Questions about wood for lap steel guitars

[George Liros]

Hi, I've made a few lap steels, using planks of Douglas Fir from my local Home Depot. I'd like to use some different wood, but don't want to break the bank in doing so either. Does anyone know what other affordable choices there are out there? Like Alder, Basswood, etc?

Another problem I've run into is sizing. The size I need is 12"x34"x1.5"  Besides buying a 12ft. plank of Douglas fir, I either can't get the 34" length needed or the 1.5" thickness. I don't think I want to glue 2 boards together, I think it might be better to use one piece of wood. Any thoughts?

 

I enclosed some pics of the 3 I made so far. It should be easier from here on out now that I just got a band saw. These lap steels were made using a Miracle Blade Knife, if you remember, they sold it on TV years ago. The commercial showed a guy cutting through a metal pipe with the knife, then immediately slicing through tomatoes with ease. Hehe, well, I can say that the knife does work.  Anyway, thanks in advance for any input. 

[Tres Seaver]

That's a pretty cool look.

 

You might investigate treads from old staircases -- some of those boards were pretty thick.

[Skeesix]

When I was building a guitar from Home Depot lumber, the thickest thing I could find was yellow pine, which was 1-1/2". This was actually a little thin; I would have preferred 1-3/4". 

I think if you want cheap, you're going to have to glue wood together. I don't see any reason tone-wise not to.

If you're lucky enough to have a hardwood/woodworking lumber store in your area, you can try there. The last time I was buying wood locally, cherry was one of the cheaper woods. But that was several years ago. I'm sure it depends on location, what they have an excess of, etc.

 

[Sid Workman]

Do you ever get close to Meadville or Erie   I have lots and lots of all kinds of wood. I well donate for guitar building

 

 

[billy freedom]

 2x4 is 1 3/4" thick

[George Liros]

Thanks Sid, I appreciate it, but that's a long ways from me. Thanks.

Sid Workman said:

Do you ever get close to Meadville or Erie   I have lots and lots of all kinds of wood. I well donate for guitar building

 

 

[Harrison Withers]

you can mail order billets from woodcraft, whatever you want