A revolutionary take on the acoustic Lap-Steel Guitar.

The Art of Lap-Steel

After hundreds of hours of isolated experimentation, I have developed, what I assume, is a unique system for acoustic lap steel guitar. Working from the premise that a circle is the most efficient shape, I initially pursued the viability of a circular soundboard. I eventually hit upon the design premise of a radial spoke bracing. The uniformity of the design facilitates a remarkably even response from all frequencies and leaves the outer perimeter of the soundboard unbraced and complexly free to move. In some ways, this is acting like the outer rim of resonator cones to have a spring effect. The centre harnesses the vibration to develop the note, and the whole soundboard can vibrate like a speaker cone. 

Every single component in a guitar has some effect on the instrument's output but some have more effect than others. The string is the crux of it all and anything that influences its capacity to vibrate and hold energy is of the utmost importance. Once the energy is in the body the back has the largest surface area, so it has the most potential to affect soundwaves.

This is my take on the hierarchy of importance in the production line to produce sound within a resonator guitar. Firstly the string gauge and type in simpatico with the scale length, then the mass and material of the saddle, the bridge and nut, tailpiece and tuners, then the cone, then the density and stiffness of the supporting structure around the cone. 

If each of these areas is working efficiently there should be a huge wash of energy into the sound chamber and onto the back of the instrument, which absorbs and propagates the energy and in concert with the chamber, holds and colours the tone. This instrument has a smaller circular top soundboard too.

My goal has been to free the back on every level, to get as much energy into it and allow maximum unencumbered displacement of energy. To that end, I needed to separate the soundboards from the structural duties within the instrument. I basically build a stiff, lightweight chassis that deals with string tension and supports the soundboards. Using Aircraft-grade birch plywoods, I can make a very thin back with a minimal spoked bracing and set it into the instrument behind a false back. These light and agile soundboards never make contact with the player and are protected within the instrument.

“The Promise” was a design that needed to have a very compact body. I designed a circular sound chamber with a fairly shallow body that gave the instrument great efficiencies in projection and a lovely bright tonality. With the SDR 3.8, we were needing huge bass response whilst maintaining clean and pronounced mids and trebles. I added a second bout which makes the back soundboard a figure eight. The added length of the soundboard and greater depth of the body facilitates longer frequencies, allowing the tonality to really develop.

Another significant deviation I have made, is to address the specific ergonomics of a lap steel from the beginning of the design process. I’m not modifying a guitar, I am specifically designing acoustic lap steels. I can achieve close to a 50/50 weight distribution that plants the instrument beautifully on your lap. Traditional square neck lap steels have very high action and thick necks that can make them difficult to handle. I have made a leg rest that places the fretboard right where you want it and doubles as a very tactile handle. As a byproduct, it adds mass and rigidity to the headstock and greater structure to the chassis of the instrument overall, improving tone and sustain.