The body is made of cherry harvested in Huron County, Ohio in the 1960s. The lighter highlight wood is ash from the tree that held the Meloy family’s tree house and was “harvested” in the early 2020s in Hamilton County, Ohio by an unknown number of Emerald Ash Borers.
The playing dimensions—22.5-inch scale length, number of frets, string spacing at nut and saddle, width of nut and saddle, string height above fretboard—are based on a 1960s Fender Deluxe 8 lap steel. The strings are "through body" a la a Telecaster. The nut and saddle are brass. The saddle is set inside a piece of walnut, I believe it is. The fretboard design probably looks familiar! It's etched on some thick plastic material.
The body width (~34.5 inches at longest), length (~8.5 inches at widest), and thickness (~1.5 inches), are roughly those of a Fender Deluxe 8 and a 1952 Silvertone 6 string lap steel.
The bridge pickup was made by Nick Fryer nearby in Cincinnati. (https://www.fryerguitarpickups.com). He made me a set of Telecaster pickups a few years ago, and I also take lap steel lessons from Nick. He's been generous with his time and advice.
The neck pickup was made by Mark Szabo of Tunguska Guitars.
The electronics configuration is the same as a standard Telecaster-style guitar. Tone pot near the bridge, volume pot between the pickups. The volume pot might be a little close to the strings for some players. It works well for me. I am not as experienced a player as most of you, though.
The tuners are Steinberger gearless tuners. I checked in briefly on a facebook lap steel group recently, and a couple people were going to war over these tuners on someone's home build. I think for function and aesthetics they work really well here. (And I will not cross-post to facebook.
)Tuning is set to “high G” C6. Low to high: A C E G a c e g.
I'm appreciative of the community here who have shared so much knowledge, information, and advice. I'm glad to know you're all out there!
Take care,
---Mike Busam
Butler County, OH
