Weissenborn Lap Slide

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 5:33 pm

Sweet

The colors are really going to come up nice under a finish. Pour yourself a cold one. Your on the home straight.

Dave White · Post by **Dave White** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:00 pm

Alan,

It looks great - you're almost there!

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:44 am

Thanks everyone for your encouragement and support.

The lap slide guitar binding has been leveled now and she has been sanded down to 400 grit. The nut slot has been cut, bridge has been located and the nut is fitted. BTW her name is "SASSIE".

Thanks for looking

Cheers

Alan

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:16 pm

Well Sassie is beautiful. It's been fun watching her come about. You are going to post a sound clip aren't you? Please.

Dave White · Post by **Dave White** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 6:58 pm

Alan,

Very nice, very Sassie

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 8:30 pm

Thanks Dave and Lillian.

Yes Lillian, there will be a sound clip in the near future.

Cheers

Alan

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:14 pm

Further progress the past few weeks. The bridge was glued on, nut fitted and she has had three wash coats of hard shellac. After some test runs with the shellac on some scrap pieces I new Sassie was going to be a honey blonde. Well, as they say, blondes have more fun.

I couldn't help myself and had to string her up for a few days. The tone is rich and full with nice balance. I am very, very pleased! The maching heads and strings will come off in a few days and I will continue with the shellac process.

The final pics will be coming up shortly along with a sound clip.

Hope you have enjoyed the build and thanks for taking the interest.

Cheers

Alan

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:52 pm

I really like the look of that one Alan. Very nice colors and I'm sure the sound is great. Can't wait to see it in the flesh so to speak.

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:07 pm

Sweet.

Looks really good Alan.

What's next?

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 7:26 pm

Great work Alan, cant wait for the sound clip, make it a good long one to listen to in the shop.

Cheers

Kim

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:23 pm

Cheers Allen, Bob and Kim. The guitar has come up real good!

Bob the sassafrass sounds big, warm and nicely balanced. It's tone is close to the lap guitar I already have which has a cedar top. I used some light gauge string on her and she is very responsive. I'm planing two 000s using the stew mac plan next. I'm also going to build two concert uke's shortly.

Thanks again friends for you help and encouragement.

Cheers

Alan

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:05 am

G'day Alan,

I know very little about Lap Slides ,so have been following this thread with great interest.

Your end result has come up trumps.I really dig the lighter coloured wood tonings . Your choice of Myrtle bindings contrast the instrument beautifully I feel. Sassie is a "honey" . Great work Alan !

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 8:54 pm

G'day Craig and thanks for your kind words.

The guitar has been strung up for three days now and she is still holding together. I'm very happy with the guitar. The Golden Sassafrass sounds amazing. There will be a sound clip soon!

I have been playing guitar for many years and it is only a few years back that I discoverd weissenborn, lap slide guitar. I heard Jeff Lang play one up here in Townsville and I was hooked on the tone. They have a very haunting acoustic tone and are very responsive to the finger tips! I have been playing for a few years now and I really enjoy playing slide guitar. Open tunings are endless and so much fun to experiment with musically. What I most like about the lap slide guitar is that its not music, gender specific. You can play all styles such as blues, rock, celtic, reggae, hawaiian and country music on these guitars.

Thanks again for your interest.

Cheers

Alan

Tigermyrtle · Post by **Tigermyrtle** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 5:57 pm

Hi Alan, I realize this is a very old thread but I find it of interest as I have decided to build a weissenborn as my first build, Have you got around to doing a sound clip.? I am doing my build from high figured blackwood, back and sides plus the sound board, I was thinking of using she oak for bridge and fret board, but note you have used Tasmanian Myrtle are you still happy that you used Myrtle, Thanks for all of the photos I will use this as a reference, also did you build from a plan.?
Cheers Bob

ozziebluesman wrote:G'day Craig and thanks for your kind words.

The guitar has been strung up for three days now and she is still holding together. I'm very happy with the guitar. The Golden Sassafrass sounds amazing. There will be a sound clip soon!

