| Author |
Topic: SX 6string lap mods |
Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
|
Posted 5 Jul 2021 9:37 am |
|
I finally got my SX lap steel to play and sound as it should.I got rid of the original bridge and pickup cover.I bought a bridge for a regular electric guitar and had a machine shop rout a level slot to accept a 1/4 round brass insert.The intonation is right on and the sustain is great.I also installed planet waves locking tuners.All in all turned a so so guitar into a very passable one.Will try to post a pic of bridge area.  pics are before and after.
_________________
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
|
|
|
Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
|
Posted 5 Jul 2021 10:21 am Bravo, Carl!
|
|
An excellent idea to have the stoptail machined to accept an unradiused saddle. (Attention: Jon Light!) Have you tried mounting the strings directly to the bridge, taking the tailpiece out of the equation? That would most likely increase the instrument's sustain.
Arguably my best-sounding Gibson is this beat-looking Century Deluxe with a stoptail:
 |
|
|
|
Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
|
Posted 5 Jul 2021 12:21 pm Sx Bridge Mod
|
|
All the stop bridges i could find were arched for regular electric guitars with arched fret boards,that is why i used a seperate piece as it is much easier to replace a string if required.
_________________
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
|
|
|
Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
|
|
|
|
Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
|
Posted 5 Jul 2021 4:29 pm Sx
|
|
That's the pickup that came in the guitar,it has Seymour Duncan written on it.It really is hot and sounds great.I have 2 Airlines with string through pu,and i have had numerous other laps,including another SX with a soap bar P90 and this one beats them all.
_________________
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
|
|
|
Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
|
Posted 5 Jul 2021 4:44 pm
|
|
My ears were burning and I found this.....
Good job Carl. I like that a lot.
Jack -- all that talk about my radiused wraparound ended up being for nothing. The string-thru pickup has plenty of room to accommodate the arc and all is well. But I do like the thought of having someone mill a slot to seat a simple bar or rod. That's a pretty nifty solution.
Carl -- you & I must have covered the same ground.
The only non-radiused bridge of that type I've ever seen was made by Bill Asher and I haven't seen it on his website in a long time. |
|
|
|
Peter Jacobs
From:
Northern Virginia
|
|
|
|
Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
|
Posted 6 Jul 2021 9:40 am Sx
|
|
The biggest problem with the arched bridge is the more likely you will run into string buzz,because the tone bar is not touching evenly.Using the bridge as a stop piece works ok but it is much easier to change strings with the extra stop tailpiece as i have.Originally the bridge was a wrap around style but was not very condusive to changing strings,i have tried all kinds of ways on different guitars.The method i am showing works for me.
KEEP STEELING
_________________
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
|
|
|
John Sims
From:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
|
Posted 13 Aug 2021 12:49 pm
|
|
| Very nice mod! I have the same guitar and may have to do the same thing! thanks! |
|
|
|
Brad Richard
From:
Chisago City, Minnesota
|
Posted 13 Aug 2021 2:40 pm
|
|
| Carl - Nice looking mods. I did something kind of similar with my Recording King. I used a string-through hardtail bridge with adjustable saddles. I raised the string height to 1/2" and set all saddles even to each other. A bit funky, but it seems to work. |
|
|
|
Gene Tani
From:
Pac NW
|
Posted 15 Aug 2021 7:06 am
|
|
That looks great, reminds me of modding/upgrading Squier Strats or Jazz basses.
Did you say where you got the tailpiece, or i missed it somehow?
Thanks.
_________________
- keyless Sonny Jenkins laps stay in tune forever!; Carter PSG
- The secret sauce: polyester sweatpants to buff your picks, cheapo Presonus channel strip for preamp/EQ/compress/limiter, Diet Mountain Dew |
|
|
|
John Sims
From:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
|
Posted 15 Aug 2021 7:21 am
|
|
| Question Carl, what did you use to cut the bridge cover? A bandsaw? |
|
|
|
Carl McLaughlin
From:
St.Stephen,New Brunswick,Can
|
Posted 15 Aug 2021 1:10 pm Sx
|
|
I used a Dremel tool with small cut off wheel,while still screwed to the guitar,then took it off and sanded the edges.Not perfect but good enough for me a passable job.the tailpiece was from Stewmac
_________________
Now have a SX 6 string lap in G,.A Tele plus telecaster, Larrivee acoustic.Also have a Fender resonator guitar with new Quarterman cone and spider,and an Allan tailpiece.Playing through a Fender Super Champ XD,using a little delay on the amp and a Harmonix Holy Grail Echo pedal,set on Hall turned to about 1pm.Just got a Fender Dual 6 Stringmaster style. Bought a Yamaha FGX5 Recently and love it. |
|
|
|
John Sims
From:
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
|
Posted 15 Aug 2021 1:36 pm
|
|
| Thanks Carl! Gonna have to mod my SX for sure. I have it tuned to C6. Here's a DIY Open D tuning lap I just finished building... https://youtu.be/_4wT47G_hi0 |
|
|
|
Joe Elk
From:
Ohio, USA
|
Posted 15 Aug 2021 3:27 pm
|
|
Beautiful Steel!
Joe Elk Central Ohio |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
Posted 18 Aug 2021 5:16 am
|
|
I really like the brass insert idea. I used a stock wrap-around but I flattened the top to remove the arch. Her's mine:
 |
|
|
|
Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
|
Posted 18 Aug 2021 7:26 am
|
|
I really like the look of your pickguard Mark. The shape is perfect............not too much, just enough to make it look great........nice mods!!!! Everything doesn't always have to be symmetrical, it just has to be well executed........hats off to you! Job well done!!!!!!!! 
The countersink for the screw above the jack.....just take your screw, cut it off short, put a drop of Elmer's or any other water soluble glue on the underside of the head and you can fix up the hole lacking the screw. Only you, me and the guys on the forum will know! 
_________________
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
|
|
|
Mark Mansueto
From:
Michigan, USA
|
Posted 18 Aug 2021 7:48 am
|
|
| Thanks. Bill. I didn't want to get crazy with the pick guard but I needed something to cover up the routing needed for the full size pots, 3-way switch and the Lawrence/Wilde L500 pickups. |
|
|
|
