Hollow body lap steel tone?

[Mark Evans]

I’m not talking about Weissenborn…

Anyone have a lap steel with a hollow body or cavity? I’m wondering about the tonal quality - does it lean towards some acoustic/hollow body guitar sound vs. solid body laps?

After a long several week stretch, I pulled my Wilson Weiss out, running it thru my Quilter 101, and it’s knocking me out again. Just wondering what perceived tone diff there is in the reg lap steel variant

[Noah Miller]

Almost all ES-150s and ES-100s are hollow. Some Rickenbacker models are also hollow sheet metal, It gives them a different attack and sustain from a solidbody with the same scale and pickup.

[Glenn Wilde]

Almost all ES-150s and ES-100s are hollow. Some Rickenbacker models are also hollow sheet metal, It gives them a different attack and sustain from a solidbody with the same scale and pickup.

Yeah, I had a model 59 Rick and it sounded way different than my Bakelites, it was a good sound, I should get another one.

[Bill Groner]

hollow body aluminum lap steel.jpeg

I built a hollow body and neck lapsteel from 1/8" thick sheet 6061 aluminum. It has very good tone, (not as bright as one would think) and very good sustain. It is sensitive to temp change till it stabilizes on my lap. It is the one on the far left. The black and white ones are clad with matte acrylic but have a solid aluminum core.[/color]

[Tim Whitlock]

Rickenbacker Silver Hawaiians have hollow bodies and necks. This creates a pronounced metallic resonance that some players like, but most do not. This was recognized early on and the factory began stuffing them with newspaper, to dampen the resonance. My '37 SH did not have newspaper so I stuffed it with foam which improved the tone quite a bit.

My '48 DS12 has a hollow body and bakelite necks. It has a very slight metallic resonance but sounds great.

[Mark Evans]

So I’m getting the idea that most hollow laps are aluminum…

[Rick Aiello]

Rickenbacker Silvers, Model 59s and postwar NSs are all stamped/brazed sheet steel … although I have a Silver that has a brass top …

I find their lack of sustain (compared to frypans, Bakelites) to be very “acoustic-like” in its decay … I like them …

Replaced the newspaper with terry cloth hand towels w/ some desiccant packs.

[Mark Evans]

Fluke Industrial seems to be a current purveyor of hollow metal laps. My only gripe (superficially) is that about 100% of video samples of various models are played like Billy Gibbons over driven rock style. Hard to get a good sense of what they might sound like clean.

Off note:
A few hollow ‘F’ hole styled laps appear to be pricey rare birds.

[Mark Evans]

hollow body aluminum lap steel.jpegI built a hollow body and neck lapsteel from 1/8" thick sheet 6061 aluminum. It has very good tone, (not as bright as one would think) and very good sustain. It is sensitive to temp change till it stabilizes on my lap. It is the one on the far left. The black and white ones are clad with matte acrylic but have a solid aluminum core.

Hey Bill
Cool group of laps.
Do you have any sound clips of that hollow body aluminum lap steel?
Mark E
Denver

[Erv Niehaus]

Most all of the Oahu lap steel were hollow body.
You should know how they sound.
Erv

[Mark Evans]

Most all of the Oahu lap steel were hollow body.
You should know how they sound.
Erv

Thanks, Irv
Ah yes, a part of the Lower bout is routered out.
Guess I was curious about full hollow or similar. Obviously not Weissenborn depth.
M

[HowardR]

I have several open body & chambered lap steels......they all have varying degrees of "openness" and some acoustic sound qualities......it also depends on the combination of pickups and how they blend......but......an open body/chambered lap steel will always sound much more like a solid body lap steel and a dobro/resophonic guitar with a magnetic pick up will always sound more like its acoustic self......the best I've come up with so far is a hybrid kind of steel as shown below......

This is a Weiss shape chambered lap steel built for me by Mike Dotson......it has a Rick Aiello MRI pick up and a Sunrise pick up......

The MRI screams......the Sunrise has a mellower acoustic type quality.....the blend is more lap steel with an openness and a tint of acousticity.......

dotson1resize.jpg

dotson2 resize.jpg

[Mark Evans]

Gadzooks
That’s gorgeous. Redwood top?
That looks like it’d give up a few different tones and sounds.
Nice. Thanks for sharing
Mark E

[HowardR]

The center section is walnut and so are the back, the sides, and the 'pickguards'. The top is redwood and the bindings are maple. The fret markers and overlay on the headstock is all burled walnut veneer........

