Introduction

I've been playing guitar (seriously) for about ten years. I fooled around with it before that. On youtube, I discovered a world of fellow travelers, fingerstylists, accomplished and just learning. One of the more accomplished is a fellow from belgium named "daddystovepipe". Carl (his real first name), is a master of blues guitar, and was playing a "lap steel guitar" in a number of his videos. I was intrigued enough to look around and get hooked. Then I heard David Lindley play one in concert and had to have one. I tried the ones available at local music stores, but they didn't sound like Carl's. I even visited a luthier in South Carolina while at a music camp, but his "affordable" versions were, well, flimsy and without soul. I settle on a dobro and while I like its sound, its has little bottom. Its all treble.

I played the dobro occasionally, but I got "distracted" with the luthier itch. My first attempt was a funky mandolin made fom a solid wood through-body neck and a sheet metal biscuit tin. Its called the moon cake mandolin. I've gotten enough positive comments on it that I figured I would try the next build, a weissenborn.

For the uninformed a weissenborn guitar is a Hawaiian lap steel. There is not neck as such. The body is hollow all the way from the bottom to the nut. It is played with a steel rather than fretted. So not frets to set or neck to carve. Here is Carl demonstrating a few.

This blog is a chronicle of this first attemp as a real guitar. I have a full time job and family, so progress will not be lightning speed.

Being the hacker I am, I figured, do it on the computer first. My wife introduced me to a 3d sketching tool called SketchUp (now provided by Google). I spend a couple of months tweeking a design

than incorporates a classical style head to allow the tuners to be accessed from above (see the picture. Here is most of the guitar and the mold. (more later)