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Building a basic lap steel guitar by friger on January 16, 2011

Table of Contents

Building a basic lap steel guitar ...... 1

Intro: Building a basic lap steel guitar ...... 2

Step 1: Got wood? ...... 3

Step 2: Squaring things up ...... 4

Step 3: Laying out the head stock ...... 4

Step 4: Making the cut ...... 5

Step 5: Transition time ...... 7

Step 6: The head shape ...... 7

Step 7: Don't fret the small things ...... 8

Step 8: Time to pick it up a bit ...... 11

Step 9: Dealing with cavities ...... 12

Step 10: Control freak ...... 13

Step 11: The cover up ...... 14

Step 12: And sometimes "bleep" happens...... 15

Step 13: Let's get wired ...... 15

Step 14: Getting a bit of bridge work ...... 16

Step 15: Boom! Head shot ...... 19

Step 16: The finish ...... 20

Step 17: And we are done...... 22

Related Instructables ...... 24

Comments ...... 24

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Author:friger I live on the east coast of Canada. I have been tinkering and building things all my life and still manage to learn something new and exciting every day.

Intro: Building a basic lap steel guitar

In this, my first Instructable, I will attempt to chronicle the construction of a simple Lap Steel guitar. Disclaimer; power tools and sharp cutting tools will be used and I take no responsibility for people who use these things carelessly, read and understand manufacture's instructions and safety guidelines for their proper and safe use. I would also like to acknowledge the web site Buildyourownguitar.com for providing the basic guide lines I followed, http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lapsteel/index.htm

Here is a list of tools and materials I used in this build in no particular order, of course you are free to substitute any where you wish: 1 piece Maple 32" X 4" X 3/4" 1 Piece pine 32" X 4" X 3/4" 2 pieces of maple 18" X 3/4" X 1/8" 1 piece walnut 18" X 3/4" X 1/8" several small bits of maple mostly 4" X 2" X 1/8" (pick-up cover plate and control plate) 2 pieces aluminum L channel, 2 1/4" X 1/2" X 3/4" ( bridge and nut) 1each 250 K volume pot 1each 1/4" phone jack 1 single coil pick up with adjustment screws and springs Carpenters glue 2 part epoxy 6 tuner heads, 3 left, 3 right 5/8" #6 pan head screws tuner head screws Sand paper, 60, 100, 150 and 600 grit table saw miter saw joiner drill press cordless drill many clamps flush cut hand saw dove tail saw wood rasp several files Cabinet scrapper digital calipers tape measure 18" steel rule French curve rotary tool with steel burr and sanding drums. Safety glasses assorted drill bits lots of imagination an occasional adult beverage of your choosing (I do not endorse drinking and operating tools) lacquer 0000 steel wool one set of electric guitar strings chisels block plane saddle square and combination square

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Step 1: Got wood? Ideally you would be using a solid 1 1/2 " plank for this project but since the costs can be prohibitive I went with a laminated blank, the top half is maple, the bottom half is clear pine. Cut your boards 32" long and 4" wide, then if you are using a 2 part construction method glue and clamp them together. I use LePage's carpenter glue but you can use what ever you like.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. you can never have too many clamps 1. wood gloat, check out the tiger stripping on this maple. I got it right out of the rack at my local borg store

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Step 2: Squaring things up After the glue has had about 24 hours to cure you can square up the blank. I use a joiner and chop saw to do this however you can just as easily use a hand plane and hand saw.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. looks like I could use a new blade for my table saw 1. That's better, the joiner makes short work of this job.

Step 3: Laying out the head stock In this step I lay out the head stock in preparation for material removal.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. I do this so that I always know what edge I am going to square my layout 1. Mark your center line, another very useful reference and remember to extend lines from. This avoids problems down the road. it down the ends too.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. This line shows the material to be removed and the x's remind you which side 1. The line 7" back represents where the head stock ends and the 5 1/2" line of the line to cut on. Leave about 9/16" for the head stock. represents the the point where the transition to the neck/body begins.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. For those following at home, this is the width of the end of the head. 1. Buy a "French" curve, it will give you consistent results, the end result is a smooth transition line.

