I did post this over in the Builders corner for a first post, but will repost here.
This is my first try at building a lap steel. It was meant to be an experiment, with not much money spent.
The total, at the time was $6. I only spent about 8 hours, over 5 days, to get this far.
There was no finish, and the 3rd string was grinding into the bridge when using the bender.
While someone sugested that was like "pushing mud uphill", i do not agree. It was much worse.
More like using a hack saw blade for a string.
To help that string I made a one-string roller. Also the travel of the lever was a lot more than for the 2ond string.
To help that I added a piece of tubing on the "door hinge" bender to decrease the travel of the lever.
Also slotted the peghead, added a $ 3 clear finish, and made a new black cardstock fretboard to go under the plexie top.
Total investment is now around $ 15 with new strings added.
Everything done helped the bottom line.
It now looks better, bends string 3 better, and somehow seems to even play better.
That part about playing better may have more to do with now having two more months to learn how to use a steel.
