Lap steel wood plank question

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 1 Dec 2014 4:59 pm

I have a nice piece of hardwood (part of an old bed frame). However it is only 3cm = 1 3/16 inches thick. That is less than what most folks use it seems. Would that be problem? Should I look for a thicker piece? Would it be useable with some aluminum braces? I have only built one crude and basic lap steel so far, so I am quite new at this. Thanks for your help.

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 1 Dec 2014 6:12 pm

It will work but the wood will bend slightly when you bring the strings up to pitch... not a terrible thing although it may be noticeable when you lay the steel flat on a table.

All stringed instruments flex under string tension, some more, some less. After all the strings are up to pitch for a little while, it will stabilize and tuning will be just as normal.

Dom

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 1 Dec 2014 6:26 pm

Thanks for the advice. I think you are right. My first lap steel was made from 1 1/2 pine. For the first three weeks the strings changed tune sightly quite a lot, now they stay in tune very nicely.

Michael Maddex · Post by **Michael Maddex** » 1 Dec 2014 6:53 pm

Alex, any metal reinforcement will make a big difference--Think of the truss rod in the neck of a standard guitar. If you have enough wood to laminate up a double layer that would give you 6 cm of material which I think should be plenty strong.

HTH. Good luck with your project.

Joe Elk · Post by **Joe Elk** » 1 Dec 2014 7:36 pm

I have built 3 Lap Steels. No. 1, was thick I did not need anything. No 2, I did nothing. It bends a little. Does not seem to bother the tuning except when I put new strings on it. No 3 I put two channels about 1/2 X 1/2 inch into the head stock. Both of them, I Sawed with a different grain orientation.
Building a new one about 1/2 done. I drilled 2 holes and used 3/8 steel rods. I drilled them from the head of guitar to just beyond the nut. I finished using a wooded plug in both holes.
Joe Elk

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 1 Dec 2014 8:05 pm

Michael Maddex wrote:Alex, any metal reinforcement will make a big difference--Think of the truss rod in the neck of a standard guitar. If you have enough wood to laminate up a double layer that would give you 6 cm of material which I think should be plenty strong.

HTH. Good luck with your project.

Yes, it's long enough for a double layer. That sounds like a good idea. Will be a bit heavy though, but that's ok.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 2 Dec 2014 6:57 am

if you use that piece for the main structure and then use a piece of say 1/2-5/8" for a full length fret board with a cutout for the pickup and ending where your bridge is, you will reduce the body flex to just about none. i like an overbuilt heavy guitar. that is where you get the sustain. its not like you are holding it up, its laying on your lap, or on a stand. go for sustain!!

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 2 Dec 2014 2:34 pm

Bill Hatcher wrote:if you use that piece for the main structure and then use a piece of say 1/2-5/8" for a full length fret board with a cutout for the pickup and ending where your bridge is, you will reduce the body flex to just about none. i like an overbuilt heavy guitar. that is where you get the sustain. its not like you are holding it up, its laying on your lap, or on a stand. go for sustain!!

You mean a piece from roughly the nut to the bridge? Would a thick piece of plywood do? Or would a solid 1/2 inch wood plank be better?

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 2 Dec 2014 4:02 pm

yes...nut to bridge.
solid is always better. the harder the species the better.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 2 Dec 2014 4:18 pm

What I would do would be a single layer of the 1 3/16" wood, but then cut two rails, roughly square, and use both countersunk wood screws and wood glue to affix them to the bottom. Make sure the grain is oriented opposite, so any temperature or humidity stresses cancel out. But then, I never actually hold one in my lap. If I did, I'd use a thick blanket or something - the rails would actually improve the playing position in my lap, because normally that's too low for me to use straight away.

P.S. Aluminum has a somewhat more exciting reaction to temperature changes than wood, so you could make thing weirder that way - if, for example, you tried putting two square aluminum rails on the bottom...

David Venzke · Post by **David Venzke** » 2 Dec 2014 7:37 pm

Alex Shi wrote:Yes, it's long enough for a double layer. That sounds like a good idea. Will be a bit heavy though, but that's ok.

Because you have enough stock for two layers, one more approach would be to rip pieces from your stock that are the "thickness" you want the finished plank to be, then laminate 3, 4, 5 or more of them together (alternating the grain orientation) to get your desired width. Use a good yellow "carpenters" glue to glue them together -- something like Titebond original (or whatever the equivalent is in Taiwan).

I make necks and bodies using this technique and it works well for me.

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 2 Dec 2014 10:46 pm

David Mason wrote:What I would do would be a single layer of the 1 3/16" wood, but then cut two rails, roughly square, and use both countersunk wood screws and wood glue to affix them to the bottom. Make sure the grain is oriented opposite, so any temperature or humidity stresses cancel out. But then, I never actually hold one in my lap. If I did, I'd use a thick blanket or something - the rails would actually improve the playing position in my lap, because normally that's too low for me to use straight away.

P.S. Aluminum has a somewhat more exciting reaction to temperature changes than wood, so you could make thing weirder that way - if, for example, you tried putting two square aluminum rails on the bottom...

