Slide Lap Guitar purchase

[BevvyB]

I think I need one of those lap slide guitar things that country boys use

What should I be looking for?

Absolutely no experience in this area whatsoever, hence not even sure what the hell they're called!

Cheers

Bev

[Jack Ruston]

I've got a thing called a Bennet lap steel which is pretty simple. Its a plank with a bridge at one end and machine heads at the other....with a P90 style pickup and a bunch of markers in the middle. It sounds pretty good but I havent used it for ages.

You can pick up old lap steels on denmark street for little money too. *the bennet thing was new which seemed more reliable at the time*

I much prefer acoustic slide to electric but I play lap style with both. If you have an acoustic guitar you can get a little nut converter that will raise the height of the strings at the nut, and space them out a little more giving you a nice high action. That is by far the cheapest and most versatile option. Just stick it on, tune it to a slide tuning and away you go.

A really cheap acoustic can give a good result too. It doesnt need to be nearly as nice as something you might use for normal playing. Obviously if you want it to sound beautiful a la Jerry Douglas etc you need a lovely instrument, but to dirty blues, most acoustic guitars can really be made to sound cool. The high action and tighter tuning of an open E can be just what a slightly dead cheapo acoustic needs to open the sound up a bit.

If it must be a lap steel, you can pop over and grab Bennet to check out. Like I said I dont use it anymore. It needs strings but you could borrow it for as long as you need.

Jack

[Dave Martin]

Most of the country guys are using a Fender Telecaster with a raised nut.

[toledo3]

Man, I am not trying to sway you necessarily, but you can do so much more with a single neck Fender pedal steel, and it is pretty portable and easy to set up. I got mine, used, for $300.

[BevvyB]

thanks guys this is helping

i sure do want that hawaii sound though...

[ElectriK Noize]

Just wondering where you can find a Fender Pedal steel. musicians friend and Banjo Mart (guitar center) don't seem to have any.

-John

[Dave Martin]

Fender made steels in the 60's and 70's - I don't think that they still make them today.

[edyer]

Try a dobro. It"s kinda like a guitar and yet its not. I recorded one last summer for a bluegrass band. It sounded like a train wreck until it was mixed in then wow.
Eric

[echorec]

Originally posted by BevvyB
thanks guys this is helping

i sure do want that hawaii sound though...

I would recommend a Gibson BR-9. Good instrument with a P-90 and can be found cheap on ebay.

[toledo3]

Originally posted by ElectriK Noize
Just wondering where you can find a Fender Pedal steel. musicians friend and Banjo Mart (guitar center) don't seem to have any.

-John

The operative word in my quote was "used" I don't think he will find gibson's new either, right? Do they still make them?

I think alot of the tone that is being sought is in the amp. Those old lap steel amps were quite different in tone than anything more recent, including the blackface style fenders, voxes, or other amps thought of as "vintage".

[ElectriK Noize]

Originally posted by toledo3
The operative word in my quote was "used" I don't think he will find gibson's new either, right? Do they still make them?

Hey well that answers that question

I'm not familiar at all with the different brands of pedal steels and whatnot. Looks like I might have to check out ebay and see if I can find and old one. Thanks for the input everyone.

-John

[jazzbutcher]

Bev,

Not sure which you're after... If you list an artist or album you like the sound of, someone might be able to give better advice.

I'm assuming you are talking about electric instruments as opposed to National steel-bodied guitars or dobros. If you want the acoustic-Hawaii sound, then you'd want a steel bodied instrument, likely with a square neck with the strings raised up. National Resophonic in California is making new versions of these instruments of the 30's these days.

If you're looking a 'lap steel' -- that's really just a plank with strings on it (sometimes 6 sometimes more) with a set of pickups and perhaps a few knobs. The good old ones are Nationals and Rickenbackers 'frying pan' style lap steels, however there's a bunch of 'less vintage' ones out there that would do just fine with either a recognized brand name (or no name at all on them).

If you want a pedal steel, then that is more complicated.... One neck or two? 8 Strings? 10 strings? more? How many knee pedals? How many foot pedals? Arrrrgh...it gets complicated fast. A lot depends on what the player wants/is used to. The Sho-Bud's are classics. Great instruments, but likely not cheap. There's an outfit called Carter that makes new ones these days that are really solid if you're after something that is not likely to need an overhaul before use.

Someone mentioned amps....boy, is that ever a big deal. Once again, depends on the musician/genre. However, I love the sound of small junky no-name tube amps that are 40+ years old. Something small that looks like it might be someone's make-up case with a tiny speaker in it. For whatever reason, they sound great with lap steels, IMHO. YMMV.

Good luck with your hunting. Let us know what you pick out.


-dave

[KarlHoffmann]

bevvy,
i ran across this a while ago when i was hunting up tips about lapsteels. check out: http://www.well.com/user/wellvis/steel.html

karl

¿where are the lapsteel players in southern spain?

[doorknocker]

Originally posted by jazzbutcher
If you're looking a 'lap steel' -- that's really just a plank with strings on it (sometimes 6 sometimes more) with a set of pickups and perhaps a few knobs. The good old ones are Nationals and Rickenbackers 'frying pan' style lap steels, however there's a bunch of 'less vintage' ones out there that would do just fine with either a recognized brand name (or no name at all on them).

