Lap Steel Guitar: Accessibility and Design Questions

Sawyer Ondra · From: Michigan, USA

Hello! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sawyer Ondra, a university student majoring in graphic design. I am currently in a class relating to the processes of design, such as user experience, marketing and design thinking to name a few. We are currently in the stages of our first project. My topic of choice for the project relates to the lap steel guitar, regarding design, rebranding, etc. I've posted in the lap steel guitar subreddit (r/LapSteelGuitar), but due to its generally inactive population, I was pointed here by one of the members of the subreddit.

My goal for this project is to make the lap steel accessible to more musicians and the general populace as a whole. I now turn to you all. Have there been any hiccups in your journey with this instrument? Whether due to lack of music educational resources, cost, popularity, etc. Are there any changes to the culture or design of the instrument that you would like to see?

Thank you for your time and for any feedback that you all can give.

Colin Boutilier · From: Nova Scotia, Canada

I think the biggest challenge for a new generation of young players to adopt the lap-steel is that their parents (or even grandparents) were yet to be born when the lap was commonplace in popular music. The general population is rarely driven to learn an instrument that they don't hear in their music. Learning odd instruments is generally a hobby of established musicians.

That said, every time my junior high students hear me play acoustic slide, or pedal steel, they comment on how it sounds like the Spongebob theme song.
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Joe A. Roberts · From: Seoul, South Korea

I think Colin hit the nail on the head.
There is a large multi-generational gap (or perhaps even generational disdain) surrounding the instrument, and the genres that featured it.

That’s why a 3 neck fender steel that cost $295.00 in 1952 is worth around $1500 today, and a 1952 telecaster that was $159.00 in 1952 is worth $25,000 (or whatever).

This is something that the internet and youtube helps tremendously since old steel guitar music once relegated to rare 78s is now readily available to be heard for free.

I think as far as accessibility goes, the biggest issue is the scarcity of cheap modern 8 string and double neck instruments.
Modern instruments tend to use off the shelf 6 string guitar hardware, including bridges, pickups, etc.

Apart from that, I think the awareness issue is the biggest probelm, and there is a huge uphill battle fighting the above mentioned association with spongebob.
I am 27 and anyone who hears me play, my age or below it will without fail say something about spongebob, it is something you come to expect Laughing

Believe it or not, I genuinely believe a lot of people do not even realize or know that it is Hawaiian, and really just think it is spongebob music.

Despite what is now decades of mass popularity, the show obviously did not inspire the kids that grew up watching it to play the instrument, rather it served as something to laugh at.
In conclusion, that is why r/lapsteelguitar is inactive and why you had to turn to an old style internet forum in your quest Laughing

Guy Cundell · From: More idle ramblings from South Australia

Sawyer, you have stumbled on a very interesting question though whether your quest to improve accessibility can succeed is moot.

The key word in your question is culture. There was a time (early last century) when the steel guitar's popularity rivaled that of the regular guitar. That was a time when the design of the steel guitar was confined to acoustic instruments of 6 strings.

Why did one instrument thrive and the other stagnate? I believe that it is a question of design and culture. The regular guitar maintained a single configuration, and, crucially, a single system of notation was established. This allowed for the development of an open culture which allowed for a systematic development of teaching in all manner of styles that could be accessed by all players and for the instrument to be open to composers in a myriad of contexts.

The steel guitar story is a mirror image of that of its Spanish cousin. Steel guitar configurations increased through the addition of extra strings and multiple necks while the number of tunings used was innumerable. These tunings made the development of any common notation system impossible. For some, tunings were considered to be intellectual property to be protected rather than shared. A shared culture where the cumulative developments that are obvious in the regular guitar world are greatly diminished in the diverse lap steel universe, and composers are pretty much shut out. I believe that the Sponge Bob phenomenon was very much down to the efforts of an individual player (Jeremey Wakefield). In a world of bespoke tunings in multiple instrument configurations, lap steel culture suffers and generally, players must find their own solutions.

And yet, the instrument has a wonderful unique voice that could find a place in any musical genre but it is not widely heard (as yet).

I think it is a great subject for study which may not result in a wonderful design outcome. Nevertheless, good luck to you!

