David Lindley acoustic lap guitar

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 13 May 2015 3:49 am

Ok the man has played so many lap steels over the years but I must have missed this one.
He's playing with (who else?) Jackson Brown in this video.
http://youtu.be/76Gat6kF4QU
But for all the world it looks like an ordinary acoustic six string with a raised nut.
Surely there must be more to it than that, as I've always believed a standard round neck acoustic guitar could not take the tension of raised strings pushed on with a steel bar.
It does NOT look like a Weissenborn or variation thereof....just a typical round hole acoustic guitar. Thoughts?

Stephen Cowell · Post by **Stephen Cowell** » 13 May 2015 4:57 am

If you watch carefully around 00:42, you can see that it's a squareneck... not unknown to have a round-hole squareneck, Oahu has made thousands of these.

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 13 May 2015 6:16 am

Thanks I didn't notice that.
So does he play an Oahu or is that another brand?
It's a nice alternative to the harsh resonator sound.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 13 May 2015 6:28 am

David Lindley plays anything with strings, but he was well known for his playing lap steel with Jackson Browne and others. Currently he plays a variety of Weissenborn guitars among his many instruments (saz, banjo, fiddle, oud, etc.)

He has a nice gallery of some of his many instruments on his web site.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 May 2015 6:44 am

I doubt very much if that's an Oahu. Goldtone makes a very nice square neck acoustic guitar.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 13 May 2015 7:19 am

I'm drawing a blank on the name of the luthier right off, but Mr. Dave has had one or more squareneck lap-style flattops made for him by boutique builders. I didn't see anything like that in his website gallery, but that gallery might just be the tip of the iceberg of his instrument collection.

Even if it were a round neck with a raised nut, it sounds like he is playing in Open D, which is no problem - since standard guitar players have been playing in Open D for decades. Where you run into potential problems is tuning a round neck guitar to high bass Open G, the popular dobro tuning, GBDGBD. Prior to WWII when Hawaiian music was a craze sweeping the country, along with others Martin and Gibson produced some beautiful round neck flattops for lap style playing. That's a thread unto itself.

Tony, you seem to concur with Lindley in enjoying the sound of a non-resonator played lap style, David has stated that he prefers this sound generally over resonators, but when played well they don't sound harsh to me - having been a fan for example of the late great Mike Auldridge since the early '70s, I don't think I ever heard a harsh sounding note come out of any resonator guitar he played.

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 13 May 2015 7:40 am

Yes I really didn't mean "harsh" as I own and love two resonator dobros! I used the word to emphasize the difference in perceived sounds between the two.
I couldn't find a Gold Tone round hole as pictured above for sale....are they still available?

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 May 2015 7:47 am

They are still available, Elderly has them in stock.
They even make an 8 string model.

Joe Burke · Post by **Joe Burke** » 13 May 2015 8:37 am

I have a Goldtone flattop Hawaiian That I really like. I ordered it through the 12th Fret in Toronto. I think it's a great guitar. However, I just noticed that Goldtone has revamped there site, and it doesn't seem to be listed.

Here's a link to Elderly:

http://elderly.com/new_instruments/items/BGT9S.htm

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 13 May 2015 9:07 am

The luthier you might be referring to is Manfred at Manzanita Guitars.

http://www.manzanita.de

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 13 May 2015 9:52 am

Tom, all i see on there are resos and weissie style guitars in the slide guitar section - unless he built a square neck acoustic that doesn't have a hollow neck that isn't being shown on the website.

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 13 May 2015 11:09 am

Mark. Not sure. Manfred does make non hollow necked guitars as well. And he makes guitars for DL. But, really it could be a number of builders. It looks like a high end guitar to me. Nice wood.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 13 May 2015 11:29 am

There is a luthier down South who builds acoustic, square neck guitars in addition to resonators.
I bought one from him a few years and it is a very nice guitar.
For the life of me, I can't recall his name.