I have been playing guitar for many years and it is only a few years back that I discoverd weissenborn, lap slide guitar. I heard Jeff Lang play one up here in Townsville and I was hooked on the tone. They have a very haunting acoustic tone and are very responsive to the finger tips! I have been playing for a few years now and I really enjoy playing slide guitar. Open tunings are endless and so much fun to experiment with musically. What I most like about the lap slide guitar is that its not music, gender specific. You can play all styles such as blues, rock, celtic, reggae, hawaiian and country music on these guitars.

Thanks again for your interest.

Cheers

Alan

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:23 pm

That myrtle looks really nice. The colour of it fits in nicely with the sassafras

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:36 pm

G'day Bob,

The Sassafrass weissenborn sound clips are at www.myspace.com/ozziebluesman

The last two tunes on my site are Christiaan's song and Ben's Song which where recorded on the sass weiss.

I also built an all blackwood weiss at the same time as the sass guitar. There are a few pics on the myspace site.

The myrtle appointments suited the sass guitar I thought. Sassafrass is very light in weight as was the myrtle fingerboard and bridge I used on this guitar. The guitar sounds warm, nice and big.

The all blackwood guitar has more trebels and has a more traditional weiss tone as the originals where Koa, a relation to Blackwood.

I built from the MIMF plan and will change a few things on my next weiss build which I plan to strat very soon. There are issues in the plan with stability around the bridge area.

Cheers

Alan

Cam · Post by **Cam** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:51 pm

farout, I just realized that when I posted my last post, I'd only read the 1st page.

After reading the full thread, it was really nice to see the lap slide come together, the pictures and explanations where great

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:58 pm

I've use sheoak for bridge and fret board on a standard acoustic Bob. They seem to stand up well, and I think would be well suited to a Wiessenbourn style.

I built from the MiMF plan as well as reference and advice form others. There are issues with the bracing around the bridge as Alan said, and some research into this is in order before committing to a bracing design.

Tigermyrtle · Post by **Tigermyrtle** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:02 pm

Thanks for the reply Alan, I look forward to seeing your next build of a weissenborn as you would have learnt from your past builds.
Any help from you would be much appreciated.
I also noted the other Allen posted a reply saying She Oak was good for bridge and fret board. As I was saying I am using figured fiddleback blackwood but I also want to add a few extra touches so it will look a bit different, so I thought I would use a really nice piece of musk burl I have as head stock, so fret board, bridge, bindings, Etc I still need to decide what to use. I will try and post photos as soon as possible of billets I will resaw for back & sides plus soundboard.
I checked out your myspace site and I will check again over the coming days.
Cheers Bob

Tigermyrtle · Post by **Tigermyrtle** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:06 pm

G'Day Alan,
I hope you dont mind me you asking a lot of questions about building a Weisenborn, after listening to youtube videos I just love the sound of this instrument, its like all string instruments rolled into one.
I have my timber billets ready to go and I hope to resaw next week Would it be best for me to start a new thread or stay on this one.?
Cheers Bob

ozziebluesman wrote:G'day Bob,

The Sassafrass weissenborn sound clips are at www.myspace.com/ozziebluesman

The last two tunes on my site are Christiaan's song and Ben's Song which where recorded on the sass weiss.

I also built an all blackwood weiss at the same time as the sass guitar. There are a few pics on the myspace site.

The myrtle appointments suited the sass guitar I thought. Sassafrass is very light in weight as was the myrtle fingerboard and bridge I used on this guitar. The guitar sounds warm, nice and big.

The all blackwood guitar has more trebels and has a more traditional weiss tone as the originals where Koa, a relation to Blackwood.

I built from the MIMF plan and will change a few things on my next weiss build which I plan to strat very soon. There are issues in the plan with stability around the bridge area.

Cheers

Alan

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:13 pm

Can I recommend an new thread Bob, as I'm sure that a lot of us would like to follow your progress right from the start. Keeps things nice and tidy, and better down the track when people are searching the archives.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Tigermyrtle · Post by **Tigermyrtle** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 7:00 pm

G'Day Allen, No worrys I will start a new thread latter in the week.
It will be a very slow build as I have never built a musical Instrument before.
But I do have a lot of Skills with wood working plus I know a few good luthiers and I will ask a lot of questions in the forum.
Cheers Bob

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