Here are some resources for your study. The first chapters of "Across the South" are most relevant.

https://b0b.com/wp/articles/guy-cundell/

Peter Jacobs · From: Northern Virginia

This is a really interesting project you’ve chosen, Sawyer. I agree with the other comments that the biggest issue is awareness — steel guitar just isn’t in the mainstream (or much of the side-stream) of music any more.

A few recent country sidemen have played lap steel, so that’s a starting point. Some have even used attachments to stand up and move around with them, so they can be part of the on-stage action. That’s why I had one built for me - an instrument made to be played standing up and mobile.

Jerry Douglas plays lap steel like this as well (a Lap King). The person you might want to check into is Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe. She’s had a steel meant for wearing built for her by Paul Beard (maker of incredible acoustic resonator guitars). She and her sister are incredible players who bring a rock attitude to music centered around steel.

As far as learning, I play in Dobro tuning (open G) because I’m also a banjo player and wanted to use something familiar. I really didn’t have any instructional resources to go by — I just kind of winged it based on years of playing other instruments. I don’t know if there are learning resources for rock and blues lap steel.
Best of luck with the project!
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David DeLoach · From: Tennessee, USA

John Travolta made SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and disco music exploded.

John Travolta made URBAN COWBOY and country music dance halls exploded all over Texas.

Now, if John Travolta would just make a lap steel movie, the instrument would experience a resurgence. Smile

All kidding aside, Jake Shimabukuro pretty much single handedly birthed a resurgence of the ukulele. Larkin & Poe are bringing lap steel to a wider new audience. If Taylor Swift featured lap steel in a song/video, the instrument would surge in popularity. In this day and age of Tik Tok culture, perhaps the typical older lap steel player is not viewable on the medium which the younger generations frequent?
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Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

I would check out players like David Lindley, Larkin Poe, Paul Franklin (who played with Dire Straights with a lap steel as well as pedals) Travis Toy who plays a E9th and 6th string combo to do lap steel work along with pedals.

And as far as accessibility, I'd start with some of the slide guitarists like Duane Allman and how David lindley took that to a new level on lap steel with artists like Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Brown. Make the connection between slide guitar and lapsteel guitar, showing how all those licks can be played on the lap steel. Jerry douglas as has been mentioned has done some great work on lap steel that would be accessible to a modern audience. I'd show how much slide work on Ronstadt and Jackson brown hits was actually David Lindley on lapsteel.

And really look at Larkin Poe, a young female duet act that incorporates lap steel as a main instrument. and check this out: https://youtu.be/EdhxS-eeMX4?si=rImiA90IzB0Ytpk-
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John Keefe · From: New York City, USA

If the issue is mass market appeal, consider that the Stratocaster did not become popular until Jimi Hendrix showed up with one.

What the industry may need is a lap steel in the hands of a performer in today's spotlight. That's Taylor Swift of course, and I volunteer to provide her with the first few lessons. Ha.

John Keefe
New York City

Mike Neer · From: NJ

It is an amazing instrument with many possibilities but it is important to gain the necessary skills to be able play in an articulate and expressive manner. I don’t even think the tuning is important. Even if you only had one string, with the proper skills you could still make good music. But even with just one string, it is not as easy an instrument to play as an outsider would assume.

The instrument is associated with several different traditions, namely Hawaiian, Western Swing, Country, Bluegrass, Sacred Steel, Indian and Vietnamese classical music as well as Blues and Rock, and yet it is still seen as an oddball instrument.

My own journey with the instrument has been an all-in, 100% devotion to achieving the sound I imagine myself playing, and it has required several deep dives into styles that I am not necessarily interested in pursuing, but styles that hold the key to unlocking certain avenues. There is no way of really knowing these things until you are already pretty deep into it. It’s been a fairly long process and it is only right now (like today) that I feel like I’m getting somewhere.

So learning to play is one thing, but becoming an artist with the steel guitar as your tool is quite another. There is a level of dedication required, much like the way a classical violinist is dedicated to learning and practicing.
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Jerome Hawkes · From: Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA

I think for the purposes of the class project, not so much general ranting that goes in here @ SGF - the steel is sadly out of mainstream favor, even in genres like Hawaiian and country that traditionally had the instrument front and center.

