Lap Steel question

[BigBadDom]

Hi,
I've been thinking about building a solid-bodied lap steel guitar - there's some good info on t'internet and there was an article in a recent guitar mag about building one.

Anyhow, a couple of basic questions...

1. Why do they all seem to have single coil pickups? I've seen a few with humbuckers, but the majority appear to have strat/tele type pickups. Why is this?

2. I haven't seen a 12-string lap steel. I thought it might be interesting to see what a 12-string lap steel sounded like. Is this unique/crazy/impossible/dumb/cool?

3. Michael - on your guitar techniques DVD you play Lonesome Atlanta Blues on a 12-string National (sounds awesome by the way). It's basically in Open D tuning, but how have you tuned the 'pairs'?

Cheers,
Dom

[Deleted]

Through the right amp, single coils give you that classic clean pure lapsteel sound, piercing yet sweet, but there's no reason not to use a humbucker if you want a thicker dirtier sound. I've got a lapsteel underway at present, and that will have a humbucker, whereas my previous one had a pair or tele pickups (unusual in itself, as most have just one single coil).

Lap steels are usually 6, 8 or 10 string which give you access to a really wide range of tunings. You can play 6 string, but the tunings tend to be ether straightforwardly transposed from 'standard' slide playing playing, or cut-down versions of 'proper' 8 string tunings. With 12 strings tuned in pairs, I'm sure it could sound good, but stuff like slants would start getting really tricky, so the technique would have to be different from classic lap style. I think deciding on the string spacing would have to be an experiment , as most lap steels have wider spacing at the nut than a regular guitar (some have the strings parallel)...it makes doing partial bars and getting the nose of the steel between the strings for solo notes and slants a little easier.

When using open tunings on 12 string, most players generally reflect conventional tuning, top two pairs tuned in unision, bottom four pairs in octaves..but I'm sure some one else will have a different take on this just to prove me wrong!

[Michael Messer]

It's a big subject - I personally love the sound of early lap steels made by Rickenbacher with wrap-around horseshoe pickups. It depends what sound you are looking for, most of the Hawaiian players I really admire used these kind of pickups; Sol Hoopii, Jerry Bird, etc... My own lap steel is a National from the early 30s with a very primitive single coil pickup and has a wonderful sweet almost acoustic tone. My Dave King electric Telecaster has a National wrap-around horseshoe type pickup from a lap-steel, it sounds amazing. Who knows!!!!

Thanks for the kind words about Lonesome Atlanta Blues - D tuning down to C and tuned as John has described. There are many ways to tune 12 string guitars - just look at Roger McGuinn, Leadbelly and Blind Willie McTell - three very different approaches. Personally speaking, I wouldn't bother making a 12 string lap steel, i don't see that it could be used for more than one song occasionally.

I have to say I don't agree with John's explanation of the developement of tunings; 6 string tunings are not cut down versions of 8 and 10 string tunings. It is the other way round - 6 string tunings were first and 8 & 10 string tunings are expanded 6 string tunings. Sol Hoopii's C# minor tuning on a 6 string National Tricone guitar was the forerunner of all that was to follow. Then it leaps into a whole other area of 8 string, 10 string and pedal steel...Jerry Bird, Leon McAuliffe, Alvino Rey, Noel Boggs, Buddy Emmons.....and so on. My good friend BJ Cole is the man to talk about this area of slide guitar playing.

Shine On,
Michael

[robn]

Hi Dom,

In answer to your single coil/humbucker question, I can share what I have discovered with my own self-built lap steel. I use a tele bridge with a single coil bridge p/u and a face mounted humbucker as a neck p/u – this was simply for ease of building, I had no idea what the finished lap steel would sound like

However, I have found that the bridge single coil gives that classic country/Hawaiian twang and cutting treble. The humbucker gives a lot more beef (and bass – but that is mainly due to its neck location). I was guessing that I may get some sort of Dobro type sound by combining the two – and it has not worked out too bad at all. I built a six string lap steel to the same scale length dimensions as my Dobro coz essentially I built it as a Dobro practice platform that I could play through headphones without disturbing the rest of the household – but it has turned out to be far more versatile than I imagined. I’ve really enjoyed playing along with a band at sessions using different colours for different songs. Here is a picture of it:


And here is a sound clip using both pickups in unison in my "Dobro" mode :www.myspace.com/robnblues

Have fun with your building project – I’ll pass on the tip given to me by ChickenboneJohn – Buy all your hardware first (bridge, p/u, switched, tuners etc) before you start cutting wood. It is easier to design your lap steel to fit your hardware than to find hardware to work with your design

Robn

[Richard]

I've got a National Lap steel for sale if you fancy the real thing....nice tone, nice patina ... and of course a nice price

[LouisianaGrey]

" I built it as a Dobro practice platform "

Yes, I did much the same with mine, and I used a humbucker because I happened to have a spare one lying around (and besides I thought the black and white worked well with the zebrano I used). I had no idea what it would sound like but it overdrives really nicely and I have great fun playing it.