Homemade Lap Steel

About ten years ago, I played a show with my old cheap lap steel an hour south from Portland, in Salem, Oregon.  After finishing the show, packing up and hitting the road back home, my car's lights started to dim.  Next thing I know the engine stops and I'm coasting off the highway up an off-ramp just outside of Portland.  Dead alternator.   I starting pushing the car into a parking lot, when some guy yells, "bro, let me help you!"  A really nice random guy stopped, helped me push my car, packed my guitar rig up, and gave me a lift home.  I miss old Portland.  After getting home and unloading what I thought was all my guitar stuff, I realized I'd probably left my lap steel in that random strangers car trunk.  I suppose it would have been a nice parting gift for the good samaritan, however most people probably would just see the lap steel as a guitar with really high, unplayable action.  

The simplicity of that lap steel led me to thinking.  I decided building my own lap steel would probably be a fairly easy task, considering there is no action or truss rod with fine tuning.  I just had to get the fret markings and bridge mount carefully measured.  I found this site years ago and had always wanted to try it. http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lapsteel/ I found it to be extremely helpful. At the beginning last year after tearing a fretboard off of a bass neck to swap truss rods, I had a bunch of extra cheap looking rosewood. I ended up tearing the frets off of the old bass fretboard and turning it around to saw new fret markers on the other side.  I painted the new "frets" and markers.  I kind of copied the design of a Rickenbacker and some old lap steels fret marker styles.  I thought the straight line at the edge of the painted frets would act as a good guide while playing. 

I pretty much followed that sites instructions step-by-step.  I did make a few changes however.  I had only hand tools, so the headstock cut I changed to a more sloped one.   I also made the control cavity a bit larger for a tone knob.  I also regrettably tried to make the finish a sparkle finish.  Which I got the idea from this old thread on a tele forum.  the-emeraldcaster-project-aka-son-of-meloncaster

The finish proved to be the hardest and most time consuming.  I basically started painting a base coat of black acrylic, then sprayed a light coat or clear coat and started lightly shaking the glitter on the wet clear coat.  (Warning:  do this over a box to catch the glitter.  It isn't called the herpes of the art world for nothing)  I then started added what seemed like hundreds of coats of clear coat.  He's where

I almost messed it up.  I got impatient and decided to add clear lacquer to speed up the process.  Firstly, lacquer, it turns out dries a lot slower when put on thick.  Mistake number one.  And my second mistake was trying to layer the lacquer.  Lacquer is extremely solvent and melts already dried layers of lacquer and acrylic.  I found gas bubbles and all sorts of nightmares in the finish.  I also had to wait even longer for everything to dry.  So, my finish never turned out extremely smooth.  Even after multiple layers and wet sanding.  Sparkles aren't the easiest finish for a guitar.  If I had to do it again, I'd try to make everything thinner, and keep to one paint type.

The other thing I would have done differently, would be the bridge choice.  The Les Paul Jr. bridge is very simple, easy to mount, and small.  However the direction the strings pull at the bridge is slightly upwards and towards the neck.  I found the wood I had used was a bit too soft to hold the bridge perfectly straight upwards.  It has a slight tilt, even after wood glue and shims.  I think I would opt for something with a screw-on mount like a Strat bridge one a raised piece of wood.

All and all, the guitar is playable and looks good enough.  It was a learning experience.  I might get a better pickup in the future and raise it's position.   I finally have a unique replacement lap steel.  

New headstock slop

Measure 3 times!

Gluing the fret board on

Not the smoothest finish

Basic Telecaster wiring with out a switch.  Also a lifesaving 1250 V ground "fuse".

First Music Video (Maybe Last)

Office Destruction!!!

I Hate Your Band (Free Stream)

I Hate Your Band (New Punk CD)

That same old collective of enraged expats living in Japan came together for yet another album.  And by album I mean 13 songs coming in at 8 minutes.  I recorded and mixed this, and managed to add guitar work to it with a fractured arm.  Everything and everyone in Fukuoka, slagged by this group of A-holes.  No one is safe.  Even ourselves.  All our grievances in a minute or less per song.  The full CD can be downloaded here: I Hate Your Band

youtube stream coming soon. 

CD Release Party

We put together a little lineup of bands and people we like at a venue we like. Should be a good time with good people. 

Godzilla Snacks - Bender

Out now for streaming and download. Only 19 CD's sold at shows or by special requests. 新しいCDストリーミングとダウンロード。 CDはライブにあります
https://godzillasnacks.bandcamp.com/album/bender

Cheap Truss Rod Swap!

