Looking forward to seeing your project when its done, its a lot of fun building them.
How many strings? What kind of tone are you looking for?
For 6 string pickups, P90 type pickups work great and are fairly plentiful in a lot of price points.
For 8 string, Lollar, Vintage Vibe, and Jerry Wallace all offer some well respected pickups.
You can use a lot of different materials for nuts .. aluminum, brass, Corian, bone.
I've been using mostly bone and like it a lot. Its easy to shape and work with and has a nice bright clear tone.
For six strings, I've used off the shelf Strat / Tele hard tail bridges with very good results. I've also made a few out of aluminum channel, angle, and round rod that sound great too.
Stainless steel or brass works too.
8 string bridges will need to be made, though Hipshot does make an 8 string hard tail and Trilogy.
For a plan, I think Bluestem has a full scale free plan they offer for download.
If you do a design of your own, it helps to draw it out full scale first.
Start with a centerline and go from there.
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Some misc pics of my hand crafted steels
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How to build this ultra-hip LAP STEEL GUITAR! Once you download the plans, join these groups to discuss building secrets for this instrument! VINTAGE LAP STEEL PLANS GROUP. (dedicated to these vintage plans) and Lap Steel World (a great group discussing all aspects of lap steel. Fl 9 studio for mac os. Browse 179 lap steel guitar stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Studio still life of a 1935 Rickenbacker Electro Model B Steel electric guitar, photographed in the United Kingdom.

posted 06 September 2006 08:48 PM profilesend emaileditFrank, Lee, and Mel: (and everyone else…)
OK. You guys asked a few simple questions, so here goes my long-winded response.
You guys have wet my curiosity as to the amount of interest in 7 and 8 string laps. Since I play 6 string, and only in E and G tunings, I’m unfamiliar with the technical perspective of the 7 and 8 string lap steels. I could certainly CAD a print up for a 7 or 8 string lap steel if you think there’s enough interest. To produce a construction print such as the free 6 string lap steel drawing on my website I’ll need some info from you guys. (Others please feel free to chime in).

Lap Steel Guitar Tuning

First, Should I consider both 7 and 8 string instruments? I don’t know what the interest is for these varieties. Since I need to do a working instrument from the drawings I’d like to have a quick synopsis of 7 and 8 string details that I can work from without doing a ton of research. Searching past postings on scale length and tuning preference seems to be as varied as the number of responses. If I could obtain the information from you folks as a starting point I could more easily produce a good construction drawing. I’ll offer the finished drawing as a half-size PDF on my website for anyone to use as they see fit. I’ll probably offer it as a full size drawing that can be reproduced at the local Kinko’s for a small fee. I’m also considering offering a stainless steel bridge assembly with string anchor points and over-wound single coil pickup for 6, 7, or 8 string lap steel guitar construction as well as other items that would be of use to amateur builders.
So, here are the questions I’d like some input on:
1. Preference for 7 or 8 strings? Steel

2. Scale length? (Here’s a can of worms to be opened…)

3. Nut and bridge string spacing? This could also be dependant on the number of strings… 6, 7, or 8)
Going out on a limb here, I personally have settled for string spacing of 11/32” at the nut and 3/8” at the bridge, at least for 6 string lap. There seems to be a lot of varying opinions as to the “correct” setup for string spacing. Narrow, wide, taper, no taper, parallel 3/8”..all seem to have their own devotees.

4. Headstock style, i.e. “Classic Oahu” or “A” style like the Bluestem I-10 on my website. I have a preference here for the “A” style, as it is easier to get a straight string path to the tuning post. Also, I’m sold on vertical posts, rather than vertical tuning buttons. It takes little time to adjust to tuning a conventional guitar style tuner and the ease of string changes makes up for the tuner buttons mounted in a pan. (IMHO)

Building A Lap Steel Guitar Pdf

5. What’s a good tuning for a 7 and 8 string lap steel, and what would be the appropriate string gauges for said tunings?

Building Lap Steel Guitar Pdf Pic Free

6. Firefox 47 download for mac. Any preference for single coil vs. double coil pickups? (Arranged as classic hum buckers or with a Stringmaster-style blend pot configuration)