First guitar build - Red Gum Lap steel

[thewildharvest]

Hi all,

First post here on the forums - have been a lurker off and on for some time and learnt a lot from the wealth of knowledge here.

I thought I'd share my recently finished first instrument build - a basic lap steel guitar that I built as a gift for my father.

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Body: Red Gum - a very old piece, seasoned for 20+ years
Fretboard: Blackwood w/ maple fret markers and MOP dot inlays
Control cover & knobs: Blackwood
Nut: 2mm Aluminium angle
Bridge: Allparts Vintage-style Short Tele
Tuners: Gotoh chrome
Pickup: Mighty Mite P-90

I know the red gum was a bit of an unusual choice for an instrument body as it has a tendency to be unstable, but I took a gamble knowing the piece was so well seasoned, and retained a lot of the original thickness. I shaped the body and let it sit for a good 6 months before completing the project, and checked that it hadn't warped.

The gamble paid off in the end - the whole thing resonates beautifully with a very warm, woody sound with loads of sustain. It's probably more bass-heavy than most commercial lap steels (at a guess... I actually haven't played any...). The P90 seems to be a good match - complementing the warmth of the guitar yet having enough clarity to still sing and not be too muddy.

I'm hooked now and am ready to start building another for myself - the only problem is the lack of another piece of red gum... so I'm wondering if I should roll the dice again and gamble with another native species (ironbark?), or seek out a supplier.

I have plenty of other timber available - mostly ironbark and yellow stringy, with a bit of blackwood, cypress, walnut and other odds and ends.

Anybody else had experience building solid body guitars with (unorthodox) native timber species?

I'm keen enough to start building the next one that I'll probably just use whatever's on hand... the great thing about building lap steels is that there's not too much effort required to shape a piece to the point where I can chuck on a bridge and tuners and see how it sounds...

Thanks for reading - any feedback for the next build appreciated!

Cheers,
Gabe

[orraloon]

Gabe,
It looks good.
Regards
John

[Cliff Rogers]

Do you have a good bit of the walnut?

I have some set aside in the shed that I think would make a good neck.

[thewildharvest]

Do you have a good bit of the walnut?

I have some set aside in the shed that I think would make a good neck.

Possibly enough for a lap steel, or a couple of necks, but nothing wide enough for a single-piece solidbody.

Would love to make a Walnut bass guitar - have seen some beautiful commercial examples.

[kamusur]

G'day there Gabe, that looks very nice..bet your Dad's happy with it. The wooden knobs hit the spot to.

Steve

[old_picker]

mmm tasty - love the 1/2 tele bridge and the p90

[Jef Long]

Nice one.
ive done a few necks of lammed up redgum decking, works great and looks real pretty