So by no means am I a luthier.  I don't recommend this procedure for every guitar.  I had a cheap bass that was unplayable and ready to be turned into firewood.  If you have a guitar that's not worth the cost of fixing, this could be an option, only if you're willing to part with the guitar if something goes wrong.

Removing the fretboard with a common iron

I bough this old Epiphone Thunderbird body and neck for about $15 off a scrap pile in a store here in Japan 3 years ago. After making a nut and trying to adjust everything I learned an important lesson. Loosen up the truss rod nut first on an old rusty neck and put some lube on it before you ever try to tighten it. While trying to fine tun the neck bow I snapped the truss rod. My heart sank. I got the bass up and running, but there was always so much bow in the neck, that it was painful to play. The strings were probably about 3/4s of and inch over the frets.  I mostly used it in a down tuning so I got away with it for a while. Replacing the neck would be tricky as the neck pocket was smaller than most p-basses and jazz basses.

Junk neck with fretboard and truss rod removed

Fast forward to this spring, I was rummaging through another free scrap heap in a guitar store and found a cheap Chinese looking neck that looked about the right size for my Bird. It was! However it was a 24 fret neck and the mounting position would make the scale totally wrong. So the neck sat there for a few months bothering me. I tried thinking of ways I could mod the neck, everything. Then not long ago I just decided, "hell, let's rip off the fretboards on these necks and see if I can just swap truss rods."

So, I opened up a weird chili beer I found, grabbed my clothing iron, puddy knife and hammer and went to work. Knowing that one of these ideas would be a mistake. But, a cheap learning experience.  I slowly worked the knife with the iron on the top frets moving up the neck;giving nudges with the hammer as needed. It worked!  Turns out this is the way pros remove fretboards. 

New Truss Rod installed

So, I get both fretboards off and notice the cheapo free one had a nice strong and new looking truss rod. However the receiving neck had a much thinner rusty truss rod. I needed to route out that channel a bit thicker for the new truss rod. No power tools. To the hardware store and I get some hand chisels. 2 hours later with some sandpaper, I have the new truss rod flush with the neck.

I buy 5 C-clamps at the dollar store and a few cheap stamp pads, and glue the fretboard back with wood glue I bought in the States. Taping off the nut end to block the glue from seeping in.

Re-gluing the Fretboard

Surprisingly the instructions said only 24 hours to dry was enough. I waited a bit longer. No creaks, no cracks. Put it together.  Low action. It's worked.  I now have a functional truss rod.  I saved a cheapo cool looking bass for little money and a little sweat. 

Here she is!

Total costs:
Junk Neck $0
Glue $4
C-Clamps $5
Hand Wood Tools $8
Sandpaper $3
Rubber Pads $3
Hammer and Puddy Knife $5
Already owned the iron.

So a job that could have cost well over $300 costed $28 total.   Pretty good option for a guitar that wasn't worth the professional repair cost. 

Playing with Two Amps. Stereo vs Slaving and Fun With FX Loops

 WARNING:  Never power on your amp and play it without a speaker connected.  Always have a speaker connected (or a speaker load).  If you don't you will fry your amp and it will be costly. 

Stereo Rigs

There are lots of options when you realize you want to start playing with two amps live.  The tone you can dial in with two differently voiced amps and cabinets can be very full and amazing.  You may never go back to playing a single amp again.  Although lunging around two heads and cabs to every show is not for everyone.  Let's look at some options on connecting your stereo rig.

The easiest and cheapest route is to simply get a Y instrument cable and plug straight in.  It is highly likely you will run into ground hum.  You can buy an audio isolation transformer to remedy this.  However this method leaves you with the fewest options.

Y Cable

 The next option is to get a ABY box, which will allow you to switch between amps or play both at the same time or just one amp at a time.  This gives you a lot of control over the voicing and dynamics.  Not all ABY boxes are created equal however.  The best ones will offer you a ground lift to defeat ground hum.  The Radial Big Shot seems to be one of the better boxes on the market.  

ABY Box

Now lets say you like playing with a lot of modulation or delay effect pedals.  Many of these offer stereo outputs which can sound huge and psychedelic.  Pop a stereo Chorus, Tremolo, Flanger, Phaser, or Delay at the end of your FX chain to split the signal to both amps.  Again, you'll probably have ground hum, so try to find an audio isolation transformer to plug one of the outs into.