Mike Brenner · Post by **Mike Brenner** » 13 May 2015 12:15 pm

re: Lindley---just a little self-promo on this subject---I am opening for Mr. Lindley at Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, PA on Thurs, May 21. http://www.st94.com/event/765117-david- ... lersville/
I'm playing solo on chaturangui. here's a vid of my current thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHSWTOfkk9I thanks,mike

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 13 May 2015 12:38 pm

http://manzanita.de/slide.htm shows this photo of Mr. Lindley with what may or may not be the guitar pictured in the original video link on this site:

Tony Palmer · Post by **Tony Palmer** » 13 May 2015 12:54 pm

Elderly does not have them in stock and is quoting 2-3 months delivery.
The guitar in the video appears to have a standard dreadnaught shape, not oval like the Weissenborn....unless I'm mistaken.

David Venzke · Post by **David Venzke** » 13 May 2015 5:18 pm

James Adams, Gueydan LA
(I have one of his early solid wood resos)

Erv Niehaus wrote:There is a luthier down South who builds acoustic, square neck guitars in addition to resonators.
I bought one from him a few years and it is a very nice guitar.
For the life of me, I can't recall his name.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 14 May 2015 7:29 am

David,
Yes, that's the fellow, thanks.

John Mulligan · Post by **John Mulligan** » 14 May 2015 1:51 pm

Harry Manx plays a regular acoustic guitar lap style, with a nut raiser. He stays in open D, which reduces the stresses involved.
Here's a pic: http://www.stonyplainrecords.com/Web/Ar ... asp?id=559

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 15 May 2015 10:16 am

James Kerr plays a 1965 round neck tuned to G and has no problems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcVEH_fo6ko

JK.

Dennis Brooker · Post by **Dennis Brooker** » 16 May 2015 7:54 am

Kelly Joe Phelps has a DVD on playing open "D" on an old Gibson flat top and what little I can play any more I like open "D" for lap or regular style slide playing and it's not hard on any guitar with a raised nut extension as far as I've heard and researched - Just my 2 cents from a real old guy amateur - More than a few reso makers are offering lap style acoustics - And check this Australian guy out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKnngyC ... re=related who IMHO is AMAZING!!! Dennis Brooker

Jamie Mitchell · Post by **Jamie Mitchell** » 16 May 2015 8:45 am

Mike Brenner wrote:re: Lindley---just a little self-promo on this subject---I am opening for Mr. Lindley at Sellersville Theater in Sellersville, PA on Thurs, May 21. http://www.st94.com/event/765117-david- ... lersville/
I'm playing solo on chaturangui. here's a vid of my current thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHSWTOfkk9I thanks,mike

congrats, that's a great gig!
nice axe too... who made that? someday i wanna get my very own Hindustani guitar. i studied Hindustani music on a regular flat top, 6 string, and eventually replaced the low string for chikari strings.

re: round neck guitars, mine's been a cheap Ventura acoustic, with a Hawaiian nut on it. not the best sounding thing ever, but it's fine. usually open E transposed to whatever. fwiw, i tuned it up to G (ie everything up a minor third from open E) for a recording session, just to see if i could. I thought for sure it would rip the bridge off. it was fine...

j

Chase Brady · Post by **Chase Brady** » 16 May 2015 9:07 am

I have one of James Adams' acoustic lap steels. I love it. To me, it has a lot more volume and punch than any of the hollownecks I've tried/owned.
Before I bought it, I had converted a Cort 12-string for lap playing. I figured if it could handle 12 strings a raised nut and open D shouldn't bother it. I was wrong. It started to develop cracks in the back around the neck joint. The back is laminated and the cracks only went through one ply, but I took it as a bad sign and converted it back to a conventional guitar. It sounded great, though.
It seems like some guitars can be converted safely and some can't. I know of no way to tell without trying, so I wouldn't recommend it for anything valuable.

Steve Green · Post by **Steve Green** » 17 May 2015 6:11 am

Tony Palmer wrote:Elderly does not have them in stock and is quoting 2-3 months delivery.
The guitar in the video appears to have a standard dreadnaught shape, not oval like the Weissenborn....unless I'm mistaken.

Instrument Alley has them in stock:

http://www.instrumentalley.com/Gold-Ton ... ent Alley.