Quote:
Originally Posted by wildbill1962
Thinking of picking up an entry level lap steel and curious of your opinions on which ones to look at. Will be playing mainly classic country and western swing style music.
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Entry level? By far the most cost-effective solution is to use an extension nut on a steel-string acoustic or electric guitar you already own.
You don't need to own a lap steel to learn to play a lap steel. This is the least expensive way to find out whether you want to invest the significant amount of time required to play the instrument at a level that satisfies you. It would also help you decide what features you do and don't want in a purpose-built lap steel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wildbill1962
What tuning is best to start out with just learning ?
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Western swing and much traditional country music uses 6th tunings predominantly: Don Helms' E6 with Hank Williams, A6 for Leon McAuliffe and my own mentor Herb Remington with Bob Wills, and C6 for many, many others. Fortunately, you don't need to decide ahead of time; a single set of strings can accommodate many different tunings without compromising sound quality. Here's a chart listing some of the possibilities that can be achieved with a typical six-string set nominally offered for C6 tuning. (Gauges may vary slightly from one brand of string to another, but any six-string C6 set will work well for all of these tunings.)
Code:
Str .036 .030 .024 .022 .017 .014
C6 C E G A C E
C7 C E G Bb C E
A6 C# E F# A C# E
A7 C# E G A C# E
E6 B E G# B C# E
E7 B D E G# B E
E9 B D F# G# B E
E13 B D E G# C# E
B11 B D# F# A C# E
JB* C# E G A C E
WL** C# E G A# C D
*JB = the Jerry Byrd C6/A7.
**WL = William Leavitt's tuning, designed to play a wide variety of chords without slanting the bar.