Lap Steel Synth

I've been curious about getting a guitar synth setup and putting it on a lap steel for a while. This shows me that it'd be everything I'd want and more. The "Crazy Vibrato Opera Singer" patch, if used with single notes and not chords, seems like it'd be all the setup you need to simulate theremin playing.

That is, if you're playing it like Clara Rockmore, not Jimmy Page.

Oh, I HAVE To Go There

I saw this on a French music blog. This is Billy Cardine. He plays lap steel. Look to his right, toward the bassist in the background. Do you see the logo on the headstock? Do you?

Here. Let me give you a hint.

It's a Moog logo.

There's another pic on the site which shows neck-and-bridge Moog Guitar-style pickups. It's a Moog Lap Steel.

I've talked about the Moog Guitar before. Impressive works. Impressive works that take more than a little getting used to, and require a battery that the showroom model might not have, but impressive works nonetheless. I've been more and more thinking about how to access the power of electronics in the with the tools I'm already familiar with, and it seems that there could be something with the Moog lap steel.

It isn't just the increased sustain, though. You have a huge one-piece body, high action and a huge movable fret, so they sustain well naturally. It's controlled sustain and muting. The Moog concept is far beyond the Sustainer/Sustainiac concept. I'm waiting patiently for video, and more importantly, audio of this thing.

I ran into this looking for Melobar (which deserves a dedicated post), and I think this is so cool. Obviously, Moog's syst em is more involved than a Fernandes Sustainer, but it makes you wonder what you could do with all that. Somebody wondered if anyone ever took an EBow to a steel guitar. I'm sure it's not too common to do, but it has been done. In 2000, Robert Randolph made a Sacred Steel album with John Medeski and the North Mississippi All-Stars called The Word, and on one of the tracks, "Call Him By His Name", starts out with Robert sounding like a melisma-laden black-gospel singer just going off, done with steel guitar and EBow. That's a good track to start to show the possibilities of this thing. Or, at least what I think they are.

Rondo Lap Steel Change

Here's the Agile Labradoodle, the newest version of their lap steel. What's the change?

The old version, like the old-school Fender Champion steels, had the bridge cover and electronics cover connected. And they had a Les Paul Jr-style bridge, which means you had to take off the cover to change strings. It was considered a pain. Plus, I have one guitar w/ a cover and one without, and I don't see much of a point to the bridge cover anymore. I like right-hand muting with lap steels. So, I agree with the change and am officially tempted.

That's a Strat-style pickup, by the way, for your modding pleasure.

Make That Lap Steel Sing

This is HeXe Henderson. I first heard of him via Share My Guitar, and you have to know by know that I'm a lap steel lover, and this guy has it. Throw in a take on a Danny Gatton arrangement and you know you have my attention.

Weisenborn into the Future

Behold the Halua, a Weissenborn-style lap steel, made of carbon fiber.

Man, isn't that dead sexy?

And practical, too, since you can paddle between islands with it. B)

I see more and more of this carbon fiber stuff, starting with the nice but rock-heavy Rainsong guitars of a decade or more back. And, of course, the rounded back points back to the Ovation, although it probably works better for a lap-sitting instrument than for a spanish-style guitar. Seriously, I've played a few and none of them have stayed comfortably on the leg.

It looks like you can only get 'em through eBay. $2000, except this one is pre-owned and costs about a K less. I'd find places to play this. I'd adapt songs from the Matrix soundtrack for slack key. Something.

Incidently, the maker's got a Flickr gallery for the next generation prototype.

No Pictures Today

The non-orange of the maple is apparent now. The first four buttons are now totally gone. I went to Hobby Lobby today, hoping to find the right kind of dowel to fit in there and replace the buttons, but guess what? Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday. I also need them for the logo.

StewMac also has buttons. Lots and lots and lots of buttons. I don't know if pearl or abalone buttons will show up on a maple neck that well, but that's how I'm leaning.

I showed the neck to a friend who works with wood on occasion, and he suggested hitting the fretboard (and the fretboard only) with another blast of stripper, because there's filler or something fairly thick on there.