Step 4: Making the cut At this point you should be ready to remove the bulk of the material on the head to bring it close to the finished thickness.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. Secure the blank to a solid work surface. 1. If you start your cuts like this you will always get a square cut.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. The back cut is done. 1. This is one method of removing the material, a band saw would work even better.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. This is the method I used, a good quality dove tail hand saw and some patients 1. This task is done, and I am happy with the results. will yield good results. http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Step 5: Transition time The area where the head meets the neck requires some careful attention, it is easy to mess up the whole job here. Again, a band saw would make quick work of this, but I chose to use a sharp chisel and hammer.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. This is where using pine as the back will work to your advantage, it is much 1. Sneaking up to the line, don't be in a rush here. softer and easier to remove the material.

Image Notes 1. This is as close as you need get with the chisel, you will clean the rest of it up with rasps and files.

Step 6: The head shape At this stage we are ready to cut the taper on the head and clean up the back side. Here a hand saw, rasp and file will be used followed by sand paper.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. Once again start the cut on the angle to ensure a square edge when you 1. The rough cut is done. are done.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. The finish shaping is done using a rasp, followed by a file then sand paper. 1. The transition area has been filed to the line and here I also used some epoxy as a grain filler. I do this because the end grain of the pine I exposed will absorb the final finish at a different rate to the maple. The epoxy prevents this. Caution, epoxy won't take stain, so if you plan on using stain, use the grain filler recommended by the stain manufacturer. 2. This bark inclusion wasn't visible on the wood surface, oh well, it adds character.

Step 7: Don't fret the small things The nice thing about a lap steel guitar is that the fret board can be super simple or non existent at all. You don't need to install fret wire and if it isn't perfectly flat or crowned it doesn't matter. Here I am trying to decide if I should use walnut or some lovely bird's eye maple I had on hand. Since they both looked good I decided to use them both. You could assemble the fret board right on the guitar or do as I did and glue it up and mark it off before I attached it to the guitar. The end product should be 2 1/4" wide by 1/8" to 1/4" thick by about 18" long, it is better to go long and trim later. Also, a word about scale length, I will be using a 22 1/2" scale length with 25 fret positions. This link has a great fret calculator. http://www.sirgalahad.org/paul/fretcalc.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. Walnut? 1. Maple?

Image Notes 1. These are cedar shims I used to apply lateral pressure to the strips. Epoxy doesn't need much clamping pressure so go gentle.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Fresh out of the clamps. 1. Be sure to do your glue up on a dead flat surface that has some sort of glue proof barrier. I use packing tape, nothing sticks to packing tap. http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. Because the center walnut strip was thicker than the maple I needed to bring 1. this is how things looked after final sanding and scrapping. it down to the same thickness. You could use any number of methods to do this 2. Invest in a cabinet or card scrapper, it will pay for it's self in the savings from but I prefer the control I get from using a small block plane. buying sandpaper. It also leaves a finish that cannot be equaled.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Because I don't intend to use fret wire I simply laid out the frets and drew 1. I know the lines are faint, as they should be at this stage, but this is exactly them on with a good quality India Ink pen. where the fret board will go. I took the time to sand and scrape the surface of the guitar before hand.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. I use a good quality painter's tape along the outline of where the fret board 1. You also need to really burnish down the edges of the tape to prevent glue will go. That way any squeeze out of the glue won't stain the wood. from migrating under it and again staining you wood. 2. Fret dots are a very personal preference, here I used my standard which is the head of a Robertson's screw heated and used as a branding iron. Dots go on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, two on the 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, and so on. You will see later on that I changed this to a more unique set of markers.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Did I mention you can never have too many clamps? Remember that at this 1. This is roughly how things will look. stage you need to use pads under your clamps to prevent scaring the finished wood.

