /pbs-8.htm

Maxime Ledon · Post by **Maxime Ledon** » 4 Apr 2020 11:49 pm

Thanks friends for all your comments. I already have a small vox amp where I put a lead battery so that's not really the way I want to go. I thank you for pointing me to the PBS gold tone resonator. I might also consider a 6 string maybe ... that could be cheaper and have more options available.
I will not use headphones I prefer to hear the music with ears uncovered (gets me too warm !). And I will add that I also practice a lot unplugged, I did that with guitar too, almost all the time but with jazz boxes so that is still a little acoustic eventually.
Have a great day.

John Limbach · Post by **John Limbach** » 5 Apr 2020 5:10 am

Jack Hanson wrote:I would concur that a small battery-powered amp is the way to fly.
Of the four or five models I've tried, I favor this one for steel (either lap or pedal):

Roland Mobile Cube

Bobby Ingano uses one for his day-to-day gigging amp. Of course he'd get fantastic tone out of two tin cans and a piece of string.

Maxime Ledon · Post by **Maxime Ledon** » 9 Apr 2020 9:00 am

Hi everyone I am still thinking this through. Do you think I could have an A6 tuning over a Dobro ? I don't easily find information on that with the search criterias on the forum.
Is that possible ? For me that would be best as I am totally in that tuning, even with 6 strings, I could still play the heads and more.
Thanks and have a nice day.

Cody Coombs · Post by **Cody Coombs** » 9 Apr 2020 1:47 pm

For a while at work we were taking hour long lunch breaks , Id go sit in my truck and use one of those plug in tiny VOX Amp plugins to my Lapsteel , ran an auxiliary chord from it to my truck radio and it worked great , especially for just practicing . I was using a cheaper rogue model so as my fender wouldn't get stolen while I was working the rest of the day . It was a cool little setup

Cody Coombs · Post by **Cody Coombs** » 9 Apr 2020 1:51 pm

As far as A6 tuning on the Dobro , I have a 6 stringer and an 8 stringer tuned to open G and the latter open G6 . From what I've learned you might be able to get away with a slightly different tuning if you transfer the gauges around . Or G6 gets you that punch with the resonator , and you can just play A6 just with either putting a capo on the 2nd fret or shift yourself up two frets

Jeff Mead · Post by **Jeff Mead** » 9 Apr 2020 1:57 pm

Maxime Ledon wrote:Hi everyone I am still thinking this through. Do you think I could have an A6 tuning over a Dobro ? I don't easily find information on that with the search criterias on the forum.
Is that possible ? For me that would be best as I am totally in that tuning, even with 6 strings, I could still play the heads and more.
Thanks and have a nice day.

Yes, I tune my Dobro to A6. I bought individual string gauges using John Ely's chart (I chose the thinnest in each case)

https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/graphics/ ... _chart.pdf

Mine is a roundneck, designed for non-slide playing so I got a nut raiser for it. I use it on all my acoustic gigs.

Joe Kaufman · Post by **Joe Kaufman** » 9 Apr 2020 10:29 pm

I have a import square neck Flinthill dobro that was converted to 7 string. I tune it to A6 like others have mentioned. I believe it was converted by Beardâ€™s shop by a previous owner. It looks like a relatively simple conversion.

For simple practice I once built a â€œcat canâ€ type instrument. It was tinny spounding but very compact and loud enough to practice with. Mine was 6 strings but 8 would be simple to make as well.

Maxime Ledon · Post by **Maxime Ledon** » 10 Apr 2020 8:01 am

Jeff, Joe ! Thanks there is light at the end of the tunnel