This all started about 3 years ago or so when I got the itch to get a guitar amp. I went way down the rabbit hole of early Fender tube amps and ended up finding the object of my desire (at the time
) Through this articlehttps://www.vintageguitar.com/32659/doc ... r-pro-amp/
I wanted to build it, but I had never built an amp, so long story short (not really) I built two tube amps. First, I built a single ended 5F2-A, a simple amp, just to get my hands dirty. It worked! So next I built a Tweed Deluxe, because it is basically a Pro with 6V6's (and there is lots of info on building these as apposed to little for building a Pro) All the while I was building these amps, I kept going back to this article and just fell in love with the pictures of Doc sitting in front of his Pro playing the steel guitar. So naturally I had to have one!! It also fit into my plan of spending more time studying theory and learning more of the harmonic building blocks for playing jazz. Steel guitar is the ideal instrument IMHO for this. I had been listening to Bob wills for a long time and I have always wanted to learn how to play swing, so It all made sense!
The guitar... I spent a fair bit of time designing this thing, old school pencil on graph paper. It is designed to be fully acoustic with a small resonator and an internal soundboard. The soundboard is activated by a soundpost. The effect of removing the soundpost is similar to when you unplug the woofer on a surround sound. I love the acoustic sound! I considered using a dobro or biscuit reso, but I wanted it to be closer to regular steel guitar dimensions. I have been playing it acoustic for about a year, but I finally I figured out how to amplify the thing. It took a bit of engineering!! I did not want to cut into the guitar, so all the electronics are in the resonator cover. I think of it more like a floating pickup on an arch top guitar. The resonator cover is spun from an old cookie sheet. The bigsbyish pickups are made from some steel flat and formica. The top aluminum piece is fashioned from a piece of square aluminum tube. I tried to use as much stuff as I had lying around to build it because I am a tinkerer I guess. This is the first pickup I have wound, first sunburst finish, first dovetailed box etc. etc...... Many, many pieces came together to allow me to play this thing! The most difficult pieces are the roller nuts and the fretboard. The guitar will be coming apart again tomorrow so I can fudge a few things around. All this and I haven't even got to pedals! There is a pull release changer that was also a first.
Today I played it for about an hour for the first time through my amps, and I couldn't be more happy with it! I have it in A6 and I just love that tuning! I am working out a custom tuning for this thing, when I add pedals, but that is for another day!! I love steel guitar and really love this forum!! I hope you'll still accept me when I add a few pedals.
I have always been a misfit and I feel like I am in good company here on the non-pedal side! I am open to any questions comments or criticisms.