Step 8: Time to pick it up a bit Now is the time to start thinking about how the electronics are going to work, in this step I show the process I went through to make the pick-up cover plate. I started by using a 1/8" X 2" X 4" piece of maple I had left from the fret board. It is important to have extra of what ever stock you are going to use because this step is deceptively difficult to pull off in one go. Lay out must be accurate and your cuts need to be clean. I'll let you get the exact dimensions from the link I posted in the intro. I used a variety of tools here, a drill press, a rotary tool with a steel burr attachment a copping saw and a variety of files and rasps.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. The better your lay out, the better the end product. 1. The rough cut is done, a drill press to cut holes near the ends and a copping saw to cut the opening. From there it was the rotary tool to bring the cuts to the line and files to go the final distance.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. I suppose I could have used a saw to cut the outside shape but since things 1. This is the fit I was after, it can't be too tight because the pick up needs to be are getting delicate at this point I felt it was safer to use a rasp, files and sand adjustable up and down. paper to get the shape I wanted.

Image Notes 1. Proof of concept 2. First try, I think I must have been drunk when I did this. 3. Getting close but no cigar yet. 4. There we go, just right.

Step 9: Dealing with cavities Cutting the cavity for the pick up is where things have the potential to go terribly wrong. Once again be sure of your lay out and where on the guitar neck it will go. There are all kinds of theories about the perfect placement of a pick up that you don't need to get into. What you need to know is what space do you have available to work with? Since the scale length is 22 1/2" then we know the bridge will be exactly 22 1/2" from the nut. we also know where our fret board ends, since you have glued it on by now. So, pick a spot about half way between the bridge and the end of the fret board.

Here I used a drill press and a 3/4" bit, use a bit that has a flat face, something like a forsner(sp?). You will remove most of the material with this and work to the lay out lines with a hammer and chisel. I set my drill press to cut to a depth of 3/4" but you can go only 5/8" deep if you wish.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. The opening should be about 1/32" larger all around than the pick-up you are 1. Perfect using.

Step 10: Control freak In this step I'll show how I created the cavity for the volume pot and cord jack. As with all things, begin with locating where on the guitar you want to place the controls. Since this guitar will be played right hand, I placed the controls on the side facing away from the player. I started with physically placing the components on the blank and deciding how much space I need to provide for them. After that it was only a matter of centering the space on the blank and drilling out the cavity.

Like with the pick-up cavity I used a drill press to remove the material. I found there was no need to do any chisel work here because the components were round. Be sure you drill deep enough for the guitar cord to plug in without the end striking the bottom of the hole. I then went ahead and drilled a 1/4" hole at an angle from the control cavity into the pick up cavity to run the wires.

Image Notes 1. This little puppy is a saddle square, Lee Valley sells them at a good price and once you have one you'll love it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. Works for me 1. If The Force is with you, you'll pop out in the pick up cavity right in the middle.

Step 11: The cover up With the control cavity done and every thing tested for fit, I set to making the cover plate for the controls. I decided to go with maple that matches the pick up cover plate. I decided how long it should be and where parts would come through. then it was just a matter of drilling the holes and doing some sanding.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. About 1/8" thick 1. This is what the public will see.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes 1. Every thing is being test fitted. Also a sneak peak at the graphics. I am first and fore most a cigarbox guitar builder so I can't not do something to reflect that.

Step 12: And sometimes "bleep" happens. Now is the time to wax philosophically on the nature of building with plant materials. Mistakes happen and it is the nature of wood to show it's displeasure at being made to do something it really doesn't want to. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn, like in this case, I learned many new ways to say "Oh S$#@". I decided I was not going to spend another 5 hours making a new pick up cover plate, the crack was clean and my epoxy good, so repair it I did. It turned out OK.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Oops. 1. You can just see the edge of the packing tape I use as a glue barrier.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Meanwhile, I used the time while I waited for the glue to set to do some sanding 1. I know the repair is there, and it will always bother me, but life moves on. on the back. Trade trick: I use a $0.49 subway tile as a sanding block, stick the sand paper on with some 2 sided tape and you have a dead flat sanding block. Have one for each grit. 2. This is also necessary, an adult beverage helps cut the dust.

