Whopper Strings on Lap Steel

That's some heavy strings! Tried pulling pedal steel licks behind the bar with those? :wink:
The lipstick pickup you're waiting for, is that a GFS?

Don't think I can do much pulling with these!

I'm enjoying the setup for now. Not necessarily the best for all around use, but I had the big strings and wanted to find a use for them. They'll keep me busy for a while.

The lipstick? Actually I bid on a GFS a little below retail price on their eBay store site, then ran across a similar one brand named Artec at a music store even cheaper. (I notice the non GFS branded ones are scattered on eBay as well.) Most likely identical items from the same Chinese factory, though the Artec is said to contain AlNiCo 5 and the GFS site says theirs has AlNiCo 3 in it. (Danelectro used AlNiCo 6 and only wound to 4.7K or so with 42 gauge wire.) Usually if you've just bid the opening bid on something on eBay you'll get outbid by closing, but if I end up with two, one of them will go in this SX.

Letting the topic drift yet further, I've been thinking about cheap 8 strings. Being in the home town of Morrell Music, I'm going to go look at their Pro 8-string. I believe I could get one out the door with case for $240, plus our 9.25% sales tax, but no shipping. I've heard of some issues with bridge and pickup placement with them, but I do have the advantage of being able to look and try. They use a Kent Armstrong made Danelectro type lipstick, with the original vintage 4.9K winding. That lipstick's plenty wide enough for 8 strings, which of course the Strat modified version isn't. (Danelectro used the same lipstick on their basses, which is why they're so wide.) For some reason Morrell makes their lap steels with the strings spaced closer at the nut than at the bridge, like a "Spanish" guitar. Not too hard to replace a nut, though.

I may look and run, though. I know their starter 6 string has always negatively impressed me with its crudity. I thought my $60 Artisan was a step up from the beginner Morrell. (The guy who designed it and some of the guys who build them are people I've hung out with at the store. Sorry guys, you can do better!)

I sent a request to Kurt at Rondo for an SX 8 string, with some suggestions for how it could be done. He passed it along to SX.

Don't go for the Morrell,- Dynalap offer kits that have received great reviews all over, for only $230!! http://dynalap.com/

Wow, I hadn't heard of that. That's a WAY nicer instrument than the Morrell, and finishing a kit like that would be great fun! Thanks for the tip!

The #01 is really cool, but the #02 (the one at the top with the contrasting "wings") really floats my boat!

Hmmm, purpleheart or walnut?

Yeah, I agree, the one on the top is the coolest - obviously inspired by the National Dynamic and very 'art deco'.
All the reviews on the Steel Guitar Forum are very positive, haven't read on negative comment about them yet, so I don't think you can go wrong with one of these.

Interesting kits.

Question for you two: I've nearly completed my from-scratch lapsteel and soon will file the nut notches and, if necessary, the bridge. Do the top contact points of each string all lie in the same plane -- meaning no unevenness or curve? I'm trying to decided if should I sink the larger gauge strings "into" the bridge and nut as required to compensate for their thicknesses and provide a level playing surface across the strings?

On a lap steel you have to think 'opposite' of a regular guitar - on a guitar you measure the string height/curve against the fretboard, on a steel you measure it against the steel bar. Which is perfectly flat of course, so yes, it's best to make deeper slots for the bigger strings to make the surface as flat as possible.
It's most important at the nut, the bridge is not so critical - my Asher Junior uses a Gibson style stop tailpiece for bridge and its radius has never bothered me. But in general - the flatter the better..

On a lap steel you have to think 'opposite' of a regular guitar - on a guitar you measure the string height/curve against the fretboard, on a steel you measure it against the steel bar. Which is perfectly flat of course, so yes, it's best to make deeper slots for the bigger strings to make the surface as flat as possible.
It's most important at the nut, the bridge is not so critical - my Asher Junior uses a Gibson style stop tailpiece for bridge and its radius has never bothered me. But in general - the flatter the better..

perfect answer and info: I also happen to be using LP junior tailpiece and wondered if it would require significant work to "fix the curve," as well as compensate the thickest strings. good to learn it's not so critical. my nut is cut from the corner section of L-channel aluminum stock. I can easily do whatever it takes at that end.

What Steinar said. However, on this steel with the outsized strings that don't fit the nut, I've got about half of the .070" sixth string sticking out above the nut, maybe a third of the .052" fifth string, a quarter or so of the .038" fourth string, and a fifth of the .028" third string. The .020" second string is just a hair proud of the nut, and the .017" first string actually fits in the slot. They'd all be on a steady slant except for that bulky .070". As long as I keep a moderate pressure on the steel, it works fine at the first fret, and if I'm sliding quickly down to the nut I don't notice a problem. A slow slide down there would doubtless pull off of the fifth string and maybe the fourth a little before getting to the nut.

Hey Steinar, I have a Dynalap on the way. Talked to Mark Vinbury a bit and did a LOT of thinking and planning about a kit, then ran across a gentleman from Louisiana selling his all-purpleheart Dynalap that he says was built and finished by Mark, at a very reasonable price. It's en route.

Looks good - congrats! :D
There's a recent thread on the Steel Guitar Forum where people are singing the praise of these - again - so I don't think you will regret it. Let's know what you think when you've had it for a couple days!

8)

That may take a bit. FedEx misrouted it, and this afternoon it was on the way to be delivered to someone in Rantoul, Illinois tomorrow! The seller called them, and they were going to try to intercept it in Memphis and reroute it.

Being my first 8-string, it'll take some adjusting no matter what tuning I put it into. (I think E7. I've just gotten Darick Campbell's Sacred Steel video.) I can barely keep up with 6 strings now.
:lol:

It'll probably take a little time getting used to the narrower string spacing, at least it did for me, I kept hitting the wrong strings all the time... :oops:

Here's my favorite 8-string tuning, I think the top strings are pretty much the same as Campbell's:

E
C#
B
G#
E
C# / D (the D makes it an E13 tuning)
B
E

I think the D makes it an E7 and the C# makes it an E6.

I haven't watched the video yet to see exactly which variant Darick uses, but it's supposed to be an E7 of some sort.

The standard string spacing on the Dynalap is 3/8", meaning the overall string width is 2 5/8". Mark will make one with 11/32" string spacing on request, for those who want pedal steel spacing. The pickups are wound by Jerry Wallace, who specializes in pedal steel pickups. Apparently he'll make 8 pole pickups with either spacing.

I've been over on your MySpace site listening to your music earlier this evening, BTW. I always love it!