Rebuilding a D6 lap steel..

[Mojohand40]

I recently bought this rather cheaply made lap steel with the intention of "hot rodding" it a little, or bassically using it as a basis for building a lap steel. Its a D6 (double neck, six string).

It has a few problems, like cheap wooden nuts, iffy bridge, iffy tuners, ..oh, and the electronics are hosed. One neck works, (if I jiggle the switch). Doesn't sound toooo bad. The pickups are okay.(But I'm replacing them...heee-hee!)

Oh...and it came a 'lil "pre-reliced"




ANYWAY... I'm currently in process of totally rebuilding it. Nut, bridge, tuners, electronics, pic-ups, etc.

I figured I'd post my steps along the way. It might provide mild amusement, curious head scratching or a just a slight bit of help to anyone wishing to mod a lap steel.

[teleman65]

Have fun and keep the pics coming

[Mojohand40]

Originally Posted by teleman65

Have fun and keep the pics coming

I stripped all the hardware and electronics and made replacement nuts last night. Hopefully I'll post pics tonight or tommorrow.
I recieved my Pickups the other day, so now I'm waiting for potentiometers and a tone cap.
Tonight I tackle the bridges.
The plan is for aluminum nuts and bridges.

[Mojohand40]

updates:
Well, I installed my home made bridges. Yep, just .50 x .50 x .062 Aluminum angle. Used nut slot files to make slots. A little polish and sanding and they came out not too shabby!



I also gutted the electronics: the cavities are tiny. I had to open up the potentiometer holes for the CLS mini pots I bought.

[Mojohand40]

All done:


Switchcraft Jack, mini-tele style knobs, new 3 position switch, mini-250K pots, .022 tone cap, GFS Protube Lipstick style pups, aluminum bridge.

[Mojohand40]

Put it on a Keyboard stand. It's too awkward to play on my lap, which I prefer. I was going to do legs, but the Keyboard stand does the trick.

The sound: awesome. Really, the high output lipstick tube is perfect for steel, this combined with the aluminum nut and bridge give it good sustain.

I'm really liking these pickups for steel. My other steels have blade style pups, nut these ones just have more of that "Vintage" Hi-Lonesome steel sound.

For strings, I got Scotty's Semi-flats for steel. I really like these. They are smooth and help get "That" sound.

I have one neck tuned C6 and the other E6. Both tunings are basically the same, just seperated by 4 frets (C6= CEGACE low to hi), the E6, is of course the Don Helms "E13" tuning.

My only complaints:
1) Both necks are in plane, useally on setups like this the rear neck is slightly elevated. Both being level makes the rear neck a little harder to play.

2) The really short scale. Its the same scale as the Rogue or the Artisans Brand ones. 21". Most lap steels are 22.5" scale. (My Promodel Morrell is 23", which I find best, IMO). Not a lot of dif between 21 and 22.5, but it does force you to be that much more accurate with the bar, especially vibrato on frets past 12.

BUT: The sound makes up for these problems. If I had the talent, I could make it cry like those steel sounds on all those old Earnest Tubb, or Eddie Arnold, or Hank Snow recordings. It really sounds that good!(I, however, better keep practicin')

[Mojohand40]

hmmmm...
I guess I'm posting to the wrong forum these days.


.

oh well.

[Dean Gray]

Hey Mojohand keep posting! I love steel guitar as well as Tele's, and your project looks great! I have a Fender Deluxe 8 (singleneck 8 string), and would love to get a D6 or D8 someday.

Do you think that short scale makes slants a bit easier?

Happy picking mate.

[Deacon Blue]

Yeah, keep us updated. I've been mulling over a similar project. Just have to get a few other things straight first. Nice work.

Jeff

[Tim Bowen]

It's gorgeous, nice work! I'd love to have a doubleneck, and I bet those lipsticks do sound nice.

I'm sure a doubleneck can be a thing, ergonomically. I play my Supro 6 string (open D, Dimarzio humbucker) on my lap at gigs, but I place it on a wooden TV tray for sessions.

As to the short scale, is that typically a thing with doublenecks? An eight string (probably some variant of G/dobro tuning) is in my near future, and at the moment I'm taking a look at Goldtone and Dynalap models.

If you get a chance, tell me about the Scotty's Semi-flats. I'm clueless about steel strings, and I'm way overdue to re-string the sweat-soaked Supro. I do a dead thumb alternating bass rhythm figure for one tune, and the low D tends to go sharp if I hit it with authority, so I think heavier gauge strings would best suit what I'm currently doing on lap steel.

[scubadoo]

those lipsticks look great!

[skydawg]

Originally Posted by scubadoo

those lipsticks look great!

