NGD (lap steel content)

after watching to many Ben Harper videos I was Gassing for a lap steel. not wanting to spend much,I opted for the Recording King RG31. the demos I saw on youtube were promising. my local Mom & Pop store got a couple in yesterday and went to check them out today. liked the look and feel of them. they told me to bring it back in a few days to have their luthier set it up properly,he's out for a few days. they matched the price of all the online vendors at $165,including a gig bag. brought it home,tuned it to open G and stomped on the fuzz,WOW!! this little thing is a beast. thought of getting the Peavy Powerslide,but just couldn't get past the look of it. wanted something more traditional. I think there's enough room to squeeze another P-90 in there too. now to learn how to play it:oops:

SPECS
• Solid Mahogany Body
• Single P-90 Pickup
• Volume and Tone controls
• Open Geared Tuners
• String-Through-Body Design
• Pearloid Fret Markers
• Matte Natural Finish

on to the pics:
http://pages.uoregon.edu/jlund/guitar%20pics/Lap%20Steel/RK1.jpg
http://pages.uoregon.edu/jlund/guitar%20pics/Lap%20Steel/RK3.jpg
http://pages.uoregon.edu/jlund/guitar%20pics/Lap%20Steel/RK2.jpg

That's cool man, you have it in D?

Nice guitar. There are lots of tunings you can try. What's "best" for you depends a lot on what type of music you use it for. The Steel Without Pedals section of the Steel Guitar Forum is a great source for info.

Nice guitar. There are lots of tunings you can try. What's "best" for you depends a lot on what type of music you use it for. The Steel Without Pedals section of the Steel Guitar Forum is a great source for info.

+1 if you like Harper you can start with DADGAD

That's cool man, you have it in D?

got it in G right now.

I picked up one of those for £87 a few years back. Different headstock to yours- and the tuners were crap. Nice sounding pickup for blues and country.

A good value introduction to lap steel, in my experience.

I am curious what was involved in a "set up" on a lap steel.

I am curious what was involved in a "set up" on a lap steel.

not sure. file the nut a little,set pup height,??? I will find out when I take it back in a few days. maybe get some flat wounds put on at the same time too.

Lap steels are a ton of fun :grin:
I am curious what was involved in a "set up" on a lap steel.
For a simple fixed bridge steel, there is not a lot to do for setup, but important non the less. At least for me, about the most important part is a well cut nut to match the gauge strings your using. The goal at the nut is to have the tops of the strings all level with each other so you don't get bar rattle or buzzing from a low string when playing down on that end of the neck.
A side effect of having a buzzing low string is that the player then naturally tends to press down hard on the bar to stop the buzzing. That can be fatiguing and can also throw the overall string to string balance / tuning / intonation off a little.

Lap steels are a ton of fun :grin:

For a simple fixed bridge steel, there is not a lot to do for setup, but important non the less. At least for me, about the most important part is a well cut nut to match the gauge strings your using. The goal at the nut is to have the tops of the strings all level with each other so you don't get bar rattle or buzzing from a low string when playing down on that end of the neck.
A side effect of having a buzzing low string is that the player then naturally tends to press down hard on the bar to stop the buzzing. That can be fatiguing and can also throw the overall string to string balance / tuning / intonation off a little.

I noticed that right off with the one they had out on the floor. had them grab the other one out of the back,much better. I will take it back and make sure it is "setup" correctly.

For lap try DADF#AD (or the G equivalent) instead of DADGAD, it'll let you get major chords with the bar at any position. Minor tunings are nice on lap as well.

Love the sound of C6, but the narrow interval from the 3rd to the 2nd string takes some getting used too.

I usually keep my Chandler high bass G like my dobro, just cause I'm used to that. I've played a lot more square neck dobro than lap.
My cheapo Artisan usually stays in open E.