The Steel Guitar Forum

This forum has given me a wealth of help on learning how to play the Lap Steel Guitar so this is my little contribution of giving back. For a lot of you this may not be a problem but for us older people learning to play, holding the tone bar can be a challenge. My hands as I grew older became dryer and don’t work quite as well as they used to. Putting lotion on my hands did not seem to work well enough and a bit of arthritis did not help the situation. I tried both the round nose bar and a couple of the others like Lap Dawg. At best, hard to control because of slippage. I could not lift the round bar off the stings because of slipping out of my fingers. As a retired machine designer, when you have a problem you design something to fix it. The pictures show what my final design solution was. I chose a 7/8 x 3-1/4 inch (22.23 x 82.55mm) round nose bar (that was one that I already had) for my design. I thought it might be too heavy but with the Assistant Cover (don’t know what to call it) the weight was conformable and easy to control. I used a 3D printer for the different profiles, testing and final design. I found early in the designs that I needed the indent for the ring finger to be slanted down towards the end of the unit.
I am not interested in making and selling these, I want to spend my time playing the Lap Steel but I would be happy to send anyone the files for this. I just need your email address. I would also welcome any comments or suggestions, good or bad. The source file is an Autodesk Inventor 2014 (.ipt) file and the file for the 3D printer is a stereolithography (.stl) file. The design build volume is 38.9 x 27.1 x 60mm. I think the length would need to be shorter for tone bars of shorter lengths. The thickness between the fingers and the tone bar is 3mm

Bill:
Thank you. It has been a real journey. First it was the finger picks but got that pretty much solved with some John Pearse Hi Rider finger picks. I have quite a collection of finger picks. Learning to play Steel Guitar and what you need seems to be different for each person. You have to find your own way.
Ken

Pretty cool solution, I have most of your issues too. Just learning to cope with it.

Neat idea!

PM sent.

Great idea. “Assistant Cover (don’t know what to call it)” sounds too close to “Assisted Living.” How about “Gripper”? A slide is is already described as “EZ.”

Too bad this is for a 7/8 bar. I am finally figuring out my reverse slants but have trouble lifting my bar still. Sadly, I use a 3/4. Too bad.

Any chance you'd mock up a 3/4 version?

Old hands, oh yeah, know it well. Plus I had my left hand broken up pretty bad in a motorcycle accident some years ago.Getting tired of dropping things, slide bars included.

Bruce:
I did not like the name either and I like even less now that you brought up "Assisted Living".8>)
I like your suggestion of "Gripper" or at least something that uses Gripper.
Ken

Lloyd:
I have a version for a 3/4 inch bar. I knew somebody would want it plus I really want to try it myself.
I have added a angle on the back side. I found that after a period of time that it became a bit uncomfortable in my palm.
Let me know if you want the files for the 3/4 bar and I will send. I use PETG plastic to print these but any plastic will do.
Ken

Carl:
I know about those motorcycles accidents. I dropped a half ton bike on my foot and the brake petal was on my big toe. I think the doctor finally got it fixed a couple of weeks ago.
Ken

Kenneth Dale wrote:This forum has given me a wealth of help on learning how to play the Lap Steel Guitar so this is my little contribution of giving back.

Another time I wish this forum had a LIKE button!

This is a great idea, but I don't own one of those printers.

Thanks so much.

Is there a Maker Space in your community? We have one at our library here.

Also, my high schools sometimes have 3D printers. Maybe you can find a local student that can take the project on for you?