Step 13: Let's get wired One of the things to do now is make your perminant wire connections from the pick up to the volume pot and phone jack. You could also add a tone control pot if you want but this is, after all, a basic build. I like to use a fine tip on my soldering iron because of the tight spaces you are dealing with and the small guage wire involved. Simply follow the diagram and make your connections. Chances are you have used a stereo jack so orient the jack upside down with the long metal tab that makes contact with the guitar plug (I'm sure this bit has a name) nearest to you. then use the tab directly away from you and the one to the left.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes 1. I love PC Paint

Step 14: Getting a bit of bridge work The wonderful thing about building a guitar from scratch is that there are so many little projects involved. While I wait for my client to send some parts he wants on this I started work on the bridges. I am using 3/4" X 1/2 " aluminum L channel cut to the same width as the fret board. I then sanded it through the stages up to 600 grit. Be sure to knock off any sharp edges and corners too. I then located and drilled the holes for the mounting screws on the 1/2" lip. Make 2 of these, one acts as a nut, the other a bridge. Then measure in 1/16 " in from each end. Those marks will be for the E strings. Then, divide the remaining space to accommodate the other 4 strings. When notching the aluminum for the strings it is important to keep in mind that the tops of the strings all need to be at the same hight so all you are really doing here is making shallow notches to permanently locate where the strings will sit. You will do the final fitting during the set up phase right at the end of the build.

You will also need to make a way of holding the strings at the bridge. There are, again, all kinds of ways to do this, I chose to use a tail block.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. Using a file I bring the ends of the bridge into square. 1. Ohhh, look aluminum dust, I'm thinking thermite, hehehehehe

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Mark off the screw hole locations and drill them. I like to start with a small pilot 1. Clamp the bridge and nut together, mark off your string spacing. hole then drill the full size hole next.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. Notch the marks, but only enough to permanently locate them. 1. this is 1/16" in from the edge of the bridge. 2. This is the actual width of the bridge. 3. this marks how wide the tail block will be. http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. String spacing 1. remove this after, 2. center on the 1/2" space and locate where the holes will go.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. shallow holes to help prevent the drill bit from wandering when you set the 1. Here I use my saddle square as an angle block for drilling the holes. You can angle. do it any way you like.

Image Notes Image Notes http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ 1. This is basically what you are looking for. 1. 5/32" holes

Image Notes 1. Not perfect, but I will go with it.

Step 15: Boom! Head shot In this step we'll lay out the locations for the machine heads and drill the holes for them. Lay out is, as always, very important to get things in the right place and look good. I've done enough of these things to know that you need to be very aware of the back plate of the head, how much room you need and how much of the tuning key needs to be exposed too . I find it best if you disassemble one left and one right hand head and use the plate as a template.

Image Notes Image Notes 1. center line 1. The holes for the pegs are done. This should be a relatively snug fit. 2. outline of the tuner plate. 2. here you can see that I wasn't happy with my first set of lines. 3. do one row first, then using a square strike a line through the center of the peg hole to the center line. After that all you need to do is strike a line from the other edge so that it intersects where the opposite line met the center line. Use your template to locate the hole on that line and you are done.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes Image Notes 1. this marks how deep to go in to accommodate the furl for the peg. 1. A stepped hole is achieved, you don't need to do this, you could drill all the way through with the larger bit, but, I find the extra steps make for better performance. There is more bearing surface to counter the lateral force being placed on the peg head.

Image Notes 1. be sure to check all the holes for a good fit and the right depth.

