All Things Lap Steel!

[Zork]

Thanks. Except... it doesn't work.

The tension of the strings bends the thing upwards:


...resulting in a very bad break angle over the bridge:


As if this wasn't enough, with the plate under the bridge, the pickup is very far away from the strings. I thought it wouldn't be too bad, but the P13 hasn't got a very high output to begin with. Now the whole guitar is very silent and dull sounding. I need to get that pickup closer to the strings.


I think I'm just sell it, get a Gretsch G5715 and drill the Certano just straight in. Or I go full on modding on the Silvertone, put good tuners in, change the pots for something with a useful taper and change the fixed cable for a jack socket. But, you know, it would make it a cool player, but on the other side, this guy is 70 years old...

[repoman]

Is there a way you could make another plate that is somewhat slimmer (0.190" stock is easy to get) to lower the break angle and leave it extended beyond the screws toward the head so it will have a foot infront of the point at which it wants to rotate (the screws)?

Is the plate itself bending or is the entire thing pivoting from the screws not securing it down on the body with enough force?

[Zork]

Is there a way you could make another plate that is somewhat slimmer (0.190" stock is easy to get) to lower the break angle and leave it extended beyond the screws toward the head so it will have a foot infront of the point at which it wants to rotate (the screws)?

Is the plate itself bending or is the entire thing pivoting from the screws not securing it down on the body with enough force?

Uh, that's actually a brilliant idea! Unfortunately, it does indeed bend the plate and doesn't pivot on the screws. It mounts very stable. Maybe aluminum is just the wrong material.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah I think that's the issue. One way to fix it would be to get the thinner plate as suggested, but drill through the plate where you've tapped for the bender fixing screws, to put the screws right through into the body of the guitar. The force will then go into these screws/wood, so there is a risk of stripping them if the string tension is too high but if you get good screw engagement in the body this'll stop the bending of the Al plate.


Another option is to use a stronger material as you mentioned. I like your thinking, this is a neat project!!

Another another option would be to use a material profile with greater resistance to bending e.g. a steel 'u' channel of the right size (or you could route out a block into whatever profile you like if you've got that capability. EDIT I'm dumb I thought about this some more and it doesn't work because it bends where it meets the flat plate under the bridge


I think fundamentally with any materials this thin you're likely to get some bending unless you anchor it to the wood at the back end.

[dubkitty]

steel or brass. i'd try brass first, but it might be too brittle.

[coldbrightsunlight]

Yeah steel is a better bet for this, but I still reckon you're better off screwing to the body anyway to reinforce the whole assembly

[dubkitty]

well, yeah. in that case you wouldn't need a workaround at all

[coldbrightsunlight]

Oh yeah this also negates the point of the plate in the first place I should pay more attention.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

So, after Zork pointing them out above, I added a Reverb alert for the Recording King jobbie, and one came up today — nice price from a Canadian dealer. So it's now inbound!

[coldbrightsunlight]

I have one and it's pretty solid. Enjoy!

[ognoy]

I've had a Recording King lapsteel for 8 years now. Great piece of fear. Been thinking about swapping the pickup, but then I play it and I'm happy with the way it sounds. Have put a Duesenberg Multibender on it, but I use that rarely. Need to practice more.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I've considered fitting one of those benders for a while, but I feel weird doing a mod that costs more than the guitar I agree about the pickup, I'm always pleasantly surprised how good it sounds when I plug it in.

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

[leans into intercom]

"Hold all my calls."

[Chankgeez]

[coldbrightsunlight]

wooo