Plus now with electronic sampling so common a keyboard player can mimic the parts well enough to add that cheaply in the mix - and don’t roll your eyes when you read that because I’ve been to see Vince Gill several times thinking for sure Paul Franklin or someone would be playing steel (his recordings at least did feature the steel) and he usually had a keyboard player doing all the steel parts! Even worse he had 2 keyboard players - one to do the keys and the other the sampled steel, strings, etc - and ‘maybe’ 10 people in the crowd even knew the difference … :/
And I’ll add the 1 time PF was with him, he got maybe 2/3 intros and a ride or fill now and then but mostly just stayed out of the rest of the bands way…which is what a paid pro does.
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Bill Groner · From: QUAKERTOWN, PA

I went to Asleep at the Wheel concert and was pleasantly surprised. There was a young guy, playing a triple neck Fender if I remember correctly. He did a very nice job as well. Maybe Sawyer should go to one of their concerts? Maybe after the concert he could ask the steel player some questions. BTW, even though they did not have their "first string" players, it was an excellent concert......I think if you had your eyes closed, you wouldn't know the difference. I think you are either in to steel guitar or you aren't......I have a son and son in law and neither one of them care for steel guitar, but both play Tele's. I think it's a generational thing and that's the way it is.
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Bill McCloskey · From: Nanuet, NY

There is something to be said about playing an instrument that isn’t in the mainstream. When I would go to bar jams, there was always a dozen or more guitars. One dobro player. Me. Guess who always got a solo? There is an advantage to uniqueness. If I was starting a marketing campaign I would start there.
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Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

Marketing destroys uniqueness.
Soon there will be “Paddle Faster, I hear dobros” bumper stickers.

But in all seriousness, good luck with your project Sawyer; it sounds like fun. More fun than most business & marketing projects I would bet.

(I had a career in sales & marketing).
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Nelson Checkoway · From: Massachusetts, USA

Very cool project, Sawyer. Like my fellow forum members say, the lap steel was late to the party when electrified combos began to rule in the 50s and 60s. Guitars and saxophones looked cool on stage -- even piano in the hands (and feet) of a Jerry Lee Lewis or Little Richard -- but not so much "Hawaiian" guitars and accordions. Hard to imagine Elvis swiveling his hips huddled around a lap steel.

Most rock and roll derivatives have stuck with this formula. And most decision makers -- the producers, record companies, agents -- with an economic stake in the game stick with what's safe. Even in modern country, steel sometimes plays second fiddle (pun intended) to southern rock infused guitar slinging. And for an instrument that is very hard to play in tune without continuously looking down at the strings for proper bar position, it doesn't lend itself well to the singer/front man.

What is REALLY interesting at this moment is a confluence of two phenomena: (1) DIY music that artists are making and posting on line or streaming platforms independent of industry gatekeepers and (2) electronic music that leans more into beats, bass, percussion and electronic synthesis--a direction that puts guitars in the back seat. Maybe some creative artists will find a way to work steel guitar into cutting edge pop that leads rather than follows.

Good luck with your project!

Nic Neufeld · From: Kansas City, Missouri

You'll get a lot of opinions on this here! And have, already!

I agree with others, Larkin Poe is a great example of music that isn't in the traditional non-pedal steel guitar world, and I would say Megan Lovell is probably one of the best of the younger ambassadors for steel guitar (nonpedal specifically...pedal is its own animal), in that they have a pretty good degree of commercial success (though still, to quote Spinal Tap, their appeal is relatively "selective" Smile

), and I've heard of several people who decided to take up steel guitar just because of her, so that's pretty cool. Having listened to their music over the years, it is definitely more modern, but still their recent albums tend to be very "vintagey", with a heavy influence of bluesrock from the 60s/70s. Some of the more interesting albums they have done, after they had just exited the bluegrass world, were where they were not as clearly set into the blues rock formula and experimented with a lot of different genres (the "Seasons" EPs, the one with Thom Hell). Those are fun because you hear how she uses the instrument outside of the blues and rock idioms. Also, they are great songwriters, that helps.

Another point to make I suppose...steel is struggling to be popular in modern culture, sure. Even in its birthplace...the Hawaiian renaissance of the 70s gave birth to a lot of music (and certainly sold a lot of ukuleles and slack key guitars) but it also changed Hawaiian culture to where the steel was nearly left behind completely...they (great players and teachers like Alan Akaka and Bobby Ingano) are trying to bring it back, but you can traipse down Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki and be very unlikely to hear Hawaiian music...and if you even do that, odds are almost infinitely low that you'll hear a steel guitar accompanying.

