Project II

[nevada150]

I enjoyed my first project so much, which is shown on this forum, so I decided to knock up another Lap Steel.
I started with an old Strat neck that I beefed up using a piece of beech and some mouldings to stop bending & twisting when strung and tuned (to C6th or A6th)
The body was made from a piece of scaffold board, which as we know are mainly made from Pine. I traced around the body of my Lag tenor Ukulele for the shape and then got to it sanding off the cement and boot marks! My only tools are 2 hand saws, a 1" wood chisel and a 1968 Black and Decker drill, so it's a labour intensive job for me. Obviously I have a good selection of drill bits, files and the like.
Marrying the neck to the body took all of my limited woodworking skills, but I managed without having to use too much filler at the joint. I used the tried and tested Fender method of bolting them together, plus a liberal amount of strong wood glue.
Once again, I purchased a fantastic Abalone/Mother of Pearl inlaid Rosewood fingerboard from Bruce Wei (£35 inc postage)
The pickup is a Warmouth overwound Tele bridge unit which has plenty of "beef" if you need it. At the moment I'm using a standard ashtray Tele style bridge, but that will be modded to get rid of the adjustable saddles and a fixed one piece saddle fitted, which I'm working on.
After sealing and sanding the project I finished it with Aerosol car spray from Halfords (Rover Nightfire Red) and then assembled it all.
The control plate and neck screw cover are black mottled 3-ply plastic and the pots are 500k. I'm very pleased with the final product and already thinking about making a twin-neck in the near future. If the next scaffold board is OK, I'll trry to give it a "natural" finish with a light stain, as Pine grain is quite nice.
Here's a picture of the "Plank "

[Uncle Roy]

Very Pretty Keith, Now lets hear how it sounds please.

[malaz]

Hi Keith,
Looks fantastic mate!
Do you keep your projects for yourself, or are they put up for sale to the unsuspecting public?
Michael Z

[nevada150]

Hi Malaz,
Thanks for your comments.
At present I'm keeping the guitars for myself, but if and when I get very good at fabrication, I might sell something. ext project will be a twin neck with 25.5" and 22.5" necks.
Regards,
Keith.