New Member .. new lap steel advice needed!!

[Noseybonk]

Hi all

After doing much hunting around online i have been led to this forum ... i'm hoping to get some advice from yourselves as to what is my best way of going around in starting out on playing lap steel guitar. I have been playing guitar for around 12 years and am an advanced player, and i have heard usually guitarists take up to lap steel playing quite quickly. I have been doing a bit of hunting around to buy my first lap steel online, but a decent one seems few and far between at a price range of around 100 - 200 pounds. I want it to be good enough quality to learn on and also do things to a pro level with, kind of like a mid range guitar Epiphone/Pacifica etc if that kind of makes sense?? If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great, and if there's anywhere else online i can find a good source of lap steel guitars for sale, or if anyone has one that would be great!!! Please just respond to this thread or message me with any further info!!

Thanks in the meantime

NB X

[Shaun]

HI Bruce,

Welcome to the forum,

I moved from Bass onto Lap steel initially then onto Pedal Steel about 4 years ago. I bought a Jagard lap steel because it was a cheap way to try Steel Guitar out and see If I could take to it. I find it a great little guitar to play on and think it would be fine on gigs (I haven't got that far in my steel playing yet). Gerry Hogan sells then with a bag and legs. (http://www.steelguitars.co.uk). I use Scotty's book (Basic C6th Non Pedal Lap steel method) , I find it easy to understand and get on with.You can get the book on Gerry's site as well.

I'm sure more experienced players on here may have other suggestions.

They're a freindly bunch on here and always happy to help.

Good luck with your Steel Playing and have fun.

[James Crowbear]

Welcome to this great ward nooky-bonk
so you wanna play steel guitar huh ?
boy, you're better off learnin fly fishin' !
model railroad ? 3 deck man of war model ?
ok ok so you persist...
since you play guitbox, do you play using open tunings ?
slide, bottleneck ?
you do ! well then you're partly on the road to the holy land
steelin' tho' means playin' flat w: the thingamajig on your lap
(kinda like the wife or your dolly)
you can find some very nice ol' gibsons on ebay usa at some decent prices sometimes
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... Categories
as well as a bunch of other models :
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=lap ... m270.l1313
i'll tell you this tho' buster : don't buy no cheap chinese crap at 50£ - is that clear ?
do keep us informed, so we can help you avoid all the bad stuff & habits

[Noseybonk]

many thanks for reply!!

yeah i will have to have a good look around, although being from U.K i would have to look into high shipping prices but there is certainly a lot more choice on the USA ebay sales ...

i will have to keep looking, and if anyone else can help me that'd be great with regards to anything in the U.K at all that is for sale!!

cheers !

Noseybonk

[James Crowbear]

lap steels in their cases don't weigh that much ( compared to a psg !)
which means that they can be shipped postal air United States Postal Service : https://www.usps.com/
their rates are cheaper than UPS, FedEx, DHL
the trick is having " the declared value for customs " low & the insurance has to match it as well

[Noseybonk]

yeah ... i guess so! still struggling to locate something i really want, i think i;m not keen on getting one of them Angard things, i've been looking at a couple of Gretsch ones. Do you often get people shifting lap steels on this forum??

[Noseybonk]

also, there's a guy on here who's posted this for sale who i've messaged back, i'd be really interested in taking it off him if he still has it for sale ... its an 8 string one, so for an absolute beginner i know i'm shotting myself in at the deep end kind of, but most of the pros i have been watching use 8 strings so i feel its the right way to go about it?? http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/eight ... tem-full-4

[Donny Johnston]

Bruce, you should get on well with Bob Adams & Mark Daniels, don't you guys ever go to bed, Oh sorry, welcome to the site.

[James Crowbear]

the present day gretsch & fender lap steels are crap imo - made in china
now, the red 8 string job you linked us to looks like the right kind of steel
keep us posted & good luck

[Noseybonk]

Bruce, you should get on well with Bob Adams & Mark Daniels, don't you guys ever go to bed, Oh sorry, welcome to the site.

haha yeah mate i'm a bit of a nightowl of late, not sleeping well at all!! putting the time to good use though shopping for a new steel ..

yeah i just rang and left a voice mail about that red 8 string, waiting to see if he gets back to me but i have a feeling he'll have sold it. if not though we'll see, i'll let you know how i get on