[Chris Templeton]

Howard, what a beautiful guitar!

[Eric Dahlhoff]

WOW!!!
What a beautiful instrument.

[Jean-Baptiste Schalber]

Here's some picutre I took long time ago of the inside of my Rickenbacher Silver Hawaiian

[Brad Bechtel]

That looks like some demented Disneyland ride! Cool.

Howard, your guitar looks beautiful. I'm so glad you are able to afford them.

[HowardR]

No wife,.....no kids,.....no problem......

[Mike Stidham]

I’m not talking about Weissenborn…

Anyone have a lap steel with a hollow body or cavity? I’m wondering about the tonal quality - does it lean towards some acoustic/hollow body guitar sound vs. solid body laps?

After a long several week stretch, I pulled my Wilson Weiss out, running it thru my Quilter 101, and it’s knocking me out again. Just wondering what perceived tone diff there is in the reg lap steel variant

What I've got is a Hondo II regular acoustic guitar that was MacGyvered into a lap steel by a local store. Tone is pretty good, reflecting the regular hollow body guitar that it was.

[Steve Lipsey]

I have a Ben Bonham parlor-size thinline archtop hollowbody dual lap steel (maple neck through body, Lollar string through pickup, like my Oahu Diana) and dobro (Beard road-o-phonic cone and control circuits). It is stereo but automatically goes mono if a mono cable is used. It is maple, redwood top, and ebony...lovely...

I had a road-o-phonic and liked the idea but not the implementation, and I love the sound of the Oahu Diana pickup, so Ben and I designed an upgrade...it definitely does the job, true lap and dobro sounds (which can be combined if desired), both with woody acoustic tones added to the tone. It is a mostly-electric instrument, so I made it shallow to minimize feedback (He also made me an acoustic twin to it, reso only, deeper all-hollow body, with a Weissenborn neck for additional resonance).

I have a pedalboard with a Fishman Aura for the dobro side and a bunch of effects for the lap side, with both sides combining through reverb, delay and tuner.

It has been my sole non-pedal gigging instrument for a half-dozen years, since being built, and never disappoints me or the audience...

Check out the crazy stuff he builds at https://www.instagram.com/bonhamdesign/. (click on each pic to see album for that instrument). He is happy to talk to anyone about possible designs...he's a crazy fun English monster player, by the way...‭ben@bonhamdesign.com, (541) 490-5447‬

CooderNator Angle.jpg

Lap board V12.JPG

Resoborn.jpeg

[Bill Leff]

I have a Ben Bonham parlor-size thinline archtop hollowbody dual lap steel (maple neck through body, Lollar string through pickup, like my Oahu Diana) and dobro (Beard road-o-phonic cone and control circuits). It is stereo but automatically goes mono if a mono cable is used. It is maple, redwood top, and ebony...lovely...

I had a road-o-phonic and liked the idea but not the implementation, and I love the sound of the Oahu Diana pickup, so Ben and I designed an upgrade...it definitely does the job, true lap and dobro sounds (which can be combined if desired), both with woody acoustic tones added to the tone. It is a mostly-electric instrument, so I made it shallow to minimize feedback (He also made me an acoustic twin to it, reso only, deeper all-hollow body, with a Weissenborn neck for additional resonance).

I have a pedalboard with a Fishman Aura for the dobro side and a bunch of effects for the lap side, with both sides combining through reverb, delay and tuner.

It has been my sole non-pedal gigging instrument for a half-dozen years, since being built, and never disappoints me or the audience...

Check out the crazy stuff he builds at https://www.instagram.com/bonhamdesign/. (click on each pic to see album for that instrument). He is happy to talk to anyone about possible designs...he's a crazy fun English monster player, by the way...‭ben@bonhamdesign.com, (541) 490-5447‬

CooderNator Angle.jpg
Lap board V12.JPG
Resoborn.jpeg

What an awesome guitar that is Steve! Do you have any sound clips or videos of it in use? I'd love to hear it. Especially the Dobro side of it.

[Bill Groner]

Steve......I never get tired of drooling over that picture of your combo reso! Beautiful build!

[Steve Lipsey]

My iPhone and fingers don't do them justice, but I'm pretty sure Ben Bonham made some recordings of them when he built them, and I've asked him about it...also, you can just email him to get them....
ben@bonhamdesign.com
...and he won't bother you with trying to sell you one unless you really, really insist....he's in business for love, not money...
-S