Official Luthiers Forum!

A few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of the Pink Floyd "Pulse" DVD, and it looked like Gilmour was having so much fun playing the lap steel that I just had to give it a try....one problem..no lap steel!

After poking around on the new a bit, I came across Lap King steel guitars, and really liked the design, so I decided to whip one up for myself.

I am not selling these, it's only a personal instrument. I give all design credit to Jason Du Mont (the man behind Lap King), for coming up with (what I think) is a very cool lap steel.

Now that I've finished the disclaimer , here are a few pics:





The pickguard is 1mm swirl finished aluminum sheet (works well with a router, by the way!). The pickups are a Danelectro "Yesteryear" lipstick tube up front, and a Kent Armstrong vintage humbucker in the rear.

The finish is the finest Krylon spray paint in the most obnoxious color I could find .




Ebony fretboard, 23.24" scale, Rickenbacker bridge, MOP position markers and brushed silver Sperzel locking tuners (I really like these). All in all, a fun, fast and easy project.

Now let's hope I find some time to learn how to play the thing...

Thanks for looking!

Russ, in my old Prog rock days at Uni, (used to see early Floyd at the UFO club), I always wanted a lap steel but, as a student, could never afford one. Now I want one again! That looks really cool. Fun to play?

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

That's wild!

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Very cool, Russ! You pulled this off fantastically.

I can envision you in a matching floral print party shirt on a beach in Hawaii surrounded by beautiful hula dancers!

Keep us posted as to how this changes your life...and let us know at which beach you're performing.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Russ - man I like how you can whip stuff up -- cool instrument! I really like to colour. Do you remember when they made Cadillacs that colour?

JJ -- you have a gift for conjuring up imagery -- and its all good

That is REALLY sweet. Very cool.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Next you'll have to do a ten string a la Robert Johnson.

Really cool Russ. It is neat to see al the different forms a guitar can take.

_________________
Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Hey nice job. I built a couple of lap steels back in the 80's, but man your's looks a lot better than mine did.
Love it.

That is really nice!!   I plan to build one in my future. The only song I learned to play on one is "Steel Guitar Rag" using open "E" tuning. Can't wait to make my own.
Love the design and color. Great workmanship!!

Ron

_________________
OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

That is just to cool As a matter of fact you've got me thinking.... maybe I could build one myself.... maybe a candle apple red Krylon coated lapper!!!

About using a router for the swirl... you use a sanding disk in it?

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks guys!

This really is a pretty simple project, just a few slabs of african mahogany (cheapest wood in the lumber yard on the day i passed by), a second grade ebony fretboard, a little routing of course a cool design by Jason Du Mont.

I have it tuned to open E, and I'm trying to figure out "One of These Days". The playing is going to prove LOTS harder than the building! Maybe I need the giant flying pigs for inspiration...

Who knows, if this works out, maybe I can get a full-time gig in Don Ho's band!

That hula dancer thing sounds tempting....

Russ, That is very cool and looks like a fun project.
You did a very good job! I'm adding this to my "To Build" list!

_________________
Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

Very cool instrument Russ, looks really nice, i'll bet you'll have many hours of fun learning how to pull something out of it, great deign and craftmanship!

Cool Cool Cool Cool.

Did I mention that is cool Russ. Very well done. I think it looks great.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Excellent job, Russ! If you can make a copy with grade "B" materials look that good, you might find a market for an original design, if you can come up with something as cool and hip as that one.

Joe,

I just routed the perimeter for the pickguard shape. The aluminum is produced with the circular pattern already brushed into it.

I found the aluminum at a local sheet metal supplier here in Amsterdam, but I'm sure you could find something similar wherever you are. At first I was going to use diamond plate until I happened upon this material.

Very cool.

_________________
Brad
Avon, OH

russ,
i'm crazy about it!!! i'd love to hear more about where you sourced the electronics and hardware. and did you already know how to wire the electronics or did you start from square one on this instrument?
phil

Totally cool and '57 Chevy like!

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Nice build! I have an old 1957 Supro that I occationally take out to scare the cat.   

Lap steels are a lot of fun to mess around with.

_________________
Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

That is mint! I love that color too... Very well done!

_________________
I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Phil,

The hardware is available from Allparts. I ordered the pickups online as well, but I can't recall the supplier right now. I'll take a look through my invoices and try to let you know, but they are widely available in any case.

The fretboard came from LMI, I just chopped it off at the first fret to give the scale length I was looking for.

For an even cheaper lap steel, you could always go with a single pickup in the bridge position.

In keeping with the low cost nature of this project, the 'logo' is a water slide decal I made from some decal sheet I had laying around the house:

russ38999.0778819444

Very Cool! Great work too!

What color is that? It's horrible!!

_________________
Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

That rocks, Russ. Have you seen/heard any of the great "sacred steel" bands? The Campbell Brothers, for example, and there's a group that came through Ithaca recently -- I think they're called the Lee Boys. If not, you GOTTA check them out, especially the Lee Boys. The lap steel player in that band is absolutely incredible and will show you what to do with that thing!

_________________
Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/