Finishing up these two lap steels soon.

[Andy DePaule]

My wife had to make an emergency trip back to Viet Nam on Valentines day as her mother was on her death bed.
Because of a Homeland security mix up she missed he first flight being on a "Watch List" for no known reason.
That resulted in delayed flights and her not getting to see her mother before she passed, but at least made it for the funeral.

She will bring back several guitars I had left as works in progress for me to finish.
I've asked a luthier friend of mine there to take these to a place where they do a great mirror like lacquer finish for a reasonable price so they should be ready for her to bring back in two weeks. I think it will remain too cold for spraying lacquer here in Oregon until about May so better to have them finished for me

One is a 22.5" scale and one with 24" scale. Both will have Alumitone Pickups and wide string spacing. Really looking forward to getting these done.
I need to do a little trim on the peghead steps because I see one is still a little off square.

The more recent photo above shows how the lacquer finish really brings out the beautiful curly tiger striped Maple. There are more photos at the bottom of this thread of both guitars together at various stages.

[Andy DePaule]

Three more photos of the lap steels...

The sides are also stair stepped at 1/8" each. Flamed Maple & Black Walnut.


Here are the two sided by side. Long and short scale...


Last is the bridge style. I made these some time ago before I built the bodies.
They were intended for another project.

[John Sims]

VERY Sweet lap steels Andy!

[Andy DePaule]

Thanks John,
I'm getting my new workshop set up in the garage now to get several instruments Instruments finished.
Happy to be doing woodworking again now.
Andy

[David Ball]

Looking great! I've always liked the Art Deco steels, and having the double stair stepping along with the contrasting woods looks very nice--got that National vibe going on (a good vibe in my mind)

Cool looking bridge/tailpiece too.

Dave

[Andy DePaule]

Hi David,
Yes, Kind of a copy for sure. Certainly those New Yorkers were a strong influence on me.
Made a few changes to suite my thinking. The stair step sides were one and the extra steps on the peghead were another.
I also made the peghead a tad wider so as to avoid the second and seventh strings rubbing on the 1st and 8th string tuning posts.
I always thought that letting that happen in the design is bad planning.
Thanks,
Andy

[Jonathan Scherer]

Looking forward to seeing them with finish on!
Nice fretboards.

J

[Andy DePaule]

They sure did pop with the finish on them. Really brought out the figure in the Maple and Black Walnut.

[John Sims]

Absolutely beautiful Andy!

[Andy DePaule]

2 Eight String Pickups for these lap steels on the way to me now.
I'm going back to Saigon April 4th so hope they arrive soon. If not, it's no problem since I'll be back in early May and can finish the steels then.



Made by Shane Larson in Canada. He put them in the mail yesterday.
He is a builder of instruments as well as many other items.
Shane is starting to make these pickups for 8 string now.
He has been doing 6 string pickups for longer.
A really nice fellow to deal with and worth having a look at his web site.



https://www.larsonsartisanwoodwork.com/store-1-1

[John Sims]

Nice pickups!

[Andy DePaule]

As it turns out the pickups Shane Larson made will not fit. The base would overlap the space in the Maple center and protrude over the adjoining Walnut which is 1/8" lower than the center.
They would fit if I put them directly into the wood without the base, but that would be wasting Shane's work in casting them.

I will save these two Shane Larson pickups for my next Lap Steel project still in the planning stages.
They will have bodies kind of like the 30's Rickenbacker Panders. Have not yet decided on the neck & pegheads, but they will be 7 or 8 string steels.
I need to finish up the present project before I start another.

For these lapsteels already started and very near finish I'll be using 10 string Chrome Alumitone pickups. The reason for the 10 string pickups on 8 string steels is that I want to have wide spacing for easy slants.
They will fit in the space available and be an easy install with just a little routing needed.
Also need to plan out the string tie plates and bridge placement.

[Andy DePaule]

Making Another String Hold End Plate Style.
Because I need it to take up less room on the long scale model.
I will soon have these available for sale on this page also.
viewtopic.php?t=378498&highlight=





Designed kind of like the older Fender ones used on some console steels.
Should have these available about the end of July.





Here is the Style Two End Plate.

[Andy DePaule]

Looking forward to seeing them with finish on!
Nice fretboards.

J

Thanks Jonathan,
I draw them and have those cut by laser at a sign shop in Saigon.
A shallow cut is made where they are black and that area is then painted.
They can also paint them white which also looks very nice.
The choice of sheet metals is 4, polished stainless steel and brushed stainless steel.
They also can do them with sheet brass for a nice gold metal look, polished brass and brushed brass.
After I get them back I have to file the edges smooth to take away the sharp part.
Last is i back them with 3M double stick tape.
Most sign shops these days have the equipment to do this.
I do all my sheet metal parts this way. fretboards, peghead name plate, volume & tone control panel and the part for attaching the strings also.

[Andy DePaule]

String Hold End Plates In stock now.
I got back from Saigon early in the morning with a few these.
Still need to do the 90º bend in the style #1 before selling any.
I plan to do that during the week.
If interested send me an e-mail.

[Bill Hatcher]

String Hold End Plates In stock now.
I got back from Saigon early in the morning with a few these.
Still need to do the 90º bend in the style #1 before selling any.
I plan to do that during the week.
If interested send me an e-mail.

andy. can you give a description of how these pickups sound. how much hum in the single coil? what impedence?

[Andy DePaule]

String Hold End Plates In stock now.
I got back from Saigon early in the morning with a few these.
Still need to do the 90º bend in the style #1 before selling any.
I plan to do that during the week.
If interested send me an e-mail.

andy. can you give a description of how these pickups sound. how much hum in the single coil? what impedence?

Hi Bill,
I have not yet installed the pickups so can not answer the question until I do that.
I did just receive three more pickups from Shane and they are even much nicer.
Very well made and seem to be as good as the ones I have bought in the past from another maker as well as the ones in my Clinesmith lap steels.

I do know that Shane is doing copies of the original Bigsby pickups and is doing wonderful work. I fully expect to be very happy with these I got.

I'd refer you to Shane Larson who made them to answer any questions you might have. This is a link to his web site;
https://www.larsonsartisanwoodwork.com/store-1-1