Lap Steel or dobro?

[Stockard]

I want to get into playing those open tuning/slide stuff. I have never played a Lap Steel. Is there much difference/advantage either way?

[lambchop]

Lap steel is probably the cheaper to get into as inexpensive lap steels are readily available. A resonator guitar is going to set you back a bit more. However the technique is pretty much the same. Lap Steel, your going to be sounding more country/country rock and Dobro sounds more old timey or bluegrassy.

[Bob Womack]

Dobro and lap steel are both similar and different. Frankly, the differences are very much like those between acoustic and electric guitar. With Dobro, you find a good sounding guitar and a bar or slide, maybe change the cone or spider, and you are off. With lap steel, you get a lap steel and bar and start fritzing around and still have to come up with a sound using amp and/or amp and pedals. With Dobro, all the technique is in the hands and heart. With lap steel, you add another extremity: a foot with a volume pedal for swells. With Dobro, you absolutely must learn to dampen the string chatter and overtones behind the bar. You can sometimes get away with not doing that on lap steel.

Does that help?

Bob

[stoney]

This is absolutely only my opinion. As a dobro and lap steel player I can say that for me, as primarily an acoustic musician, the resonator is much more satisfying. Good squareneck resonator guitars are not cheap, for sure, and the cheap ones are mostly quite bad. You can get a very servicable lap steel for about a c-note, but then, as Bob Womack has stated, there is the amp, effects, etc. issue. My suggestion is always to learn on a decent mid-level squareneck and it will give you all the chops you need to move to lap steel if you ever want to.

Good mid level squarenecks include Wechter/Scheerhorn and Goldtone Paul Beard.

[SongwriterFan]

Acoustic guitar or electric guitar?

The analogy is:

Dobro vs. lap steel.

I would choose dobro.

Unless you're a real glutton for punishment . . in which case a pedal steel guitar should be what you choose.

I don't think anybody's made a pedal steel yet that could truly be considered an acoustic instrument . . though I may be wrong. I do know that they've put very tiny "resonators" on pedal steels to help emulate a more dobro-like sound.

[stoney]

Originally Posted by SongwriterFan

Acoustic guitar or electric guitar?

The analogy is:

Dobro vs. lap steel.

I would choose dobro.

Unless you're a real glutton for punishment . . in which case a pedal steel guitar should be what you choose.

I don't think anybody's made a pedal steel yet that could truly be considered an acoustic instrument . . though I may be wrong. I do know that they've put very tiny "resonators" on pedal steels to help emulate a more dobro-like sound.

Google "Pedabro" for a look at attempts at an acoustic pedal steel.

[SongwriterFan]

I had forgotten about Paul Franklin's pedabro.

Here's a youtube video Pete Grant playing one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMikXQ3_Lzc

Finding one is problematic, though.

[Vanderwall]

I purchased a cheaper Fender Resonator a few years agoand have fallen in love with it. I added a pickup and raised the action a bit. It has been a great guitar to learn slide on and will take me to the next level if I want to go there. A Beard Goldtone will be my next purchase should I get to the point where the Fender will no longer fill my needs, so far, so good. I prefer a round neck to the flat neck as it matches my steel string technique more closely.

[Bryan T]

I play both, but prefer lap steel. The best advice I can give is to find a dealer with a decent selection of both (hard to do, I know!) and see which fits you.

Bryan