Recommend a Lapsteel guitar....

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Recycled_Brains
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Recommend a Lapsteel guitar....

Post by Recycled_Brains » Tue Sep 20, 2011 1:43 pm

I know nothing about electric lapsteels, far as quality, sound, etc... goes.

Looking to get one in the near future. Are there some good ones in the 3-500 dollar range out there? Less? Seems like most of what I come up with in a google search is either entry level (cheap), used, or super expensive boutique stuff.

What about building one? Are there kits out there? That'd be fun.
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tonewoods
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Post by tonewoods » Tue Sep 20, 2011 2:39 pm

I have a lot of lap steels, and love old Rickys, Fender Champions, Supros, and lots of others...

I recently did a session and was handed a new Gretsch lap steel, and it sounded and played great....
And I think it was cheap.....

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Post by jgimbel » Tue Sep 20, 2011 4:33 pm

tonewoods wrote:I recently did a session and was handed a new Gretsch lap steel, and it sounded and played great....
And I think it was cheap.....
One of these puppies?
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-GRE-2515902-LIST
Image

$350's not a bad price, it'd be nice to hear they were decent instruments!
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Post by kslight » Tue Sep 20, 2011 7:54 pm

I don't know a damn thing about lap steel but I want the Moog Lap Steel...way spendy though..

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Ryan Silva
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Post by Ryan Silva » Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:08 pm

jgimbel wrote:
tonewoods wrote:I recently did a session and was handed a new Gretsch lap steel, and it sounded and played great....
And I think it was cheap.....
One of these puppies?
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-GRE-2515902-LIST
Image

$350's not a bad price, it'd be nice to hear they were decent instruments!
Recorded with this many times. I'll find an example tomorrow and post it.

Love this guitar.
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Recycled_Brains
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Post by Recycled_Brains » Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:40 am

Ryan Silva wrote:
jgimbel wrote:
tonewoods wrote:I recently did a session and was handed a new Gretsch lap steel, and it sounded and played great....
And I think it was cheap.....
One of these puppies?
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-GRE-2515902-LIST
Image

$350's not a bad price, it'd be nice to hear they were decent instruments!
Recorded with this many times. I'll find an example tomorrow and post it.

Love this guitar.
That looks cool. How's the pickup? Is it a P-90 style/size?

The guitar shop I use is a Gretsch dealer. Be sick if they had one I could try out.
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Ryan Silva
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Post by Ryan Silva » Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:21 am

jgimbel wrote:
tonewoods wrote:I recently did a session and was handed a new Gretsch lap steel, and it sounded and played great....
And I think it was cheap.....
One of these puppies?
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-GRE-2515902-LIST
Image

$350's not a bad price, it'd be nice to hear they were decent instruments!
Sample,
Lap Steel - Fender Blues Jr. NOS - BD m160 - API 512

right-click and save

http://www.floodplainstudio.com/06%20La ... 0Order.mp3
"Writing good songs is hard. recording is easy. "

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Rufer
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Post by Rufer » Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:56 am

Ryan Silva wrote:Sample,
Lap Steel - Fender Blues Jr. NOS - BD m160 - API 512

right-click and save

http://www.floodplainstudio.com/06%20La ... 0Order.mp3
Great song.

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tonewoods
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Post by tonewoods » Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:30 pm

Yeah, that Gretsch is the one, and the pickup is what I really liked about it.....
Great sound....

EDIT:

Whoa, just go grab this:

http://www.gretsch-talk.com/forum/buy-s ... steel.html

b.

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Post by vvv » Thu Sep 22, 2011 12:03 pm

A buddy just sent me a *.mp3 of him playing one and it sounded great.

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Post by themagicmanmdt » Thu Sep 22, 2011 1:43 pm

yeah, guys, but it's cheap because it's still made in giant korea factory town.

it's a shame that the gretsch name is made, mostly, in a kinda shitty cheap-y place. sure, they play good and OK and all....



i had an old ric lap steel. the things *sang*. beautiful. find one!
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Post by weatherbox » Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:50 pm

Bought an old Oahu Tonemaster last spring that sounds great. I was thinking about that Gretsch but the Oahu wasn't much more expensive and was definitely one of those "yea, this is the one" moments plugging it in. $400-500 should snag one. Solid build, big fat pickup. It felt a little more substantial and intuitive to me (not that my playing would display it.)

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Post by CraigS63 » Fri Sep 23, 2011 10:47 am

The Rogue Jersey Lightning is getting some good reviews over at steelguitarforum.com (no peddlers section)... Avoid the earlier Rogue models (really short scale, bad nut, etc.).

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Post by jgimbel » Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:23 pm

I actually ended up doing a mock lapsteel guitar today on a client's track, second time recording that kind of thing here within the month, so this thread just became all too relevant. I'm not expecting much, but anyone got experience with what seems to be the cheapest new lapsteel in production, the Rogue EA-3?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-tra ... nd-gig-bag

While I'm sure it's not the most amazing thing, I'm curious what the downsides of this one would be. It seems like pickups and tuners may vary a lot between lapsteels but it seems like as long as the geometry of the "frets" is decent then one should be able to get good sounds out of any lapsteel with a pickup, a bridge, strings, and tuners/a nut. I very well may be wrong but I'm curious why!
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Post by Rob Coates » Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:42 pm

The best lap steels currently made are Ashers. I also make some custom ones that are full scale (Gibson scale) with a chambered body. Mellow tone and light as a feather. Also inexpensive ($250.00) However, I don't make many and it takes me several weeks. Ashers are the best commercially made however. I wouldn't mess with any of those Chinese or Korean lap steels. They are junk. May sound OK for a while then the electronics and the tuners go south. You need very solid, tuners to handle the pressure of certain tunings that put a lot of extra tension on the strings. I tried one of those Rogues a few years ago. It was such an unusable piece of junk that it inspired me to start making my own.
RobCoates

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