Lap Steel Build Thread

[aznrambo481]

These last several months I have been considering a lap steel build. I have finally decided to start, and have acquired the pieces of wood for the job (mahogany---8.75"x1.75"x36"---$30). I also placed a stew-mac order that should arive sometime next week. I want to especially thank RomanS for his expertise.

This build will not use routers or electrical cutting machines of any kind. I am cutting, sanding, and shaving with hand saws, rasps, and sanding blocks. There are several reasons to this. One is that I do not have a router (the tool that would make the job the easiest), and do not plan on purchasing one.

Another big reason is to show everybody that it doesn't take a shopfull of tools to build an instrument. If a 16-year old with very little woodworking experience could build an instrument in his spare time during summer break, any of you out there can. In fact, I'm working in the driveway, with everything clamped onto a small table I found in my house!



Unlike some other lap steels, I wanted mine to be a 1-piece body. This requires more curved cutting, etc. Although it may be more challenging, I'm looking forward to it. You can tell by the picture that I haven't picked a headstock shape yet, I'll get to that.

Tools of the trade:

-Stanley Handsaw
-really scary lookin' fat saw
-angle

I've found the best method is to start the cut with fat saw, and to continue it with handsaw. if the cut is started straight (not angled side to side), then it tends to stay that way. I'm really trying to aviod angled cuts, I promise!

However, I started to get careless. I'm worried about these cuts more (where the cut goes deeper into the wood near the bottom) because I'm cutting about 1cm off the pattern. If I angle it too much that way, it may cut into where I want the body.



Here's the grain of the wood. Sorry about the flash, but the one without flash was blurry. I'll try to get another picture later.

[aznrambo481]

An hour in, and I got a lot farther than I thought I wood! At this rate I would get a rough cut done in around 3 hours. However, the handsaw is starting to buckle every now and then. Please don't break, please don't break....


it broke.



Which means I can't do much until I get another blade at home depot, I may go tomorrow. I'm also bummed because I cut the tip of my middle finger on my fretting hand (the blood in the broken saw picture). I hope I'll be able to play...

[RomanS]

Right on!

Did I already send you that link for my first lap steel build?

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewt...015&highlight=

- I built thaone on the dining table in the small kitchen of our apartment, mostly with hand tools - so, it can be done...

[aznrambo481]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to continuing this project when I get a new blade for the saw.

I really liked how Buckocaster and others have put up a step-by-step analysis of their builds. (buttercaster)That's what I'm aiming for in this thread, and I hope it becomes as awesome as those builds (and yours,RomanS!)

[Steve G]

Good luck. If it works for you i may try one too!

[gtech]

I started a Lap Steel guitar a few weeks ago, and I am curious to see how yours ends up.

You sure went the hard way by using hand tools.... I used a Band Saw to cut mine and I chose a simple design

But I prefer the headstock of yours.

Gilles

[aznrambo481]

But I prefer the headstock of yours.

Thanks! I realized most lap steels have 3+3 tuners, but the only ones I had around were 6 in-line squier tuners. Since I am trying to make this lap steel using as little money as possible, I decided to try to use a tele shape to it. It does somewhat look a little droopy, I'm working on that.

Well I can't go to get a new saw blade today so it'll have to wait till tomorrow. I also have a final for a summer class on wednesday, but I will try to find time to update this. I am also going on a trip next week, so this thread may be going very slow for a while. I'm going to be keeping a running count of the time I spend on the project. So far, it's been An hour and 20 minutes.

[Davis]

Originally Posted by aznrambo481

Which means I can't do much until I get another blade at home depot, I may go tomorrow.

Make life simple and buy a coping saw. 10 tpi blades will cut through magohany pretty quick and you can cut curves. 15 tpi blades will give a smoother cut but take longer. Saw and blades should be $10 or less. It's not a band saw, but it will serve your needs better a lot better than what you are now using.

[aznrambo481]

thanks! I might check that out. sounds like a good alternative... except you can't cut into the wood more than the tool allows (the distance from the blade to the extended part that holds the blade). I'm pretty sure it'll still work for me, I'll look at what home depot may have in store for me (somewhat close to my house).

[Davis]

Originally Posted by aznrambo481

except you can't cut into the wood more than the tool allows (the distance from the blade to the extended part that holds the blade).

A standard coping saw will cut 5-6" deep. If you turn the blade sideways you can start at one end and slowly work your way to the other end, turning the blade as needed to match the angle of the cut. Takes a little practice to keep the cut at a right angle. Easier to control the saw if the board is held vertical and you cut top to bottom; a vise is good but clamped to any solid vertical surface will work.

[aznrambo481]

I've decided to follow Davis' advice and get myself a coping saw. Today I didn't use the previous saw at all, just this one. However, I could not find a way to clamp it to my "work table" without it being extremely wobbly. Something to do with the fact that I only own 4 clamps and am working on a little table. Here's the setup I tried to start with:



My table's too short and the body's too long. You can see the coping saw in this picture, hanging off the top of the piece.

