Birth of the Tenor Lap Steel

by David Schneider

Originally published in American Lutherie #120, 2014



This project had one goal: to show that you don’t need exotic woods to build a decent sounding instrument. In the process I realized I was also demonstrating a technique I call “free-style building.” If you build a fair amount of one-of-a-kind instruments, you may already use some form of this style. For those of you who build from a set of plans or use the same mold over and over again, this style is very different from the one you may be used to.

I started with a board of “solid mahogany” from the local home-improvement store and a sketch (Photo 1). I had a few rough dimensions and an idea in my head. I decided that I wanted to use 22˝ for the scale based on this being a form of tenor guitar. I used 13˝ for the lower bout since I felt it gave me a proportionate look.