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Topic: Building my first two lap steels |
Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 6:38 am |
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| James Kerr wrote: |
| [You are correct about some company building this Guitar Andy. It was my company. |
Well James it sure looks like you know what your doing there.
Hope you have good sales with those steels.
The fretboard looks real nice.
Scotland, nice place to be from. I've only ever seen pictures but it sure looks nice.
I was born in Oldham near Manchester, not much of a nice place, but they do have Manchester United.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 14 Jan 2018 9:39 am
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While we have the attendance of at least two excellent builders on this thread, I have another question regarding headstock design.
As far as I know, there are 3 basic types:
Can anyone explain the advantages and disadvantages of each, from both the player’s and the builder’s perspective? |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 22 Jan 2018 11:04 pm Keyhead Question
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Hi Fred,
Since no one else answered, I will.
The first two are good because the tuners stick up and are easy to tune.
The steel at the top with a cut out peghead slots needs just one board to build.
The middle steel needs two boards so will be thicker and more work to make.
The last one is still tunable, but you have to reach over.
The reason I did that was to keep it more like the National New Yorker that I was kind of using as a model.
As much as I like my design, the other two would be more convenient to tune.
Hope that answers your question?
Best wishes,
Andy
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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George Piburn
From:
The Land of Enchantment New Mexico
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Posted 23 Jan 2018 7:57 am Middle Photo
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The Steel Guitar Head in the Middle photo is far superior in many ways.
The Nut can be much heavier and is attached to the body inside the pocket 1 & 1/4" tall with Screws increasing Sustain by immense percentages.
The Graduated Stair Step allows the String pulls to be at or near to straight to the tuner shafts, increasing sustain, resonance and bell like tone , also lessens the string breakage factor.
The over all body is made with a router with no rear pockets so that lessens the build time greatly.
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The Routers that were used to make these are Computer Numerically Controlled to less that .005 tolerances , making them extremely accurate from one to the next, so If a person wants several guitars to play as close to one another this design was well thought out for mass production.
If you add up the total time to make pattern jigs , attach them route by hand - change to another , drill holes and so on, it takes some where around 10 hours to hog out the basic shape of a steel guitar of this amount to detail Similarly to the detail of Andy's Design. This manufacturing process reduces the time to less than 30 minutes. Shortening the build time astronomically.
Rogue - Fender - Gibson - PRS - Taylor - Martin and pretty much all of the major manufacturers have done this modern hog work since 1980.
The builder can be at home drinking coffee and watching the TV far away from all of the High Speed Cutters that can cause catastrophic injuries breathing of the carcinogenic dust, or doing any clean up or disposal, so safety-health wise, there is no comparison.
Just an Opinion though. Hope this answers Fred's Question.
Mr.Boards
_________________
GeorgeBoards S8 Non Pedal Steel Guitar Instruments
Maker of One of a Kind Works of Art that play music too.
Instructional DVDs
YouTube Channel |
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Fred Treece
From:
California, USA
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Posted 23 Jan 2018 10:55 am
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| Thank you for that helpful insight, Andy & George. |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 24 Jan 2018 3:55 am George got it!
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Hi George,
I think you got it way better than I could. I just felt that someone should respond to Fred's question.
Not having a good image of that black steel I guessed it to be two parts like some I've seen.
My guess is you'd be right because you would know way more on this subject than I ever will.
I know only the very basics of CNC and have never even considered using it at my age. Also that is because I love the freedom of not having CNC though I well understand the advantages for production.
Still looking forward to meeting you some day in the not too distant future.
Best wishes,
Andy
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Bob Littleton
From:
Camas, WA
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Posted 24 Jan 2018 5:43 pm
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| Beautiful work Andy! Love that peghead joint! Wow! |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 25 Jan 2018 10:24 pm Thanks Bob
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Thanks Bob 
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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