Here's the setup I ended up going with:



Edit: actually the above picture is wrong. Since I spent today hacking away at the already rough-cut place, I had it set up so that part was hanging off the edge of the table.

Much like the previous one. It worked out really well. My strategy is to cut about 3-4 mm from the paper template I taped on, like so.


(I really like this picture, looks kind of artsy)

It gradually ends up like this.

[aznrambo481]

Although the coping saw is really easy to control, it is slightly slower going than the saw I used the first day. However, since I have so much more control I feel comfortable cutting so close.

What do do with that 3-4 mm left? hmm... I like the:


rasp! It's very coarse and supposedly...



... and it is. Rasp. grind. angle. check. repeat. rasp grind angle check.

So here's how it ends up.



It's going really well. If I pay attention to what I'm doing it's going to end up very nice. This is as far as I got...



That took me 2 hours and 15 minutes,

[aznrambo481]

which brings my total time to 3 hours and 40 minutes.

I have a final tomorrow, but still may find some time to work on this. I also bought some grain filler and deft spray at home depot/wal-mart. They only had sanding sealer in a quart can for $10, which i was a bit hesistant to buy. Anyone know where I can get a spray can of this stuff? or a smaller container? I probably won't use that much on it anyhow... it's just a lap steel. Is it even necessary for a glossy finish?

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by aznrambo481

This build will not use routers or electrical cutting machines of any kind. I am cutting, sanding, and shaving with hand saws, rasps, and sanding blocks.

Another big reason is to show everybody that it doesn't take a shopfull of tools to build an instrument. If a 16-year old with very little woodworking experience could build an instrument in his spare time during summer break, any of you out there can.

Dude, you are a total MacGruber... I love it!!!

That kind of project would scare the he!! out of me... that's biting off a giant piece to chew... that's why I think you kick ass.

I wouldn't sweat the finger wound - after about a week or two you'll be back to healed... if not, your lapsteel will be built and you can just use the slide bar :)

I am still holding off on my lapsteel until I can get my hands on two string benders (I want to tune it in Open E and put benders on the G and B strings for full-on fake pedal steelin')... but you're inspiring me to perhaps just build it and worry about benders later!!!

I am loving this thread and I can't wait for more updates!!!


For all of the MacGrubers out there (hopefully including me):

[teleman65]

I'm looking forward to your next progress report. (too bad there isn't a thumbs up smiley)

[Home Grown Tele]

This thread is awesome! I don't think Buckocaster has damaged playing fingers and even shown us the blood from it! I love a guy who will sacrifice parts of himself to get'er done!

Good luck with this build and it looks like it's a good thing you aren't using power tools!!

[aznrambo481]

Thanks guys! Honestly, the blood got into the picture by accident and I just wanted to point it out. You're right, I'm really lucky I didn't go spend the money on a router, or I may have not gotten away with just a cut.

The stew-mac stuff just arrived. I have to run right now, probably very busy today, but I'll try to get pics up of the materials. Maybe even work on it a bit today, who knows?

[aznrambo481]

Stew-mac parts!


From left to right, it's:
-natural wood binding (as frets)
-12 gold pearl dots
-small ferrules (for the top)
-fatty ferrules (for the bottom)
-knobs
-wiring kit
-control plate
-electrosocket
-steel

while i'm on the subject of parts, I might as well show what other bits I am using:


left to right:
-squier '51 neck and bridge pups
-squier tuners
-miscellaneous screws
however we don't need these right now, so let's put them aside, eh?

I had a chance to work on the project for 2 hours today, and during that time I decided it would be interesting to find out how fast I am going. I measured out 2 inches...



and dug in. It took me 5 minutes for a rough-cut, 2 minutes for the sanding. This is a really, really hard wood. In fact, I was probably going faster than I usually wood have. let's take this to mean .284 inches/min, or 0.00324659091 miles/hour. no wonder it's taking me forever.

Oh and I got a very good shot of the grain today.


pick for comparison.

[aznrambo481]

we have very good reaon to believe that the sawdust man went left from here.



and I broke a saw blade today :-/ the little bits holding the blade in place snapped. I'm really bad at this whole sawing thing, apparently. Going to Home Depot AGAIN tomorrow, feeding the corporate machine never felt so frustrating .

[telex]

Don't sweat the blade breakage. Those are supposed to wear out. Nice job so far.

Usually blades break when they are forced when rounding a corner or trying to change the angle of the cut.

One saying I like is, "let the saw do the cutting". If you want to make a sharp turn, keep the saw going up, and down but without any forward pressure. Then gradually bend your wrist to change directions. Kind of like "idling". Give it a try.

[ibobunot]

...!