Oh, but I got distracted...yes, steel is fighting for any thing close to prominence in culture, and with young people, sure. But heck...look at guitars! I feel like the prominence of guitar players has just nosedived in general popular music (reminds me of the fall of the pop saxophone solo after their heyday in 80s pop music). So its not just us, hah. Electronic music is definitely doing well.

I started playing sitar in 2011 (about 40 years after it was wildly popular) and Hawaiian steel guitar in 2017 (50-100 years after its golden age) so maybe I just need to work on my timing! Very Happy

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Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

You should have been more skeptical when you saw that the site named after what you are seeking had nobody interested.

Bob Sigafoos · From: San Clemente, Calif. , U.S.

I'll chime in too. Perhaps marketing the lap steel as a "SpongeBob Guitar" could nab a few budding steelers. Yes we should be horrified at the suggestion but youngsters don't want to hear about Jerry Byrd, Don Ho, Buddy or Paul etc. Possibly putting the guitar next to a SpongeBob plush toy at Target might intice a mom or dad to buy the guitar for little Johnny or Mary.

Maybe talk with the SpongeBob and Larkin Poe organizations and get some ideas? At least this lap steel production/marketing idea of yours will be a good learning experience for your career. Would be nice if sucesfull! Just think... Idea

swimming pools, movie stars, bling, Huge crib. The world be be dominated by steel guitars. Good luck!

David Matzenik · From: Cairns, on the Coral Sea

I am always interested in these perspectives. Mine is that great music never dies. There's a ton of young musicians playing great stuff. I am not really concerned with mass appeal.
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Dan Campbell · From: Florida, USA

Dan Campbell here from Caladesi Guitars. I just posted a video on "Steel Without Pedals" that details some of the design features of my new Mobile Steel Guitar. I do believe the lapsteel can become relevant to a new generation of players, and I think the way to do that is with a mobile steel guitar. Currently, Selwyn Birchwood is using my mobile steel to play blues music. He is a young American blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter from Tampa, Florida. He was also the winner of the Blues Foundation’s 2013 International Blues Challenge, as well the winner of the Albert King Guitarist of the Year award. Selwyn currently has 4 albums with Alligator Records in Chicago. He is loving the guitar (videos coming soon) and I think that along with what Megan is doing at Larkin Poe -- this could open up a bright future and rebirth of the steel guitar.

Mark Evans · From: Colorado, USA

This Thread reminds me of some recent threads started by Mike Neer - general, almost philosophic in tone… getting to why we play. Style is not necessarily important; seeking a personal tonal approach is super important.

Thru my life (initially Spanish style guitar, songwriting, etc) I’ve always been more interested in learning styles and then pushing the envelope, changing a few things, making it unique. Young artists, in general, have always pushed music into new territories. Elvis borrowed from rockabilly and blues; Chuck Berry the same; the Beatles borrowed from Chuck Berry; everybody borrowed from the Beatles (I’m being a bit broad, but u get my drift). And the common denominator: young artists.

When I play lap steel, I’m all over the map. I’ve dabbled a bit in 9th/11th tuning, learned a Hawaiian song or two (my current girlfriend lived 40+ years on Kua’ai so I have to know one to make her hula for me 🙂). But I’m interested in making the notes and chords and sounds that appeal to my ears and ecclectic brain. Sometimes that means banging or tapping the bar on strings to make bell-like tones; dragging a finger to get a wah sound, etc. could that be seen as heretical by some purists? Sure. But it’s how I play and what my ears want to hear (and I am NOT a young artist)

To name players close to the mainstream that are pushing steel sounds is not easy; Daniel Lanois comes to mind. Of course David Lindley, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. Faye Webster, a 20-something pop singer from Georgia has employed a steel/pedal steel on all of her recordings. The point I’m making is… if steel makes its way into pop/youth culture music, it will be picked up. Not all players want to be dazzling, dancing around super stars. Music is a mathematical and sometimes nerdy affair. A lot of players fit that definition - the artful player, in the background.

I’m optimistic: I believe the steel sound (which doesn’t have to sound Hawaiian or country or swing) will figure out a way into some more mainstream genres, and when it does, players will embrace it, mold it, adapt and adopt the sounds to suit their format.