Step 16: The finish Like any time you try something new, you can make mistakes, in this case for example, I learned that lacquer doesn't like ink, and that I should have tested the application first. Oh well, learn and move on. I used a gloss lacquer for the finish of this project because of many past successes. If you start with a good surface preparation then there is little or no sanding between coats. Spray lacquer is a great way to go but brush on is ok too. I did a brush on application for the first coat because I was dealing with very dry wood and I knew there would be a lot of absorption. The final 3 coats were sprayed.

Warning, this stuff is very nasty to breathe and very flammable so good ventilation, and no open flames please. A respirator would be a good idea too.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes 1. ohhhh, shinny

Image Notes 1. this so sucked

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Image Notes 1. Remember the scale length? This is exactly 22 1/2" from the nut.

Step 17: And we are done. So, I have laid out and drilled for the machine heads, the next thing to do is to attach the machines. Next I did the final setup on the bridge and nut, which was just a case of filing the notches down to get the all the strings at an equal height. The thing to try and do here is make sure the bottom of the notches are round. This prevents the strings from buzzing. After that is done string it up and run it through the amp! I won't offend the real lap steel guitar players out there by posting a video of me testing it. I'll post a video at a later time of a friend playing it (he actually knows how).

I hope you enjoyed this rather long instructable and try building one yourself.

Image Notes 1. Make sure you place these ones on a flat surface, not too close to the transition area.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ Related Instructables

Repair Guitar Neck by neffk How to make a Make a lap steel How to Make an How to make a Fixing your biscuit box lap guitar out of a Air Guitar! by simple electric guitars truss steel guitar by pool cue case Slayerfan666 guitar by rod and string harrypurpleo by Lach Children's action by Museum of koalabacon Pittsburgh

Comments

27 comments Add Comment

wobbler says: Feb 4, 2011. 4:51 PM REPLY Nice design and Instructible.

Would it be possible to use a thinner top plank, one the same depth as needed for the machine heads in order to make the shaping of the head piece easier and make the bottom piece correspondingly shorter? You wouldn't then need to cut away so much on the head piece and could just shape the bottom piece before gluing together. Hope I've described this well enough!

friger says: Feb 4, 2011. 7:46 PM REPLY That sounds like a reasonable idea to me. Thanks, I'll try that on my next build.

wobbler says: Feb 5, 2011. 4:50 PM REPLY I hope it does! Thanks for the reply! ;o)

bowakowa says: Feb 2, 2011. 1:20 PM REPLY Here's one of three I made about 15 yrs ago. Lowe's pine 2 piece laminate, mighty mite p-90, some cheap tuners, a nut, saddle, oak inlay on the bottom for the string thru, and an oak bridge. Had a lot of fun with it since.

friger says: Feb 2, 2011. 2:39 PM REPLY Nice, I like it. I bet the P-90 sounds awesome too.

unaffiliatedperson says: Jan 30, 2011. 4:13 PM REPLY i want this so i can play sleep walk!

handy157 says: Jan 27, 2011. 8:47 AM REPLY One thing I might be concerned about with this instrument is with the wood lamination part.. It may or may not be a problem, but at least theoretically it could be. Using pine and maple, especially back to back, could cause warping, due to the different expansion and contraction characteristics of the two different woods. This probably wouldn't be a problem if you make sure that you cover every square millimeter of the wood with your finish so that there would be no possibility of moisture transfer from the air to the wood (and vice versa) in varying humidity conditions. With laminating the body, you could also have made a groove down the middle of one (or both) of the pieces and placed a piece of steel rod in it before laminating. This would help strengthen it and also help keep it from warping. Pretty cool instrument though!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ friger says: Jan 27, 2011. 9:15 AM REPLY I hear ya on the movement differential, but that again is of little concern because of the nature of the guitar, so long as you don't get such a massive twist that the strings are radically uneven, it would remain playable. I seriously doubt a truss rod would do much good here. I did seal the end grain with epoxy to prevent that sort of thing happening before I put 4 coats of lacquer on it. If anything the lamination of pine to the maple will help stabilize the natural tendencies of maple to twist. (damn site cheaper than solid maple too).

charliemor3 says: Jan 27, 2011. 9:14 AM REPLY Hi Guy,

I've got to say, you did a great job with the "ible". Lots of detail without babling; good pics and explanations.

