My First Lap Steel

[johnwayne]

Any advice on starting this project? I've never built one before and could use some help about how to go about this. I found a website with some instructions but would like some more assistance. What kind of bridge should I use that is fairly inexpensive? Also What tools are essential to completing this project? I'm basically starting with nothing.

[Jon]

Do a search on lap steels on the "In Progress and Finished Work" forum and maybe some ideas will spawn from seeing how others are making them.

[MiKro]

Any advice on starting this project? I've never built one before and could use some help about how to go about this. I found a website with some instructions but would like some more assistance. What kind of bridge should I use that is fairly inexpensive? Also What tools are essential to completing this project? I'm basically starting with nothing.

Not ot turn you off to PG as you will find a wealth of info but have you tried these sites?

http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lapsteel/

http://steelguitarforum.com/

just a suggestion.

MK

[GregP]

Hey John! Glad to see you've made it over here.

You can use just about anything for a bridge. Someone made a wooden bridge with a metal spike across the top. A wraparound Tune-O-Matic with height-adjustable saddles would work. Even a standard Tune-O-Matic with the saddles notched deeper than standard to eliminate the radius. ...A simple string-through design with a piece of aluminum angle would work, too. You're only limited by resourcefulness.

If you REALLY just want the most painless way to do it, you can get a top-loading hardtail strat or non-vintage (6-saddle) tele bridge. You can even "raise" it on some sort of wood platform (just an extra piece of thick wood veneer or something) if you're not getting enough height right away.

On my lap steel, since I felt I needed a roller bridge (to go with the EZ-Bender), I was lucky enough to have a generous PG member who found just the saddles from a roller TOM, which I then screwed into a piece of aluminum angle. When I find the time, it will be replaced with one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Chrome-TUN-O-MATIC-Sty...1QQcmdZViewItem

It's not ready "out of the box" to be a lap steel bridge. You need NO string radius. But, you can see in the picture that the radius is formed by the saddles being screwed DOWN onto some "steps". I had an acquantance mill the steps down so that they're all screwed down onto a flat surface. The rollers themselves are different depths for the different guages of string, so the "flatness" across the top ends up being good enough for rock'n'roll.

You could also source the bone part of a single-piece acoustic guitar bridge, and file it down if it's already pre-radiused. The right size of slot cut into a piece of wood (which you could also craft to look schwanky) and then even crazy-glued if you're not happy with the snugness of the fit... there's another option for you! An extra-wide Graphtec nut of some sort, with the grooves filed down so that you have no radius... one of those on either end (one as a "bridge" and one as a "nut")... the possibilities are limitless!

Greg

[Quarter]

Lap steels are fun to build and play

For the first one I built, I started here http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lapsteel/, and expanded on that.

At the time I had just some basic tools, a cheap benchtop drill press, hand plane, jig saw, sander, chisels, etc.

Its more work with hand tools, but it is definitely possible.

For my latest steel, I have since geared up a bit more with a band saw, table saw, thickness planner, and jointer.

Some more pics of the latest

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...dchambered6.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...chambered10.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...chambered12.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...end/topdown.jpg

Good luck with your project

[GregP]

Love it, Quarter! That's the kind of MM hardtail bridge I first had in mind as a recommendation-- they're for string-through ONLY, rather than top mount, I believe, but the extra work isn't a dealbreaker. You can see in the photo that it's just 6 holes drilled through, with recessed... er... the word is escaping me... anchors...?

Quarter, how is the chambering done? Is each individual "strip" hollow?

[Quarter]

Thanks ... they are called ferrules. Those came with the bridge, but most sellers don't usually include them.

To do string throughs you really need a drill press. A trick I picked up, I believe it was from here, is to carefully drill the two outer holes first, then flip the guitar and remark and drill the remaining middle holes from the back.

I put it together in a neck through fashion. The center wedge gets done first, then I glue up the 3 side strips to make a "wing".

For the chambering I set up a fence on my drill press and hogged the bulk of the wood with a forstner bit and finished up with a router with an edge guide.

These pics should explain it better.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...nd/chamber3.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...nd/chamber4.jpg

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/quar...d/chamber1s.jpg