So perhaps… patience is the key. Learning steel requires patience. Heck I’ve played over 10 years and I’ve barely scratched the surface. I bet some young experimental high school music teacher will add a steel to the pile of instruments in the practice room (most do have electric basses and guitars). Then watch out!
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Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

To the OP - addressing your stated questions:

1. Accessibility. There is, IMO, no accessibility issue with lap steel whatsoever. Lap steels and instruction are readily available for very reasonable cost pretty much anywhere in the world. Finding someone local for personalized instruction is a bit less available than, let's say, Spanish guitar or piano, but I think there are people most places that can help out. And the availability of online resources is very large. This forum is a huge resource for anybody interested in any type of steel guitar. There are tons of groups on facebook, but it is, IMO, a very splintered community with lots of special interest groups. As a beginner, I would not have known where to start there.

2. Design. There are, IMO, no significant design issues (problems) with lap steel. Physically, the solid-body electric lap steel is a very simple instrument - in fact, that is one of its hallmarks - the sound of strings very directly coupled to a plank of wood or piece of metal, sent to a pickup and an amp. There are acoustic and resophonic lap steels that are more complex, but experts have been analyzing and improving all of these for decades now. Of course, there's always room for improvement - but non-pedal steel design is very mature. Pedal steel is another story - there has been massive development in pedal steel design over the last 50-60 years, and that continues. The mechanism is relatively complex, variations in how they're set up quite wide, and the thing looks intimidating. But I'd say that even there, the instrument now is quite mature, and there are a lot of resources available for anybody interested.

The reason lap steels (and steel guitar in general, including pedal steel) are not popular and well-studied in the mainstream is that there are no massively popular rock/pop stars playing lap steel (or any other kind of steel guitar), or even prominently featuring them in their band. This contrasts radically with 80-120 years ago, when Hawaiian music was extremely popular - it was called the "Hawaiian Music Craze". Or even 40-60 years ago, when the country and country-rock sound was significantly defined by the sound of the pedal steel guitar. The closest thing to a 'rock star' steel player in memory is Robert Randolph, who brought Sacred Steel (he plays pedal steel, but is well at home on a non-pedal steel) to at least a blues/roots-rock/classic-rock type of audience.

But there has been, for a long time, a cool subculture of people playing steel guitar of all types - pedal steel, lap and console (nonpedal) steel, dobro-style resonator, Weissenborn-style, or even just a Spanish-style steel played on the lap. And slide guitar is a close relative. But there have been lots of steel players that have put steel fairly front-and-center in the other mainstream artists' music - David Lindley, Glenn Ross Campbell, Jerry Garcia, Dan Dugmore, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Ben Keith, Greg Leisz, Buddy Cage, Bobby Black, John David Call, Rusty Young, Eric Heywood, and more recently, Megan Lovell, as mentioned previously. Anybody with a computer, a search engine, an interest, and a brain can quickly figure things out.

As far as trying to push steel guitar into the mainstream goes - I really think a big part of the charm of steel guitar is that is truly is a subculture, not so easy to figure out, and those traits self-select the people that gravitate to it. But steel players tend to be very supportive of others who take it up, and I really think the primary impediments are self-imposed. Don't get me wrong - steel guitar is not an "easy" instrument. Mike Neer just posted this thread - Steel guitar without pedals is a long game - and of course he's correct. And IMO, the same goes for any type of steel guitar. This is a lifetime obsession, and the earlier one figures that out, the better.

George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

I highly Recommend you purchasing 2 Books; both cover the History and more near history of Lap Steel Guitar.

"The Hawaiian Steel Guitar and the Great hawaiian Musicians" by Lorene Ruymar Centerstream publishing --

"Lap Steel Guitar" by Andy Volk Volk media Centerstream publishing.

Lorene is long gone although her book will answer tons of your questions while helping you to establish a Timeline in the basically 100 or so years history of this instrument.

Andy Volk is a current member of this forum and has numerous books on this topic.

Regarding the now and future of Lap Steel Guitar you have managed to find the place for unlimited opinions facts history suggestions.

Here is an interesting example of the use of Lap Steel Guitar in contemporary usage.
My Nephew is a recent graduate of Berklee college Boston majoring in composition.
Recently he submitted a 30 second audio clip to a video game company in Nashville, for an online job position - Creating Audio for the company's video games and more.
He wrote to me and said the little chimes and glides he incorporated in the sound clip using his GeorgeBoards 6 string Console - C6 helped seal the deal and he got the paid contract.

