Here is another lap steel. I still haven’t learned how to play these things, but I they are so cool, I had to make another. The simple lines and the art deco touches on this model were inspired by the vintage Supro lap steels. Unlike the originals (which were generally made from press board and mother of toilet seat), this guitar is made with quality components and hard wood . The body slab is a piece of Kaya (African mahogany). It sure is heavy, but at least it is meant to sit on the lap or a playing platform; I would hate to strap it around my neck. The top cap is a nice piece of zebrano (zebra wood). The fretboard is cocobolo with red fret markers and glittery red position markers (I had to do some experimenting to get that right). The electronics cavity cover and the bridge are also cocobolo. It has a bone nut and saddle. The string retention pins are chrome (kind of goes with the art deco theme).
The pickup is a custom wound model inspired by the old Supro pickups. It may not look quite like the old models, but the magnetic circuit is very similar. It consists of two coils wound around fat alnico slugs. The coils are connected in series in a reverse wound, reverse polarity configuration to cancel hum. The pickups have zebrano top plates to match the body top cap. Volume and tone controls finish out the electronics.
Simple yet elegant. It sure would sound good played by someone who knows what to do with it.