It's worth it to order a set of StewMac buttons, I think, because I'll have to end up getting a new nut anyway, and that'll just add $7 to the order.

Cat Power and the Raconteurs on WFYI's feed of Austin City Limits this evening. It makes crazy sense to me for the Raconteurs to play ACL, as there's a lot of Jack Black (Correction: Jack White) stuff that sounds to me like it could easily be 13th Floor Elevators.

The worship leader is leading a band for National Day of Prayer, and has asked me to play at noon. I'm unsure, as I'll be working at noon. I can probably arrange something. The biggest amp I have is a Frontman 25R, which is not big enough to play out with. Most of the time, I play going DI. But I think I'd enjoy it, and should I really say no when people give me a chance to play out. So, I'll see.

And tomorrow, I will try to first saw up and second take pictures of the thing I hope/plan to make into my first home-made instrument. Well, it'll still be homemade if I order the pickups from Guitar Fetish or something, right?

Do You See What I See?

This is a 1950 Fender Champion lap steel. Thank you to the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and the Physics of Electronic instruments course for these pictures.

I look at these to try to see the essence of a lap steel. I have a dedicated lap steel, but as it works and it's a little over-engineered, and I don't feel like tearing it apart to understand it. By tearing through these pictures, I can begin to understand what is adaptable.



The headstock is raised up from the body, enough that you can set this down on a table and it will not knock the tuners around. I have some wood, roughly the width of a headstock, that can be stacked up and glued. Don't have clamps, but I have weights. I can do this.



This is the part that made me think "Hey, I can do this." What we see is a Champion lap steel pickup. What that is very much like is a Broadcaster pickup. Don't listen to me, listen to G.E. Smith,, who used this as the basis of his signature Telecaster.

So, that's a Tele pickup. A Tele pickup mounted into wood. The different mounting screw alignment is not a point of obsession to me. That's also an awful lot of metal that I'd have to replace. I have a Telecaster bridge floating around, a top-loader at that, but A) There is no real need for an intonated bridge on a lap steel and B) I would feel so much cooler if I did as much as I could myself. I am sure that bridge is rolled steel with holes drilled for the strings and other holes drilled for the mounting screws. It would be cool to have a drill press to countersink the screws, but not too important.

A more purist person might insist on having the metal cover, too. I have found that I do gobs of right-hand muting, that I do it when playing lap steel, and I REALLY. DON'T. LIKE even a really nice lap steel like my horseshoe-and-handrest-having Supro with legs.

(I'll point out that this has no legs. And it is unlikely that I'll add legs to the new one I'm planning.)

My issue here is, I spent a little while walking around Menards, and I'm not seeing the steel. I don't know where to get it. Four inches is all I need. Or maybe eight. More on that later.



Like my Supro, and unlike the PeeWee, this has some sort of fabric on the back. Bottom. Whatever. Good for keeping the instrument sliding off your lap. A bigger thing is the ferrules. Should I go with the old bridge, I won't have this issue, but if I make one, I will have to stop it on the other end. We have ferrules because, really, the string heads will cut into the wood.

The previously-mentioned Supro has six little holes, looking like Qs with elongated tails run parallel to the string direction. The ball end pops in, the string runs into the tail and holds it in place. Clever, really.



The Supro has Klusons. Not feeling the love. Been considering getting a replacement set, replacing the gummy, not happy set. But I would not willingly put those in a guitar I'm not wanting to make exactly like Leo Fender made in 1952. And that's OK. I can get a set for $25 from Guitar Fetish.

More ... interesting, I guess, is the nut. The saddle was just an edge. This has specifically rounded corners. Which makes sense. Think about string movement over the saddles. Not much. Much more over the nut. So, you round out the nut and add grooves. And somehow, cutting a bone nut seems so much easier.

I have a circular saw. I have wood. I have wood glue. I have weights. I can get started on this. Won't necessarily look like a Champion, but it will be something.

More Lap Steel Goodness