Through a Stereo Pedal

Amp Slaving and Daisy Chaining

Now lets talk about Slaving, Daisy Chaining and FX Loops.  Slaving is basically taking one amp and sending it's preamp to the power amp of another amp, bypassing the preamp of the slave amp.  Why would you want to do this?  Seems like a waste right?  Well, it can be a solution to a problem I run into a lot here in Japan.  Most clubs have a backline of amps which depending on the venue, that amp might not have enough volume or power you're looking for.  I like the dirty sound of most of the Marshalls these clubs have, but sometimes they are lower wattage or under serviced and just not cutting it.  In this case I'll take the FX loop send of my Marshall (master amp) and run it into the FX loop return of another amp(slave amp).  It simply uses the power amp of the slave amp to boost the volume.  Sometimes you might want to do this for a smaller low wattage amp that has great tone, but low volume.  Maybe you might get a different EQ from the slave amp's speakers.  Hell, I've been know to use a bass amp as a slave amp.  Sometimes the other amp might not have the distortion tone you're looking for, but it has the power.  In my case, most clubs in Japan have a Roland Jazz Chorus.  Great loud clean amp, but the distortion channel just isn't my thing. It should be noted the slave amp will usually not have EQ control.  We are bypassing it. 

Amp Slaving

So that's one solution for an under powered amp,  but if we have a lot of effect pedals, we can also run a "wet"(effect pedals into)amp and a "dry" amp(no effects).  This will give you the clarity of your normal guitar tone with all the effect pedals only going into the slave amp.  It will sound like two different amps and offer more depth of sound.  To do this, we again run the FX loop send of the Master amp into our modulation or time based effect pedals, then into the FX loop return of the Slave amp. 

"wet" "dry" amp slaving

There is another method to linking amps that don't have an FX loop.  We can daisy chain most amps with dual inputs, such as an old Marshall JMP or most Fender styled amps.  JMPs  have 4 inputs.  A low and high input for two channels, bright and normal.  Many people "jumped" these channels by linking a patch cord from the low input of the bright channel to the high input of the normal channel.  This allowed both channels to mix, offering more tone control.  We can use this same idea and take the lower input of one amp and link it to another amps input.  This will run through the second amps preamp, so we can dial each amp.  Hendrix was know to do this with two or three JMP heads.  Sometimes he simply used the Y cable technique. 

Daisy chaining or Linking amps

FX Loops

Lastly, since we're on the topic of FX Loops, lets clarify what they are and what's going on with them.  Your amp has a preamp which controls your EQ and a lot of times the gain or drive of the amp.  A lot of people like the sound of preamp distortion, so this is the source of that.  When we use effect pedals, sometimes we want our delays, reverbs or modulation pedals to come after the amp distortion.  To do this, we can take the send of the FX loop into the input of the pedal or pedals we want to come after the amp distortion, and take the output of the last pedal back into the FX loop return.  Sometimes these "send" and "returns" are labeled differently, such as "preamp out".   Most people prefer the sound of their tubescreamers, fuzzs, and distortion or boost pedals in front of the amp.  Going into the regular guitar input.  Because these gain pedals interact with the preamp.  Lots of people like the clarity of delays or modulation pedals, coming after this distortion or gain.  Some pedals you many find are over powering in the FX loop.  I perfer my Phase 90 in front of my amp.  In the FX loop it is just too overbearing for my tastes.  Maybe try an EQ pedal in the FX loop, and dial in your tone even more.  Or boost it.  There are no real rules, so experiment and have fun. 

FX Loop configuration

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How to Piss Off the Soundguy

I've noticed a striking increase in crappy behavior towards sound folks lately.  Let's face it, there is plenty you can do to upset them.  But the one thing that needs to be stopped is musicians going out on the floor to judge the mix.  Some people take pride in their work and you jumping out on the floor to listen shows no confidence in the job the sound person is doing.  You might as well be hovering over their shoulder shouting spittle laced pointers, while putting your grubby hands all over their board.  It's that offensive.  You're probably a mediocre musician playing in a local joint, where everyone is super drunk just to get through the night you're about to give them.  The sound guy probably has more experience than you and probably has been working in the room you're playing many more times than you.  Stop it.  Be polite.  Maybe learn their name.  If you need something in the monitor than say what you need.  Also, if you're playing super loud, understand the PA won't always keep up with you in some places.  Don't pull the shitty rock star attitude with the sound guy.  It's your fault. 

I've seen a recent string of these actions.  The last chick who pulled it had her shitty sounding Metal Zone blasting out of a 130 watt amp ear fucking me.  It's going to sound like shit no matter what sweetie.  Then she gets upset when the PA can't keep up with the amp.  Wouldn't want to miss a second of that guttural noise escaping your herpes riddled mouth.  It's been a week and I think the tinnitus in my ears has finally stopped. 

Post-Script:  Also don't give blowjobs on stage unless your job is a sex worker.  (Yes, I actually saw this the week before)