Thank you, another good idea, I have some smaller wood lying around that I could use for those rails, and that's good advice re aluminum.

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 2 Dec 2014 10:50 pm

David Venzke wrote:
Alex Shi wrote:
Because you have enough stock for two layers, one more approach would be to rip pieces from your stock that are the "thickness" you want the finished plank to be, then laminate 3, 4, 5 or more of them together (alternating the grain orientation) to get your desired width. Use a good yellow "carpenters" glue to glue them together -- something like Titebond original (or whatever the equivalent is in Taiwan).

I make necks and bodies using this technique and it works well for me.
Thank you, great tip, but out of league for my (to put it mildly) very basic carpentry skills and equipment.

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 3 Dec 2014 2:27 am

David; Is it necessary to plane each board before gluing together? If one does not have a planer, is sanding smooth enough for a nice tight lamination?
Dom

David Venzke · Post by **David Venzke** » 3 Dec 2014 4:30 am

Dom Franco wrote:David; Is it necessary to plane each board before gluing together? If one does not have a planer, is sanding smooth enough for a nice tight lamination?
Dom

I don't plane my stock before gluing. I just start with good flat wood, then lightly sand and wipe down the surfaces before gluing. Finally, clamp it up with all the clamps you own (that's my approach, anyway).

Tom Pettingill · Post by **Tom Pettingill** » 3 Dec 2014 5:34 am

Bill Hatcher wrote:if you use that piece for the main structure and then use a piece of say 1/2-5/8" for a full length fret board with a cutout for the pickup and ending where your bridge is ...

Lots of ways to skin that cat, but Bills suggestion is probably the way I'd approach it. You are going to need some sort of fretboard anyways and no reason it can't be thick and do double duty.

Don Barnhardt · Post by **Don Barnhardt** » 5 Dec 2014 4:30 pm

David and Bill offer workable solutions. A simpler approach would be to laminate a piece of 3/8 plywood to the bottom which will give you a sturdy 1 9/16 block. Wont look as nice as a solid piece of hardwood but a little cosmetic imagination could help it

Don Barnhardt · Post by **Don Barnhardt** » 5 Dec 2014 4:30 pm

David and Bill offer workable solutions. A simpler approach would be to laminate a piece of 3/8 plywood to the bottom which will give you a sturdy 1 9/16 block. Wont look as nice as a solid piece of hardwood but a little cosmetic imagination could help it

Don Barnhardt · Post by **Don Barnhardt** » 5 Dec 2014 4:31 pm

David and Bill offer workable solutions. A simpler approach would be to laminate a piece of 3/8 plywood to the bottom which will give you a sturdy 1 9/16 block. Wont look as nice as a solid piece of hardwood but a little cosmetic imagination could help it

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 5 Dec 2014 6:41 pm

Don Barnhardt wrote:David and Bill offer workable solutions. A simpler approach would be to laminate a piece of 3/8 plywood to the bottom which will give you a sturdy 1 9/16 block. Wont look as nice as a solid piece of hardwood but a little cosmetic imagination could help it

Thank you, I appreciate the input from all you experienced folks. Don's idea sounds quite doable for me.

Don Barnhardt · Post by **Don Barnhardt** » 12 Dec 2014 9:14 pm

Didn't mean to get so carried away. I've got a dumb computer.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 13 Dec 2014 11:28 am

Unlike fretted instrument, flexing on a lap steel is no big deal. In fact one of the best-sounding instruments I've built was the very first one, and it could hardly hold the weight of the strings. It meant that it sounded just by picking it up, and the flexing put a tremolo into everything you played.

If your lap steel doesn't lie flat on the table, screw three little rubber bumpers into the underside. Three bumpers will lie secure against any surface, and your wife will appreciate that the instrument won't scratch the furniture. But don't use four bumpers. The laws of geometry will show you that four points of support have to be adjusted exactly to what it is seated on.

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 13 Dec 2014 2:28 pm

Alan Brookes wrote:Unlike fretted instrument, flexing on a lap steel is no big deal. In fact one of the best-sounding instruments I've built was the very first one, and it could hardly hold the weight of the strings. It meant that it sounded just by picking it up, and the flexing put a tremolo into everything you played.

If your lap steel doesn't lie flat on the table, screw three little rubber bumpers into the underside. Three bumpers will lie secure against any surface, and your wife will appreciate that the instrument won't scratch the furniture. But don't use four bumbers. The laws of geometry will show you that four points of support have to be adjusted exactly to what it is seated on.

Thank you for the input. Great advice from the voice of experience.

Alex Shi · Post by **Alex Shi** » 9 Mar 2015 4:46 am

Just to give a little update, after all the good advice given I ended up adding a piece of wood on the bottom, which gave me a total thickness of about 1 6/8 inches. Nice and hefty. Below are some pics of the finished product. This is my second build. Except for a cordless drill I have only basic hand tools available, so it took me a while to finish it. Quite happy with the results, it has a sort of rustic feel. And it sounds pretty good to my untrained ears. Now it's back to practice. I have a long way to go.

Andy Henriksen · Post by **Andy Henriksen** » 9 Mar 2015 6:48 am

Very nice!