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Lap steel players... please help.

two fingers

two fingers

Opinionated blowhard. But not mad about it.
Inactive
Feb 7, 2005
33,959
116,685
55
Eastern NC USA
#1
So, my outlaws (translation: in-laws) are the BEST at giving Christmas gifts. They give you things you didn't know you wanted until you got one.

That leads me to this. It is one of only three ever made by a luthier down where they live. The craftsmanship seems fantastic. I know exactly zero about lap steel. I know even less about this one. But I am excited to give it a go!!!

Supposedly the guy milled the nut, string retainer, the plate at the base of the neck and saddles out of hunks of metal. All wood was done using hand or bench tools. Solid poplar with a rosewood board.

Pics then questions...
20171226_151158.jpg
20171226_151417.jpg
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Pretty cool, huh?

So, talk to me about bar slides. I like the looks of the Shubb GS-1 Just because it's wood. Thoughts?

Picks. I know nothing. Whataya think? My fingers are big. Other than that I got nutn.

Tube combo. I want a cool amp for this thing. A buddy of mine has a custom amp that is made for guitar and uses a 15" guitar speaker. It sounds super cool when he plays slide. Are there any out there factory made like that? I'll probably wind up with a Blues Jr. or something but just curious about your thoughts.

Then just general advice about good video lessons. I don't think anyone near me plays so in-person lessons are out.

As always, thanks! Short and choppy answers are fine. Or go nuts.
 
Last edited:
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#2
Cool guitar!

Get a steel “steel” - not wood. That’s where the steel in steel guitar comes from. Now, steels are a personal choice, but as a beginner and since you have a six string a dobro steel might work well - it has channeled finger holds and is curved on one end - very forgiving. If you go round, there’s diffferent lengths, diameters and weights - and you may need to experiment.

Amp - generally, you’ll want a clean sound unless your going for a Ben Harper/Robert Randolph kind of vibe. I use a Peavey Nashville 112 for pedal and straight steel and sometime my old Gibson Falcon for straight or lap.

There’s a guy called Troy Brenningmeyer that has a ton of great lesson snippets on YouTube. And his for-fee video lessons are quite affordable. He’s very systematic and his lessons make a lot of sense.

One more good resource is the “Steel Guitar Forum”...kinda like Talkbass for steel guitarists of all types - pedal, straight, lap, reso, Hawaiian, weissenborn etc.
 
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#7
DirtDog said:
Cool guitar!

Get a steel “steel” - not wood. That’s where the steel in steel guitar comes from. Now, steels are a personal choice, but as a beginner and since you have a six string a dobro steel might work well - it has channeled finger holds and is curved on one end - very forgiving. If you go round, there’s diffferent lengths, diameters and weights - and you may need to experiment.

Amp - generally, you’ll want a clean sound unless your going for a Ben Harper/Robert Randolph kind of vibe. I use a Peavey Nashville 112 for pedal and straight steel and sometime my old Gibson Falcon for straight or lap.

There’s a guy called Troy Brenningmeyer that has a ton of great lesson snippets on YouTube. And his for-fee video lessons are quite affordable. He’s very systematic and his lessons make a lot of sense.

One more good resource is the “Steel Guitar Forum”...kinda like Talkbass for steel guitarists of all types - pedal, straight, lap, reso, Hawaiian, weissenborn etc.
Click to expand...

By the way, just the "handle" on the Shubb is wood. :D
Shubb-GS1-2.jpg
 
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#9
That's a beautiful-looking instrument!
I know absolutely nothing about lap-steels except that in the hands of Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss' band and especially the Transatlantic Sessions TV series for a more celtic folk sound) they can sound truly beautiful.
In fact I've been toying with the idea of finding one myself despite not being a guitar-player at all.
Looking forward to hearing your progress.
 
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#10
Oddly said:
That's a beautiful-looking instrument!
I know absolutely nothing about lap-steels except that in the hands of Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss' band and especially the Transatlantic Sessions TV series for a more celtic folk sound) they can sound truly beautiful.
In fact I've been toying with the idea of finding one myself despite not being a guitar-player at all.
Looking forward to hearing your progress.
Click to expand...

Jerry Douglas is just about the best example of a resonator player that there ever was.
 
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#16
Other lap steel players are David Lindley and Ben Keith. Lindley worked a long time with Jackson Browne. That's him on the "slide" parts on the "Running On Empty" album. Keith was with Neil Young starting on "Harvest".

Another amp suggestion is to try a Peavey Delta Blues 115. 4 EL84 tubes in the power amp, a couple of 12AX7s in the pre, decent reverb, cool tremelo. They make/made a 210 version too which I have, but the 115 has a different character in the mids that might augment the slide with a 'bucker.
 
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#18
two fingers said:
So, my outlaws (translation: in-laws) are the BEST at giving Christmas gifts. They give you things you didn't know you wanted until you got one.

That leads me to this. It is one of only three ever made by a luthier down where they live. The craftsmanship seems fantastic. I know exactly zero about lap steel. I know even less about this one. But I am excited to give it a go!!!

Supposedly the guy milled the nut, string retainer, the plate at the base of the neck and saddles out of hunks of metal. All wood was done using hand or bench tools. Solid poplar with a rosewood board.

Pics then questions...
View attachment 2855444 View attachment 2855446 View attachment 2855447 View attachment 2855454

Pretty cool, huh?

So, talk to me about bar slides. I like the looks of the Shubb GS-1 Just because it's wood. Thoughts?

Picks. I know nothing. Whataya think? My fingers are big. Other than that I got nutn.

Tube combo. I want a cool amp for this thing. A buddy of mine has a custom amp that is made for guitar and uses a 15" guitar speaker. It sounds super cool when he plays slide. Are there any out there factory made like that? I'll probably wind up with a Blues Jr. or something but just curious about your thoughts.

Then just general advice about good video lessons. I don't think anyone near me plays so in-person lessons are out.

As always, thanks! Short and choppy answers are fine. Or go nuts.
Click to expand...

Get a metal bar slide.

Get an old Fender Vibro-champ and it will sound perfect for the same if not less than a blues junior.

I use either finger picks or thumb with no fingers or abnormal pick or none at all.

Learn open tunings quickly
 
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