I think I bought my last guitar.

  • Thread starter Thread starter dogooder
  • Start date Start date
markmann said:
That's really cool. Good for you Dogood. FYI, I have made and modded some lap steels so if you need any info on building your own let me know.
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I have everything I need I think. I have bridges, pickups, a set of grovers, another floyd rose type bridge, never thought of using that, that would be cool.
I don't have a chunk of wood but the sawmills around here sell their end drops for about 5 dollars a piece and some of them are pretty
nice. Not sure if I have the tools necessary. I am a machinist and can adapt and improvise but I would want something aesthetic in appearance
and not hacked. I could bring it to a shop down here where I know a couple of machinist and probably route it on a mill or I could buy
a router and give it a go. I have not worked with wood much.
There is no reason I couldn't use the Floyd Rose on a lap steel is there?
 
This is getting interesting :eatpopcorn: I love it when a plan comes together.
 
dogooder said:
I have everything I need I think. I have bridges, pickups, a set of grovers, another floyd rose type bridge, never thought of using that, that would be cool.
I don't have a chunk of wood but the sawmills around here sell their end drops for about 5 dollars a piece and some of them are pretty
nice. Not sure if I have the tools necessary. I am a machinist and can adapt and improvise but I would want something aesthetic in appearance
and not hacked. I could bring it to a shop down here where I know a couple of machinist and probably route it on a mill or I could buy
a router and give it a go. I have not worked with wood much.
There is no reason I couldn't use the Floyd Rose on a lap steel is there?
Click to expand...
I personally would not use any sort of vibrato tailpiece on a lap steel because you will get all the wobble you need from the bar. Some guys will add levers to change the tuning but not for vibrato. Tailpieces on lap steels tend to be very simple. Also, you can make the string spacing whatever you want but generally the spacing on a steel is a bit wider for finger picking and easier to navigate the bar. Also, you need to decide on a scale length. Again it can be whatever you want but most are generally either 22.5" or 25.5. I have both and no problem with either but it's easier to do slants (with the bar) with the shorter scale. FYI, I use a router at home but at one time I worked in a shop and used a bridgeport to mill pockets for electronics and worked great.
 
I have milled a lot of PSG parts. I see they sell the benders for the lap steels but they want over 150.00 for the ones I looked at.
If I were still in a shop I would order one, copy it and send it back lol. I haven't looked into building one yet but I probably will.
What thickness did you use for the body?
 
I don't want to be annoying and I am asking for a friend, what is the minimum thickness will he need to build a lap steel?
I guess there are videos out there, maybe he should go look for some?
 
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