Why, thank you.

[Mojohand40]

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

I'm sure a doubleneck can be a thing, ergonomically. I play my Supro 6 string (open D, Dimarzio humbucker) on my lap at gigs, but I place it on a wooden TV tray for sessions.

I prefer my lap, but on this one the inside neck gets a little hard to navigate.
They keyboard stand seems the way to go. I might, however, add strap buttons and divise a way to use a strap while playing on my lap.

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

As to the short scale, is that typically a thing with doublenecks? An eight string (probably some variant of G/dobro tuning) is in my near future, and at
Tthe moment I'm taking a look at Goldtone and Dynalap models.

The Short-short scale is typical among the cheap Asian imports. I really don't know why. Most of these cheapies are just copies of older designed, but for some reason are scaled down a little.

As for Slants bieng easier to play, IMO, not really. The deal with shorter scales is that the fret marks are really tight past the 14th fret, meaning vibrato and intonation has to be that much tighter. The slants on,say, frets 3-4, are slightly less angled than on a 22.5 scale, thats about it though.

I have a Gold Tone Banjo that is really well made. I woud not hesitate to get a GoldTone 8 string Lap. I belive they are 25.5" scale, which is long, and more Hawaiian (but would be right at home for blues or country, I'm sure). The Dynalaps are 22.5" and get a lot of positive reviews.
I'm probally going to get an 8 string Morrell next.

Originally Posted by Tim Bowen

If you get a chance, tell me about the Scotty's Semi-flats. I'm clueless about steel strings, and I'm way overdue to re-string the sweat-soaked Supro. I do a dead thumb alternating bass rhythm figure for one tune, and the low D tends to go sharp if I hit it with authority, so I think heavier gauge strings would best suit what I'm currently doing on lap steel.

Not sure what string gauge would work best for Open D on a lap. I use Open D on my round Neck resonator with a nut riser, but there I'm using a light set of acoustic strings.

Scottys strings come in sets specifically for different tunings on laps and pedals (6 and 8 strings). IMO they are better for steel than anything I've tried.

You can get 'em here:
http://www.hankshouseofsteel.com/products.asp?ID=80

or:

http://www.scottysmusic.com/accesry.htm

[Poppatwang]

I haven't measured my 60's Guyatone for scale length, but it was noticeably shorter
than my Fender/White Champion. I find bar slants easier on the short scale
and I'm using slants a lot. Things do get tight up in "no mans land" but I've
gotten used to it.

Glad to see you ditch the stock bridge. Why they bothered to have individual saddles
on a steel baffles me.

[Poppatwang]

P.S. D'Addario half-rounds for strings.

[Frank B]

You did a fantastic job, congratulations.

Got a project too. I found an early 1960's Beltone lapsteel in a barn. It was in horrible condition & still is, really. I didn't expect to get much out of it seeing the condition it was in. It was quite the piece of crap.

I'm attempting to save it but I can't find any info on it let alone hardware/parts.
The bridge & tuners were rusty as heck, two of the tuner keys are all crooked, the frets are falling off. I can't find parts so I need to clean & paint everything. Still looks like a mess and I still got lots of work to do on it before it starts to look like a guitar...
Funny part is that it sounds great.

[Tim Bowen]

Thanks for the great info, Mojohand.

[numeric]

Perfect timing. I just got a Joe Morrell 6-string Pro for stupid cheap. I've been considering what to change on it. Nice work with the nut, I love what you did with it.

[aznrambo481]

oh wow... lipsticks are going to sound AMAZING on that lapsteel. I have one in my squier '51...

[Mojohand40]

Originally Posted by numeric

Perfect timing. I just got a Joe Morrell 6-string Pro for stupid cheap. I've been considering what to change on it. Nice work with the nut, I love what you did with it.

You know, my Joe Morrell 6 pro is my absolute favorite steel. I have the natural maple body one. Amazing sound from that simple block of wood. My issue was that the nut slot was a little off. It threw the fret markers off a lot after about the 14th fret. Just enough to annoy me a bit.

Solution: I adjusted the bridge by opening up the mounting holes a tiny bit. Then I replaced the plastic nut (which robbed tone!!!) with a Nut Riser (Hawaiian Nut, as some call 'em). I just dropped an edge of it into the existing nut slot and I got lucky. It intonates almost perfectly now (Using a Tuner and harmonics, etc.) and sounds great. I keep it tuned E6.

Like I said, at first I didn't get along with it, but now, it gets played more than anything I own these days! How sad is that?

A trick with these is to really play with the volume knob. It affects tone a lot. I never have my volume knob maxed on the Morrell. Let the amp do the work. (also less bar/fingerpick noise this way).