Lap steel guitar

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Chandler electric lap steel guitar, a modern solid body with the classic Weissenborn profile.
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Chandler electric lap steel guitar, a modern solid body with the classic Weissenborn profile.

The lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, from which other types developed.

There are three main types of lap steel guitar:

  • Lap slide guitars, the first developed, which use a similar sound box to a Spanish guitar.
  • Resonator guitars, particularly those with square necks.
  • Electric lap steel guitars, which include the first commercially successful solid body instruments.

Lap slide and resonator guitars may also be fitted with pickups, but do not depend on electrical amplification to produce their sound.

Contents

[edit] Description

The distinguishing feature of a lap steel guitar is that the strings are raised at both the nut and bridge ends of the fingerboard, typically to about half an inch. This makes the frets unusable, and they may be replaced by markers on some guitars. Other lap steel guitars are designed to be adapted between lap and conventional playing, or are modified versions of conventional guitars, and the only difference may be the action height. Round-necked resonator guitars set up for steel playing fall into this category.

Guitars designed exclusively for lap playing typically have modified necks that make conventional playing impossible. The hollow neck acoustic lap steel, developed by Chris Knutsen and popularized by Hermann C. Weissenborn, extends the body cavity behind the neck all the way to the head. The square-necked resonator guitar has a strengthened square profile neck, allowing heavier string gauges and/or higher tunings impossible (or certainly ill-advised) on a conventional guitar. The electric lap steel guitar typically incorporates the entire neck into the solid body of the guitar, again providing extra strength to allow a greater variety of string gauges and tunings.

Steel guitars with more than six strings and/or with multiple necks are rarely played in lap steel fashion, but are also referred to as lap steel guitars by many makers and authorities. See table steel guitar.

Weissenborn lap slide guitar

Square-neck Dobro resonator guitar

Electric lap steel guitar

Student model electric lap steel guitar

Gretsch G5715 art deco electric lap steel guitar

Rickenbacker "frying pan"

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[edit] Playing

The lap steel guitar is typically placed on the player's lap, or on a stool in front of the player, who is seated.

The strings are not pressed to a fret when sounding a note, rather, the player holds a metal slide called a steel in the left hand, which is moved along the strings to change the instrument's pitch while the right hand plucks or picks the strings.

This method of playing greatly restricts the number of chords available, so lap steel music often features a restricted set of harmonies (such as in blues). Alternatively, the lap steel guitar player can play the melody or another single part.

[edit] History

The lap steel probably began in Laie, Hawaii in the late 1800s. Various people have been credited with the innovation. [1]. The instrument was rather popular - perhaps a fad - in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s.

The lap steel, dobro and pedal steel guitar are associated most closely with Hawaiian music, country music and bluegrass, though some players have used them in rock music, jazz, blues, and other musical genres.

[edit] Notable lap steel/table steel/hawaiian steel guitar players

[edit] Manufacturers

This list is incomplete. Please add to it.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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