The Steel Guitar Forum

Does anyone know of a source for a pre-shaped wood blank for a lapsteel? George Piburn had some in the past, but he has sold all of his. I am thinking about a long scale S6. I don't have acess to all the woodworking tools, but should have an OK time with the hardware and electronics.

If this is already covered in a previous post, please direct me there.

Thanks.

Hello folks

We made a couple dozen blanks earlier this year with last years materials, all are sold now.

Now for the difficult reality check; All of my material costs have more than doubled in the last 18 months.

Same goes for the cost to just get to the facility, fuel lunch lease of the facility, Heck even the Mill Ends (Router Bits) have gone up 35%.

What I produced this spring with pre inflation costs came out to 299.99 usd for a blank,
now if I were to go for another 12 piece run my sale price would go up to at least 500.00 usd.
This pretty much puts the "Kaibosch" on any future sales. Very Sad but True.

I have the process for sale on a franchise - lease to anyone looking to get into the lap steel business.

I can offer hands on training, we can teach you to make these on your own mill,
or you can come to Albuquerque and make as many as you want at the facility we utilize.
Traveling here to do the hard work can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars by not having to purchase expensive machines, maintenance of the machines, pay for power, empty sawdust collectors, pay to remove debris, and many other considerations like expensive software and computers to run it.

Now for the difficult reality check; All of my material costs have more than doubled in the last 18 months.

Same goes for the cost to just get to the facility, fuel lunch lease of the facility, Heck even the Mill Ends (Router Bits) have gone up 35%.

What I produced this spring with pre inflation costs came out to 299.99 usd for a blank,
now if I were to go for another 12 piece run my sale price would go up to at least 500.00 usd.
This pretty much puts the "Kaibosch" on any future sales. Very Sad but True. Sad

So sad! Small businesses with thin margins are hurt the worst. So many wonderful small businesses making quality products are disappearing. Not getting political here, just mourning the loss.

Wait a minute.....Lumber prices have been falling for 2 years straight. They are now at per-pandenic levels. Now is actually looking like a good time to start building.

George Piburn wrote:
Now for the difficult reality check; All of my material costs have more than doubled in the last 18 months.

Same goes for the cost to just get to the facility, fuel lunch lease of the facility, Heck even the Mill Ends (Router Bits) have gone up 35%.

Yep, lap steel blanks ain't just wood.

I opened my first auto repair shop just before the Jimmy Carter fuel crisis. It put me in a hole that took years to climb out of. A reality I learned back then, when prices go up ... they never really come back down much.

I'm real sorry to hear you are going through a rough patch. I wish there was a magic secret I could share to make it better ... but there just isn't one. You just cut and cut and cut, and try and try and try and hopefully when it ends ... you survived.

Best wishes to you and yours.

T.

David Slama wrote:Does anyone know of a source for a pre-shaped wood blank for a lapsteel? George Piburn had some in the past, but he has sold all of his. I am thinking about a long scale S6. I don't have access to all the woodworking tools, but should have an OK time with the hardware and electronics.

If this is already covered in a previous post, please direct me there.

Thanks.

In truth a lap steel blank isn't much more that a couple holes drilled into little more than a 2 X 4 X 40(+/-) hunk of wood.

Could I suggest that you consider buying a book called "It's Easy To Build Your Own Lap Steel Guitar"?

I'm building my first lap steel and am reading it right now. Frankly, I'm not getting much out of it and I disagree with some of the things he does in the book. But then I have a full wood and metal working shop, years of experience and have built and restored a number of other musical instruments.

That said, in this book the author explains how to build 2 lap steel guitars (the one on the cover is a VERY nice "traditional" lap steel) using nothing more than BASIC HAND TOOLS and does the work in what I would call a closet with a skylight. He devotes PAGES to explaining what tools you need, how to use them AND how to keep them in working order.

It is my opinion that this book would be perfect for a guy like you. Not only would you end up with a lap steel, but you would also have tools AND THE SKILLS TO USE THEM ... for the rest of your life.

READ THE BOOK BEFORE DOING ANYTHING.

If you decide to go this route, don't hesitate to come here to ask for help if you don't understand something.

Ted, I appreciate your encouraging words.
I think starting from scratch might be fun.
I already own several great guitars to use for inspiration.
Will order the book soon; also some of this is online at:
www.buildyourguitar.com:lapsteel:.webloc
Thanks again.

David,

GREAT!!! It's VERY GOOD that you are familiar with guitars, and I assume how to play them. This will be very helpful doing the build. For one thing, you already know the names and locations of guitar stuff.

Some tips for the book:

When he talks about the bridge or pickup for either instrument ... talk to somebody here before you buy. You don't want or need an arched bridge or one having "corrected" or "adjustable" intonation. I would suggest making both the nut and the bridge from a piece of angle aluminum.

In "Part 2: Conventional Lap Steel Guitar", I would ignore EVERYTHING having to do with installing frets. Lap steels just don't use them and I was very surprised that he included all that stuff in this book. You'll buy a fret board having all the markings once you decide on the length you want. Georgeboards has a bunch of them.

Binding and and inlays and such are beautiful ... but might be a bit much for a first build.

Also, you might want to ignore everything about making your own pickup. Do some research on pickups. I know its a taste kind of thing but a LOT of folks recommend a humbucker or an S-90. Also, you don't have to spend a lot of money on a pickup. You can find the humbucker for the Gretsch G5700 Electromatic Lap Steel on Amazon for $25 or so.

If you have a good amp and a good reverb almost anything you build is going to sound great!

Here in Scotland High School Woodwork Depts are open to the public in the evening, this was made over 3 evenings for a cost of $45 including hardware & Electrics.

James Kerr.


Here it is playing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTmg9o1UXOo

Here’s a easy one I built
Just buy a 3 inch round piece of maple an add the wings an slot the round stick of maple for key head an slots an fret markers.










A nice weekend project!!!

Johnie King wrote:Here’s a easy one I built
Just buy a 3 inch round piece of maple an add the wings an slot the round stick of maple for key head an slots an fret markers.

Interesting idea for an original build, though the shape introduces some new complications – but where would you find a 3-inch round piece of maple? Never seen anything like that for sale anywhere, online or IRL.

Per I bought the round maple in Franklin Tn at the woodcraft store.

Search Google for "baseball bat billet".

That explains it. Baseball is more or less nonexistant this side of the pond.