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Topic: acoustic solution for lap steel ? dobro ? |
Maxime Ledon
From:
Steelopolis, France
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 1:11 am |
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Hi everyone ! I was asking myself on how to play the lap steel when on vacation where I would have no electricity. Does 8 string acoustic lap steels exist or do I have to stick with 6 strings like dobros (I play a fender champ copy (guyatone  ) ? If you have any suggestion on such a musical device that would really be nice to share it with me  . Thank you, please stay safe and have a great day. |
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Douglas Schuch
From:
Valencia, Philippines
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 1:28 am
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There are 8-string resonators - cheapest I know of is Gold Tone Paul Beard Signature - about $1200 from Beard. I'm not aware of any production 8-string Weissenborns.
I think the simpler solution would be a battery powered mini-amp for your lapper - the total package size would be much smaller. I carried a Cube battery/12 V amp with me when I was captain of a large day tour boat so I could practice during my mid-day break. This was my rig at the time:
I used the 12V adapter for the amp, but batteries work too.
You can get even smaller amps than the Cube, or just a headphone amp as well if size is an issue.
_________________
Bringing steel guitar to the bukid of Negros Oriental! |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 6:29 am
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The 8 string resos are unlikely to be cheap, but they do exist. I would think a lot of the playing styles that electric 8 stringers play might not adapt to well to the reso...ie., the big deep bass sound of Jules C13 or B11, probably not going to have that deepness on an 8 string acoustic...
I bought a Blackstar Fly for travel use, it was OK, but eventually have replaced it with the slightly bigger, but still battery-powerable Yamaha THR10. Sounds great with my lap steels.
If you really want pure acoustic, my preference would probably be just a 6 string, still. Plenty you can do with one of em, and a lot more choices/options with 6 string.
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 7:49 am
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I would concur that a small battery-powered amp is the way to fly.
Of the four or five models I've tried, I favor this one for steel (either lap or pedal):
Roland Mobile Cube |
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Brooks Montgomery
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 8:29 am
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_________________
A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first. |
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Gene Tani
From:
Pac NW
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 9:01 am
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| Brooks Montgomery wrote: |
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As an alternative, eliminate the middleman:
I have a set of VOX Amphones for bass. Not all that crazy about 'em, but they work as advertised. |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 12:56 pm
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And if you're playing just to practice, not to be heard...well, maybe I'm alone in this but I practice acoustically a lot. Not as pleasing to the ear...and my Clinesmith frypan is fairly quiet, acoustically...but still serviceable for practice. More often than not at home I don't bother plugging in.
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 1:05 pm
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I almost never plug in at home unless rehearsing with someone else or recording.
The only time is if I'm learning something and need to play a track while my wife is watching TV, when I will use one of those little plug in headphone amps which let's me connect my MP3 player to it as well. |
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Walter Webb
From:
California, USA
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Maxime Ledon
From:
Steelopolis, France
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Posted 4 Apr 2020 11:49 pm
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Thanks friends for all your comments. I already have a small vox amp where I put a lead battery so that's not really the way I want to go. I thank you for pointing me to the PBS gold tone resonator. I might also consider a 6 string maybe ... that could be cheaper and have more options available.
I will not use headphones I prefer to hear the music with ears uncovered (gets me too warm !). And I will add that I also practice a lot unplugged, I did that with guitar too, almost all the time but with jazz boxes so that is still a little acoustic eventually.
Have a great day. |
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John Limbach
From:
Billings, Montana, USA
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Posted 5 Apr 2020 5:10 am
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| Jack Hanson wrote: |
I would concur that a small battery-powered amp is the way to fly.
Of the four or five models I've tried, I favor this one for steel (either lap or pedal):
Roland Mobile Cube |
Bobby Ingano uses one for his day-to-day gigging amp. Of course he'd get fantastic tone out of two tin cans and a piece of string. |
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Maxime Ledon
From:
Steelopolis, France
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Posted 9 Apr 2020 9:00 am
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Hi everyone I am still thinking this through. Do you think I could have an A6 tuning over a Dobro ? I don't easily find information on that with the search criterias on the forum.
Is that possible ? For me that would be best as I am totally in that tuning, even with 6 strings, I could still play the heads and more.
Thanks and have a nice day. |
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Cody Coombs
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2020 1:47 pm
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For a while at work we were taking hour long lunch breaks , Id go sit in my truck and use one of those plug in tiny VOX Amp plugins to my Lapsteel , ran an auxiliary chord from it to my truck radio and it worked great , especially for just practicing . I was using a cheaper rogue model so as my fender wouldn't get stolen while I was working the rest of the day . It was a cool little setup  |
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Cody Coombs
From:
Washington, USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2020 1:51 pm
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| As far as A6 tuning on the Dobro , I have a 6 stringer and an 8 stringer tuned to open G and the latter open G6 . From what I've learned you might be able to get away with a slightly different tuning if you transfer the gauges around . Or G6 gets you that punch with the resonator , and you can just play A6 just with either putting a capo on the 2nd fret or shift yourself up two frets |
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Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
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Posted 9 Apr 2020 1:57 pm
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| Maxime Ledon wrote: |
Hi everyone I am still thinking this through. Do you think I could have an A6 tuning over a Dobro ? I don't easily find information on that with the search criterias on the forum.
Is that possible ? For me that would be best as I am totally in that tuning, even with 6 strings, I could still play the heads and more.
Thanks and have a nice day. |
Yes, I tune my Dobro to A6. I bought individual string gauges using John Ely's chart (I chose the thinnest in each case)
https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/graphics/pdf/string_gauge_chart.pdf
Mine is a roundneck, designed for non-slide playing so I got a nut raiser for it. I use it on all my acoustic gigs. |
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Joe Kaufman
From:
Lewiston, Idaho
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Posted 9 Apr 2020 10:29 pm
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I have a import square neck Flinthill dobro that was converted to 7 string. I tune it to A6 like others have mentioned. I believe it was converted by Beard’s shop by a previous owner. It looks like a relatively simple conversion.
For simple practice I once built a “cat can†type instrument. It was tinny spounding but very compact and loud enough to practice with. Mine was 6 strings but 8 would be simple to make as well. |
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Maxime Ledon
From:
Steelopolis, France
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Posted 10 Apr 2020 8:01 am
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Jeff, Joe ! Thanks there is light at the end of the tunnel  |
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