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Murray wants a lap steel guitar.
I have been thinking about making one for years, so now seems to be the time.
What do we know about lap steels?
Not much, but surfing tells us they usually have a scale length of 22 to 23
inches, the string spacing at the nut can be anything from that of a normal
guitar up to the same spacing as the bridge so that the strings are parallel.
The spacing at the bridge is much the same as a conventional guitar, about
2-1/16" or 2-1/8".
What else to we need to know?
Not much; it's more a question of what we have to think about. What wood is
available? What shape shall we use? What pickups, controls and other hardware?
If we take those things in order the project will look after itself.
Timber!
A rummage through the back garage turned up these three pieces of wood. A
plank of maple just under ⅞" x 5½" x 47", a plank of mahogany
just over ⅞" x 9" x 46" and a piece of rosewood
⅛" x 4½" x 34½". I'm guessing the rosewood
was originally inteded for an acoustic guitar side. The maple and mahogany
were both for Fender-style necks.
The rosewood is too thin for a normal fingerboard, and I'm never going to use
it for a side, so it looks a good candidate for a fingerboard for our
lap steel. The fingerboard on a lap steel is basically decorative — a
pencil drawing would do as long as the frets were drawn in the right place,
and this rosewood will give our guitar a bit of class.
The maple and/or mahogany will be fine for the body.
Some first ideas for shapes
I drew these within a 5 inch x 32 inch box, so they could be half an inch
wider at the widest part if we use the maple.
They are rough sketches to see what might be doable.
I chose cream for the background just as a pale colour that the components
would show up against. Murray likes the idea of cream, so that that's how it
might end up.
I'm thinking of using both the maple and the mahogany so the construction
would be similar to a Les Paul. The maple is planed but the mahogany is rough
sawn so the combined thickness would be something a little under 1¾
inches. That sounds quite good to me.
Hardware
Some of the pictures I saw of lap steels had machines like those on classical
guitars but mounted upside-down so the buttons pointed upwards. That looked
like a good idea to me.
I have had these in a cupboard for a long time and I think they will be
excellent for the job.
There is probably a lot of other hardware lying around that will serve. I have
at least two bridges that might be of use. We'll have to think about the nut;
some makers seem to use just a piece of angled steel. I have a feeling Murray
might like Telecaster style knobs, but I haven't asked him yet.
First visualisation
Murray and I have seen a lap steel called a Deusenberg. Pure 1950s Wurlitzer/Cadillac.
To clone it would be an impossible task but I have taken the shape as a model and come up with this.
I have used the exact shape of the Duesenberg distorted to fit within the restraints of the maple plank — i.e. made it a bit slimmer. We don't have to stick to this slavishly, or even stick to it at all. We could mirror the 'rocket ship' shape to the other side, or we could use an entirely different shape and keep the raised centre section. Perm any combination by infinity.
I saw one guitar that had the knobs and switch mounted astern of the bridge;
that looked like quite a good idea, and would adapt to this design quite
nicely.
The headstock
I don't much like the look of the head; it seems too big and smacks of 1950s
Framus. I think it will be better a little slimmer and symmetrical at the top.
The design, I think, should be dictated by the position of the tuner recesses,
with 'straight-line' strings being the criterion. The only rules we
have to follow are that the recess has to be half an inch wide and the outer
wall has to be a quarter of an inch. Starting with that in mind, the head may
well design itself. Before we start that we must decide on the string spacing
at the nut and the width of the neck.
A simple head
Perhaps the simplest we could do. The bend on the strings at the nut is quite
acceptable, but perhaps the angle at which the strings hit the horizontal
posts is a little too great; the tendancy would be for the wind to veer off
towards the centre of the head and possibly rub against the wood.
Perhaps we could try to make a straight pull on the fifth and second and
lessen the angle of the slots.
Sensible head
This is the effect of reducing the angle of the slots and putting them closer
together.
Am I being a little too precious about this? The winding of the string will
move the effective position that it hits the post. On my Macaferri the slots
are darn nearly parallel, but that has a significantly narrower string spacing
— closer to a vintage strat — also the thickness of the outer wood
is a little greater than the quarter inch that we can use.
