Who has a lap steel?

ratherdashing

ratherdashing

Kablamminator
If you have one, I'd like to know more about it. I'm thinking about getting one in the near future. Specifically:

- Brand and model
- What you do with it (genre, clean/dirty, rhythm/lead, icing or cake, etc.)
- Pickup
- Tuning (standard, open G, open D, etc)
- 6 or 8 strings
- String gauge
- What you do or don't like about it
- Anything else you want to tell me.

Thanks!
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

No longer have, but I had a '56 Gibson BR-9 6-stringer that I loved. The pickup and tone circuitry were amazing - you don't get that in modern steels - they use standard guitar pickups and don't optimize the tone stack in them so you miss out on all the cool wah-like vocalizations that the old steels could produce. Vintage steels are still a relative bargain and can be found for usually only a couple hundred more than a new one and IMO it's completely worth it for the sound.

I tuned mine in Open G and used the biggest electric strings I could find - typically a 13-56 set. A fat set of strings improves sustain and bending is still easy because the scale length is so short.

If you take the time to learn slant positions and bending behind the bar techniques you can play just about anything on one. Really fun instrument.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

Man I'd love to have one but I'm sure I'd need a LOT of work to sound decent... I love the traditional country pedal steel style, Gilmour's and the Red Sparow's use in rock.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

Kalamazoo 001.jpgOahu 2 001.jpgThe Kalamazoo is from 1940 and is tuned to open G (dgdgbd), and the Oahu is from 1942 and is tuned to open D (dadf#ad) I use them for country, blues, rock, anything that needs a slide part. I run them through my guitar rig.Current rig.jpgLap Steels 002.jpg
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

I own a few. The Gibson BR-9 I owned was great looking but one of the worst sounding lap steels. The Supros with the Ry Cooder pickup are among the best. I think the Rickenbacher's with the 1 1/2" horseshoe pickup and the Supros (or Airline - same guitar) are the best. They're my favorites at least. The pickup shown is the 1 1/2" Ricky horseshoe pickup Seymour rebuilt for me. The guitar on the right has no strings in the photo because I had just finished installing the repaired pickup in it.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

I have my Falbo Lap...yes, as in Frank Falbo.

It's a 6 string with an ash and mahogany with a maple top and a crazy wood fingerboard.

It's set up for a Telecaster pickup and currently has a Duncan Vintage 54.

I really dig it but it's not as easy as I thought it was going to be but it's still a lot of fun!

I set mine up with heavy strings...like a 14 or something on top and a 56 or so on the bottom, plain G string. I use various tunings but tend to stick with open G or E or a variation of those 2.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

I have wanted a pedal steel for years. They just don't pop up very often here in the northeast U.S.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

Here is my Falbo steel

I sent Frank a pic of an old Magnatone MOTS steel and the body shape was sort of inspired from that as was the string through body part. The bridge and nut are made from wood and the bridge has a single jumbo fret in the middle, the fingerboard is all wood with very thin fret markers made from single layer binding and Frank used his own headstock shape. I love how the figuring in the top sort of mimics the MOTS look but with wood!

The rest of the inspiration was taken from an old Fender steel...single Tele pickup, mounted in the wood and single volume and tone controls!

People always ask about the mini switch...it has 2 output jacks. You can use one jack and it's just normal or you can run a standard guitar into the second jack of the steel then out of the main jack of the steel into your rig so you can go from steel to guitar w/o an A/B box and the switch on the steel is how you switch in one position the steel is liver and in the other the standard guitar is live...quite the killer idea I think!

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Re: Who has a lap steel?

I loved that Falbo lap when I first saw it. Glad it's still getting the job done.

A lot of the vintage lap steels were not made from wood at all, which I find interesting. I'm guessing that since the string doesn't make as much contact with the wood as it does on a fretted guitar, it's less of a factor, maybe?
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

ratherdashing said:
I loved that Falbo lap when I first saw it. Glad it's still getting the job done.

A lot of the vintage lap steels were not made from wood at all, which I find interesting. I'm guessing that since the string doesn't make as much contact with the wood as it does on a fretted guitar, it's less of a factor, maybe?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

The Falbo is getting it done for sure...I'd like to add another steel with a Supro pickup for a different tuning. Maybe I'll have Frank build me another one!

As for the material used I'd say it still matters...a Bakelite steel does sound different from wood and the aluminum steels have yet another sound...
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

ratherdashing said:
I loved that Falbo lap when I first saw it. Glad it's still getting the job done.

A lot of the vintage lap steels were not made from wood at all, which I find interesting. I'm guessing that since the string doesn't make as much contact with the wood as it does on a fretted guitar, it's less of a factor, maybe?
Click to expand...

The strings make almost zero contact with the body with exception of the anchor points at the bridge and tuners. That said, I do think that the resonance of the vibrating strings is transferred through the body to the pickup which is usually directly screwed into the body and so material is still a contributing factor no doubt.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

I have a Peavey Powerslide. I'm strictly an amateur steel player, usually only playing it (poorly) on a song or two a night. I like that I can stand up and play the powerslide, but otherwise, it's underwhelming. If I were more serious about steel, I'd definitely get something else.
 
Re: Who has a lap steel?

The Fablbo is quite nice TGWIF! I do understand the part about it not being as easy as first thought.

I had a cheapo, whatever it was that Musicians Friend was dumping for $49.99 around 2006. Despite the cheapness, some flatwounds (13s, I think) gave it a nice smooth sound. I tuned open E or D usually.

It got limited use, but it was enjoyable. Mostly used it for blues and blues rock.
 
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