My main point here is that the now and future is wide open to Lap Steel Guitar usage in soundtrax for feature length films and especially in Video Game Production.
Meaning even the unlimited sound efx a lap steel guitar can produce are a viable means of financial support.

Hope this adds to this discussion thread.

GeorgeBoards Lap Steel Guitars for the Stars.
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Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

Joe A. Roberts · From: Seoul, South Korea

Hey now, don’t be so quick to give the English credit for anything Laughing

Ed Sullivan and Buddy Holly

And of course, the best American players were hip to the Strat well before Jimi:

Otis Rush

Magic Sam

Johnny Guitar Watson

Buddy Guy

And even B.B. King!

Nelson Checkoway · From: Massachusetts, USA

Sawyer – to get back to the fundamental reason you started this thread, you said you wanted to explore “to make the lap steel accessible to more musicians and the general populace as a whole” considering factors like “music educational resources, cost, popularity … culture or design of the instrument.”

So imagine a world where the lap steel is ubiquitous. Where you can find it in thousands of households. Where young people surf listings to find hundreds of lap steels featuring wild designs and colors, unfettered by the ergonomic demands of other instruments, and where they can download lessons to become competent amateurs and maybe even professionals. And where music for lap steel is enormously popular—dominating the music industry.

That world does exist, or rather, it DID exist—over 100 years ago. Before Tik-Tok, and YouTube, and Spotify, and Amazon.com and CDs and LPs and 45s and rock and roll and country and western. In the pre-electric era, middle class household music entertainment consisted of making music on the upright piano in the corner of the parlor or the guitar or mandolin you bought from the Amazon.com of the day, the Sears and Roebuck catalog.

Music moguls back then weren’t record labels: they were the “Tin Pan Alley” music publishers who sold sheet music for those pianos and guitars to thousands of households, as ubiquitous then, as records, CDs and $.99 iTunes downloads all became to later music consumers. And in 1916, the sheet music industry launched a Hawaiian music craze that swept America. Hawaiian music became so popular that the original non-electric lap steel—the acoustic Hawaiian guitar with raised strings and a straight bridge became a staple line of every major guitar company.

Fast forward into electrified entertainment beginning in the 20s and 30s and Hawaiian music was widely available on recordings (78rpm) and radio, and musical instrument manufacturers began to crank out thousands of lap steels. Companies like Oahu (based in the Midwest) adopted the business model of selling lap steels and amplifier sets to fill its music schools and orders for mail-order lap steel courses.

Lap steel design was not constrained by the size of a player’s hand that determines the shape of a guitar neck or the scale length of the strings or the materials and construction needed to project sound from an acoustic instrument. They could be made cheaply and, as the first solid body guitars, there are many futuristic examples, far ahead of the Stratocaster or the Flying V in design. Check out the National steel guitars from the 30s that echoed the art deco lines of the Empire State Building. Or Maganatone's post war Jeweltone line, made of translucent plexiglas. Design imagination ran wild.

In the post-war boom, Gibson—a stodgy maker of traditional guitars and mandolins—saw the lap steel as its future. They hired Chicago’s pre-eminent industrial design firm, Barnes and Reinecke, to re-imagine the lap steel, who in turn designed an entire line of steels and matching amplifiers. Their flagship model, the first generation "Ultratone," was featured on the cover of Gibson's 1946 catalog of “Gibson Electric Guitars: Hawaiian and Spanish.” Here is a recreation of that cover shot from A.R. Duchossior's excellent book, "Gibson Electric Steel Guitars."

Meanwhile, the electric Hawaiian guitar was brought to the masses via radio and television featuring wildly popular players like Alvino Rey, Roy Smeck and Jerry Byrd, who was both a Hawaiian and country steel pioneer.

What happened? Steel became a staple of electrified country music, in which the lap steel gave way to the console non-pedal and eventually the pedal steel, which opened up greater sonic possibilities and style. But there was no more craze for Hawaiian music. Rock and roll became king and the lap steel couldn't shake or move beyond its association with a genre that was fading in the public ear and eye.

So the lap steel did have its moment of near-limitless access and popularity, benefiting from the culture and technology that defined its era. The spaces in which it continues to resonate is in country music, via its grandchild, the pedal steel, and in electric slide guitar, still widely used in blues as well as rock and country.

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