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Author Topic:  Hofner new old stock build
Lee Holliday


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 1 Apr 2017 12:16 pm    
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Recent posts showing the new steel builds have inspired me to get cracking with a Hofner Lap steel (Brazilian Mahogany) that I purchased on ebay a while back.
The back story goes back to the mid to late 1990,s when I happened across a pile of what looked like cricket bats at a Wembley guitar show, a firm known as Brandoni music had bought out the old Hofner warehouse and amongst all the bits, bodies and necks were about 10 to 20 lap steel bodies, carved but unfinished.
I bought one for about £15 and also there was original pickup & bridge housings so I bought one also.
The long and the short of it is I contacted Kent Armstrong and I put a Gibson style pickup in that one and not knowing what I know now a luthier friend put it all together and it was my 1st ever project.
Fast foreword 20 years or so and another unfinished body pops up on ebay for £20, so despite the price hike I snap it up.
Well today spring is in the air I have finally started the project, I aim to use mostly what is to hand parts wise, I have made a neck routing template with some perspex sheet that has been in the garage for a few years, this has been stuck to the body neck with double sided tape and I routed out the neck to take a steel rod/bar which I had made at work.
A fillet of mahogany (Left over from our windows when we replaced with UPVC double glazing) will press this in place and I have some Brownells acraglas to set it all in place, this will be done tomorrow.
I will get some photos up to better illustrate what is going on and to see the space differential between a British garage/workshop/death-trap and the American workshops that frequently make me envious.
Regards Lee


Last edited by Lee Holliday on 2 Dec 2017 11:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Lee Holliday


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 1 Apr 2017 12:24 pm    
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http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af16/leeophonic/dave%20king/LapsteelDobro.jpg

Here is a photo of the 1st one.

Lets see if the next one is any good.

Lee
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Lee Holliday


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 26 Nov 2017 3:17 am    
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photos of progress so far. Steel bar is set in the neck with a wooden fillet covering the rout, the fingerboard is going to be contrasting maple.






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Bill Sinclair


From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
Post  Posted 26 Nov 2017 10:46 am    
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That fretboard is going to be beautiful! Did the originals have a rod in the neck or is that just your own reinforcing touch?
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Lee Holliday


From:
United Kingdom
Post  Posted 26 Nov 2017 2:50 pm    
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To be honest I have only ever seen the originals on the web, I already have a completed self build one from a few years back, I will post a photo to show you the 1st version (I think my earlier post with photo bucket has expired).

The steel bar makes it like a broken down Starship enterprise (it should not warp!!!) plus it adds to the resonance.

Lee
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Bill Mollenhauer

 

From:
New Jersey, USA
Post  Posted 26 Nov 2017 4:19 pm    
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Nope The photo is still there
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Mark Helm


From:
Tennessee, USA
Post  Posted 2 Dec 2017 6:50 pm     Wow!
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Folks like you, Lee, amaze me. I can barely string my guitars let alone build them.

Bravo!
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Remington Steelmaster S8 w/ custom Steeltronics pickup. Vox MV-50 amplifier + an 1940's Oahu cab w/ 8" American Vintage speaker. J. Mascis Fender Squire Jazzmaster, Hofner Club bass, Ibanez AVN4-VMS Artwood Vintage Series Concert Size Acoustic Guitar. 1920s/30s Supertone Hawaiian-themed parlor guitar. Silvertone parlor guitar.
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