Besides the different playing technique, lap steel is also a totally different sound than pedal steel. Although you can get pedal steel-type sounds on a lap steel, it's more suited for Hawaiian or blues sounds. Intervals are mostly produced by slanting the bar as opposed to using knee pedals as on a pedal steel. It's basically like playing chords on a fretless guitar.....Very hard to do, I'm still working on it but it's very rewarding.
Lap steels are generally extremely powerful, I got two different ones and they're both about twice as loud as my Tele
I use them with a Fulltone Full-Drive and a Danelectro tremolo thru a Fender Blues Junior, it's huge! The second one I recently bought from Rumble Seat Music, I just had to have a Gibson from the 30ies.
A great online source for all things steel is Brad's page of steel

Happy sliding!

Andi

[Greg Heimbecker]

Great Links Andi

[g.longest]

You can usually find these on eBay. Gruhn has a few as well as Gbase.

For a wealth of info relating to steel guitar, you should check this Forum out.

[BevvyB]

Thanks guys!

(just when you think you know everything along come lap steel pedal guitar thingies and another reason to bother posting a proper question on gearslutz instead of inane waffle)

[Noah]

I have my dad's old 1960 Dobro and it's awesome. A very cool "guitar" that sounds great. They are fun as hell to play too. With an old pickup on it going into my 1960 Univox amp it sounds like liquid butter. A great sound...

Last night I had a guitarist in to record some audio samples for our new Tremo plug. He brought in a crappy electric guitar that he got for 20 bucks. It's got a warped neck that can't be fixed and action between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. He strung it up with 13's and tuned it down a few steps. It sounds awesome. For 20 bucks you can't go wrong...



I know on ebay there are lots of Supro/National Lap guitars going pretty cheap. I have no idea about the quality.

Noah

[Gone Fission]

I'm not a big Ry Cooder fan (a bit stiff and academic to my ears), but I saw a pic in an interview of an instrument he had rigged up that was like a giant lap steel. Big strings (bass strings? piano wire?), big scale lenth, and he was playing it not with a bottle neck but with a wine bottle. I want one.

Bear

[maz[music]]

Oahu Tonemaster all the way baby!!!

find 'em cheap cheap on the 'bay

[Jay Kahrs]

For lap steel I'd find a funky guitar and put a P-90 or some kinda stupidly hot single coil in, like a Hot Stack. Those new Gibson Melody Makers with the single P-90 might be cool and they're only $400.

[matucha]

Do anyone know what instrument/amp/setup used Esquivel in his recordings? I just love the slide there.

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by matucha
Do anyone know what instrument/amp/setup used Esquivel in his recordings? I just love the slide there.

Well, I alsways assumed that it was Alvino Rey playing steel with Esquivel. And he played (first) an Electro steel and then a Gibson EH 150 (which he helped design. Check http://www.vintageguitar.com/brands/details.asp?ID=118 for more information.

[matucha]

Thank you!

[fishtop_records]

Originally posted by BevvyB
along come lap steel pedal guitar thingies

So what were you really looking for?

An electric guitar to play bottleneck on?
A pedal steel guitar?
A dobro (or "resophonic") acoustic
instrument?

And did you find what you need?

[edmann]

best deal going for the Hawaiin thing can be had from Musician's friend for about $90 - made in china but they are GREAT

put heavy gauge strings on - like an 18 ga. for the hi E string etc

and get a Hawaiin style slide (Ernie Ball makes one)

happy toning

ed

[bopmachine]

Stay away from denmark street for steels - they are massively over-priced. When I was in the markt for mine I did my research. I got (basically) the same model as one on denmark street for about 40% of the price on eBay.

[BevvyB]

I found one at Hobgoblin (folky music shop just off Oxford Street/Tottenham Court Road)

£69!!

Can't complain really, does what it does, made in China, single coil one tone control, bizarre orange colour....

PERFECTLY adequate for my purposes

I sounded like a ****** on it for about an hour but after that started picking it up ok

I agree, it really needs some heavy strings on it, the ones that are on there just don't do it at the top end

Thanks for the help guys, now I need to find a Hawaian slide!

[doorknocker]

Check out the Shubb-Pearse steel bar, I tried all kinds of bars and settled on the SP-1, the cutaway is handy for single string work and combining open strings with slides.

Andi

[edmann]

Originally posted by doorknocker
Check out the Shubb-Pearse steel bar, I tried all kinds of bars and settled on the SP-1, the cutaway is handy for single string work and combining open strings with slides.

Andi

these shubbs are the traditional Amercan blues and CW style steel bars

the Hawaiian bars are round and heavy with one rounded end - no cutaways. I had the opportunity to watch, listen and then speak with a Hawaiian lap-steel master (Dwight Yakamoto (?) (hope I have his last name correct...) on the Big Island several months ago and he was the one who mentioned this difference in the slides. I purchased one and indeed yes - more control, longer sustain, more finesse, easier to coax harmonics....