Thanks for the info, I've just been looking at building one myself. Keep up the good deals.

lennyb says: Jan 25, 2011. 2:54 PM REPLY this is very nicely done. looks a bit like one i made myself pre instructables time. you seem to have used better hardware than i did. lets see if i can find a picture of it.ok good i got 1. the other slider is a 1 string diddly bow. good show.

friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 3:11 PM REPLY Ok, I'd say you lap steel is cut from the same cloth, I love how you used a humbucker ,and that bridge is awesome. I cant tell for sure but is it a hard tail? Sweet bow too, piezo pick up?

lennyb says: Jan 25, 2011. 5:30 PM REPLY unfortunately that humbucker is a single pretending to be a humbucker .it came from a 1$ yard sale guitar i picked up. the bridge is a homemade hardtail type with adjustable saddles{not really needed on this project but i did it anyway} the pickup on the bow is a coil from an old inductance microphone that you would use to record a telephone in the old days. i did a couple of instructables way back on slide guitars and easy pickups here are the links if you would like to look

http://www.instructables.com/id/3-string-slide-guitar/

http://www.instructables.com/id/cheap-and-easy-guitar-pickups/ also heres a closeup of the bridge if ya wanna see it

friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 6:12 PM REPLY I love it, simple and elegant. I will steal this idea if you don't mind?

lennyb says: Jan 26, 2011. 3:07 PM REPLY feel fre my friend. if you build it post it here i for one would love to see it.

darkranger032 says: Jan 26, 2011. 1:55 AM REPLY yay i made it!...It took me 2 hours to make it!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ friger says: Jan 26, 2011. 12:31 PM REPLY a 2 hour build?! I'd love to see some pics. I've built diddley bows in that time.

Bigbillyrocka says: Jan 26, 2011. 11:36 AM REPLY I'm definitely going to have to build one of these! It'll be an awesome winter time blues project. Good job. :)

gmoon says: Jan 26, 2011. 4:52 AM REPLY Well done, sir.

That's a right shame about the ink smearing. Maybe you'll strip the lacquer and redo that (someday ;-).

friger says: Jan 26, 2011. 5:38 AM REPLY Thank you, I would consider doing that but since I am donating it to friend I'll let him decide what he wants to do about it, if anything. I've already invested all the time into it that I had planned to. I will build another, and not make that particular mistake again, I am sure I will make all kinds of new and novel ones on the next build. Thanks again for taking the time to look.

Wasagi says: Jan 25, 2011. 2:28 PM REPLY Fantastic! This is a project that I would really love to do once I get time, and I loved how informative your instructable was. Case in point, I had no idea you didn't need fret wire. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.

friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 3:24 PM REPLY Thanks for that. Here is a picture of a 3 string resonator I built a while back using tooth picks as frets, they are holding up just fine too.

Wasagi says: Jan 25, 2011. 5:57 PM REPLY That is beautiful! What did you use for the cone?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/ friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 6:09 PM REPLY Get this, The cone is the hub cap from a Ford Ranger pick up truck, a piezo pick up and she sounds awesome

Wasagi says: Jan 25, 2011. 7:06 PM REPLY Haha, That is genius! I would not have thought of that at all.

lennyb says: Jan 25, 2011. 5:32 PM REPLY whoops links dont work. copy and paste if you like or you can access it from my profile later

n0ukf says: Jan 25, 2011. 2:29 PM REPLY "...out of the rack at my local borg store."

Borg store? Did they try to assimilate you? Nice piece of wood though.

friger says: Jan 25, 2011. 3:13 PM REPLY Resistance is futile, Home depot, Lowe's they are all borgs!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-a-basic-lap-steel-guitar/