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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 8:10 am
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asgeirman wrote:
Further into my ignorance I was wondering- are there any lap steels for sale with frets ? I have a lap steel - and that has just got markers on the ''fret''board

There are indeed types with actual frets and a nut that can be raised and lowered.
I believe one of David Gilmour's lap steels is of this type.

Then there are some of the real antique ones, which were basically classical guitar necks with a tiny sound box at the end.


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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 11:56 am
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This looks like it takes some serious skill. Are you playing in this style already or looking for a new challenge?

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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 12:13 pm
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I'm no man (or woman) of steel, but have you considered a Dobro? Some of those are made to be fretted, some can be played only with a slide and often the ones made for fretting are actually usable either way. Some of the metal bodied ones (but not all) have rounded backs though and you'd need a flat back for lap use. Electric ones are scarce primarily because they are pretty loud anyway and came before amps came into use, but the non-electric ones can be miked. Supro and National made a lot of them during the 1960's. There are both square neck backs exclusively for lap use and round neck backs which work best for traditional guitar style play. I don't think a dulcimer is the way to go here though.


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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2014 2:28 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
I'm no man (or woman) of steel, but have you considered a Dobro? Some of those are made to be fretted, some can be played only with a slide and often the ones made for fretting are actually usable either way. Some of the metal bodied ones (but not all) have rounded backs though and you'd need a flat back for lap use. Electric ones are scarce primarily because they are pretty loud anyway and came before amps came into use, but the non-electric ones can be miked. Supro and National made a lot of them during the 1960's. There are both square neck backs exclusively for lap use and round neck backs which work best for traditional guitar style play. I don't think a dulcimer is the way to go here though.


Now that's interesting - I'll check that out for sure.

I'm trying to expand - I play a whole bunch of instruments badly, and want to add more, preferably growing into them using some of the skills I already have.

An upright electric bass is also on the wish list.


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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 10:49 pm
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I had one of those "extension nuts" for something like 30 years, and never really did anything with it.
It looks just like this one - Image
I think I wanted to put it on my dreadnought acoustic and try some dobro-style playing, during my Bluegrass phase.

Recently though, the fit came upon me to try it on a spare electric guitar, and I played around with it using improvised steels and bottlenecks and such. It just didn't really sound or feel right until I invested in a proper guitar steel, similar to this one:
Image
It has the mass to keep it from sounding tinny, and is easy to lift off the strings.

One other thing I had to do was to replace a broken D string with a used G from a heavier gauge set. This allows me to tune it up to a C with a fair amount of confidence, for a C6 tuning.

Now I have to work on the thumb and fingerpicking, finding a few favourite tunings, and get used to using thumb and finger picks. If I like it, then I might think about getting a proper lap steel guitar some day. Meanwhile, I haven't sunk too much money into it.

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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 4:27 am
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I have zero knowledge myself about them . Having said that though , I've always loved the sound of a steel guitar having listened to my mom's classic C&W albums as a kid. You don't hear too much of that sound in today's Country Music which IMO, seems to be pop oriented. I would love to see that classic sound make a come back.


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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 4:31 am
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I remember as a kid trying a Fender steel that my uncle was given for therapy after his open heart surgery. The first thing I did was tune it to what I knew from my acoustic. I hadn't been told that I could use his steel guitar, but I hadn't been told not to . . . so, being that I was his favourite nephew and godchild, I decided to join Santo and Johnny in their quest for perfection. After the tuning, it sounded terrible. I couldn't return it to the original tuning, not knowing what it was. Busted. Thankfully, I had a great uncle.

Like John, I have a connection with the Maritimes and I remember the popularity of lap steels in one form or another. Arthl, I commend you for wanting to learn this skill. The picking alone is an art form. Best of luck in your choice.

Meanwhile, here's something to hold you over, or for the rest of us. :D



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Post subject: Re: Any man of steel here?
Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2016 6:17 am
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I had one of each of those more years ago than I'd like to remember. Late 50's I'm sure of.

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