where to buy wood for lap steel build????

[Doug Anderson]

I'm in process of trying to build a small travel lap steel. It will be headless so shorter than normal.

I'm looking for a piece of wood that is about 1" thick about 4" wide and about 24" long.

Any suggestions of where to buy this? I'm striking out on an internet search in the Minneapolis area where I live.

If I want it to be thin and light, do you think a 3/4 or 1" board is thick enough OR do I need 1.5" thick,

Can I just buy from a local mill or Home Depot? What should I be looking for? Does it need to be "kiln dried" or any other requirement. Any resources or articles welcome.

I'm looking for something slightly nicer looking than just a 2x4.

[David Venzke]

Maybe check out Wood From the Hood

https://woodfromthehood.com/urban-lumbe ... mber-yard/

[BJ Burbach]

I wanted a quick extra that was minimalist, but long scale and after some testing, settled on two pieces of 3/4" maple, screwed together. I just got some from Home Depot for ten dollars and looked to find a nice straight piece. Not so light, but it does sound real good and hardly ever goes out of tune. Still like it just fine. Maybe pine would work, but won't sustain as well, I'll bet.
I almost tried that extruded 1/8" aluminum square tube, but they don't let me use power tools anymore.
https://www.amazon.com/Wall-Aluminum-Re ... r=8-5&th=1
After we yak for a few days, we should move this to the Building folder, though.
BJ

stringthingster3.jpeg

[Gary Meixner]

Doug,

I did a quick search online and found Iversons Hardwoods in Minneapolis. I would give them a try

https://www.iversonhardwoods.com/

You shouldn't be too concerned about species; any common domestic hardwood should work fine. Folks may have a preference for one wood over the other, and it is true different species will have discernable differences in tone, but all will fall into the "sounds pretty damn good" category.

There are many factors that affect tone and sustain: wood may be the single greatest contributor, but there are many other factors that can influence the sound produced. Don't fixate too much - Ash, Maple, Poplar, Walnut, and Mahogany, if you can find it, are common choices for lap steels. Pick something that is the right dimensions, fits your budget and looks good to you.

Anything you buy from a retail hardwood merchant is most likely kiln dried. Most hardwood dealers, and Iversons looks legitimate to me but I have never been there, can usually do some basic milling if necessary.

I wouldn't go too thin. I would shoot for a finished dimension of no less than 1 1/4" and consider 1 1/2" to be better. You need to maintain some stiffness and provide reasonable mass but also the wood will need to be thick enough to mount your pickups, tone and volume controls, tuners and 1/4" jack.

Hardwoods dimensions are usually listed on a price sheet by their rough thickness in 1/4" increments: 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 8/4 and so on. The finished dimension is usually 3/16" to a 1/4" less than their rough dimension. A board of Ash that is sold as 8/4 stock will finish out to 1 3/4". You of course can have an 8/4 board planned to a finished dimension of 1 1/2" but you will be paying for an 8/4 piece of wood, plus milling costs, although some dealers will offer that at little or no charge. Some might have a minimum rate.

Usually hardwoods are sold by " the board foot" which is a volume measure equal to a piece of wood that is (rough) 1" X 12" X 12" or 144 cubic inches. To get your piece of material in a finished dimension of 1 1/2" X 4" X 24", you will most likely need a rough piece of wood that is at least 8/4" X 5" X 30" or 2 x 5 x 30 / 144 or 2.08 board feet. If 8/4 ash sells for $8.00 per board foot that piece will cost you around $16.00 plus milling or any other up charges the dealer applies. Beware you will probably need to buy an entire board as most dealers won’t cut a board and sell you only the part that you want. I could get into details of lumbers grades but that isn’t necessary at this point.

Some dealers will have boards prepared in finished dimensions and sold per piece or per linear foot at a set price that is more than the equivalent board foot price. Use your best judgment. You will most likely need to except you are paying for a waste factor of 30% or more and the time spent getting the piece to a finished width and thickness.

Having spent many years in the retail hardwood lumber business I can tell you much of the cost associated with buying a piece of lumber comes from milling, shipping, drying, sorting, grading, more sorting, generating waste, getting rid of waste, more milling, more sorting, more waste, stacking, restacking and business overhead. It is hard to imagine the number hands that have touched that piece of lumber prior to you purchasing it – that equals a lot of splinters.

Good luck,

Gary Meixner

[Greg Forsyth]

My suggestion is contact your local cabinets shops & ask if they have a piece of scrap wood that fit your parameters. Poplar is an inexpensive hardwood that is light, a good paint grade material and would make a good travel guitar. Make sure the wood is straight.
Also if you plan on adding electronics a 1-1/2" thickness would work better than 1" th material

[Michael Kiese]

I'm looking for a piece of wood that is about 1" thick about 4" wide and about 24" long.

If your entire steel is 24" long, then your scale length might end up shorter than 22.5".

I'd caution against scale lengths shorter than 22.5". I have an el cheapo Harley Benton lap steel I bought on a whim. Its scale length is 20.86 inches, which is about 530mm.

I really don't like that short of a scale length, it throws everything out of proportion, all your slants, harmonics, etc. Also, the shorter the scale length, the less forgiving the intonation is. There's less real estate on the partials to play with.

That said, anything can be done with a bit of practice. The drawback is going back and forth from that extreme short scale length and any other steel.

With your headless design, if you can still achieve a 22.5" scale length, go for it.

Just thought I'd offer you that word of caution.

Enjoy!

[Jerry Overstreet]

https://www.woodcraft.com/collections/d ... nal-lumber

A search shows a Woodcraft strore on Lyndale in Bloomington.

These stores usually have a pretty good selection of hardwoods.
They are a retailer store of woodworking products, wood, stains, tools etc. so you'll pay a little more.

Occasionally, they have odd lots, one of a kind pieces etc. at a lower cost. Might be worth a visit to their retail store.

[Doug Anderson]

Thank you everyone for your posts. I really appreciate how generous folks are with there knowledge and time. This site is AWESOME!

Micheal.....Thank you for your post (and your valuable responses to some of my other posts). I agree that I want a 22.5 scale but I think I'm going to be able to pull off a travel lap steel that is only about 24". I will post pictures when I'm done.

If your entire steel is 24" long, then your scale length might end up shorter than 22.5".

I'd caution against scale lengths shorter than 22.5". I have an el cheapo Harley Benton lap steel I bought on a whim. Its scale length is 20.86 inches, which is about 530mm.

[Fred]

A long time ago I made an eight string from a scrap of 5/4” mahogany decking. The finished dimension on 5/4 is 1”. It’s always been stable and was my main instrument for a long time. I played a lot of gigs with it. It’s leaning against the wall across the room right now. It’s still my first choice when I’m not playing pedal steel.

You can probably find 5/4 pine at Home Depot. It’s used a lot for trim. 5/4 hardwood decking doesn’t seem to get stocked these days.

I’ve bought wood from these guys before
https://www.bairdbrothers.com/Default.aspx
Look in their lumber section for S4S, surfaced four sides. They’ll sell small pieces cut to a specified length. They have all the common instrument woods, poplar, maple, ash, mahogany etc.