Lap Slide Guitar

[ozziebluesman]

Hey everybody, great to see our forum back and healthy again.

I have been asked to build a weissenborn, style 1 copy for a student and he would like me to capture a vintage look. I have some straight grained Blackwood for the body and Indian rosewood for the fingerboard, bridge and headplate. Stew Mac three on a plate vintage tuners will give it that vintage vibe. The fret inlays and rosette are cheesewood. The style 1 had no body binding and just a simple three ring rosette and usually used very straight grained Koa.

This one is going to stay with a flat top with the big mother xmas tree shape bridge plate and standard size bracing. The larger bridge plate, smaller bridge footprint idea came from Herman Weissenborns later guitars. When the Resonator guitar hit the music scene with it's superior volume levels the weissenborn guitar was doomed. In an attempt to increase volume Herman designed the modifications just mentioned to increase the weissenborns volume. Although volume was increased it wasn't enough to counter the Resonator. The later weissenborn guitars with this modification added more stability to the top and improved structural integrity in the bridge area. So I have decided to go with design and as we all know, the proof will be in the pudding!

I love everthing about these guitars and I am enjoying the whole process.

Here are a few pictures of the build so far:







More progress in the near future............

Thank you for looking

Cheers

Alan

[Kim]

Should be a very clean and classical looking slide Alan.

Looking forward to seeing all come together.

Thank you for posting

Cheers

Kim

[ozziebluesman]

Thank you Kim for your interest. These instruments are very special to me and I enjoy building them. Gwenn from France who is building a sassafrass weissenborn copy at the moment have been swapping idea's and building techniques for a while now. We have come up with a few mods and hope they will improve the guitars structural integrity. My friend RonM who also frequents our forum have been discussing weissenborn design for sometime. Anyway, we will see how it all turns out shortly.

Cheers

Alan

[DarwinStrings]

Looking forward to the future of those bit of wood Alan. Seeing that headstock like that always looks like some sort of dramatic error has been made.

Jim

[Bob Connor]

I'll watch with interest Alan.

I'm about to start a Weissy. Blackwood with a Surian top

[liam_fnq]

Keep the update coming Al. This one's bound to be a real charmer.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Jim, Bob and Liam for your interest.

Bob: Surian is an interesting choice for a top wood. Could you please tell me a little more about it?

Over the weekend the braces where cut and sized. I also made the bridge plate. It is 4mm thick at present but I plan to take it down a bit to just over 3 mm where the bridge footprint will be and then once the top is braced I will take off some more down to about 2.5 mm around the periphery of the bridge plate if the top is too stiff. Not that I really know what is right and wrong with to stiffness but it will be my educated guess. It's funny after you have built a few instrument you develop a sense of how to get the top to be responsive!

Here is a picutre of the X brace and bridge plate. I bought some englemann brace wood from Graham at Kootenay two years ago and have just used it for the first time on the weiss. Man it is close grained, light and has a great tap tone to it.

More to come......

[Gwenn]

Alan,

I'ts great to see all this coming nicely into shape! I'll be following all this with special interest!
This will most certainly produce a beautifully sounding instrument


Gwenn from Paris

[P Bill]

Alan it looks great. I don't play slide but this makes me think,why not ?

[jeffhigh]

A bit easier than the first time Alan.....

Yesterday I had a customer proudly bring in a chinese weissenborn that he had bought for his daughter for $180 plus $60 shipping.
Looked ok from a distance......
But all laminate and the string height at the bridge was a full 25mm with a huge chunk of wood for the bridge.
Needless to say the soundboard was badly buckled.

Your student is lucky to be getting a good guitar to learn on.

[Bob Connor]

Bob: Surian is an interesting choice for a top wood. Could you please tell me a little more about it?

Not that sure meself Alan. I got a couple of sets from Maurie Howlett so I thought I'd give it a go. It's a relation of Australia Red Cedar (Toona) so it should be fairly good for this sort of thing being roughly in between Blackwood and Spruce density wise.

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Gwenn and Bill and yes Jeff, it sure is much easier than the first two!

Bob, I haven't heard of that wood type before. I like Qld Red Cedar as a top wood too after hearing an acoustic Allen made a few years back. I reckon it will work well as a top for a weissy. So is this future lap slide guitar a commission or just the need to have a go and build one? Are you going to build a traditional guitar or have you got some modifications in mind from the two commercial plans available? Would like to hear your thoughts sometime!

Cheers

Al

[Bob Connor]

No commission Alan. I just want to have a go at something different and I'll keep it for myself. We are showing the instruments at the Port Fairy Folk Festival again so it'll be nice to have someting a little different for that.

As far as bracing it goes I'm going to try an adaption of the lattice bracing I've been using lately as I'm quite happy with how that sounds and I'm also happy with the structural integrity it gives to the lower bout without being too heavy.

So the upper bout area will look like the plans and I'll tinker with the lower bout.

I'm still waiting on the Stewmac plans to arrive but I've already seen some nice features in Gwenn's latest Weissy that I would like to incorporate ie the Spruce stiffeners in the neck.

Regards

[ozziebluesman]

Thanks Bob for your insite. I used the neck spruce doublers this time as well as I think it adds strengh. Look forward to seing progress on you lap slide guitar! Port Fairy Fest is not all that far away either.

Cheers

Alan

[Alan Stassforth]

Aaaalllaaannnn!
Lookin' good so far!
I be here now.
Aaaarrrgghhh!

[ozziebluesman]

Alan my friend! How are you mate? Welcome to the forum! I look forward to your thoughts amd comments on the weissenborn copy projects that are happening here on our forum.

Cheers

Alan

[Kim Strode]

Iv'e been in the process of building a Weissenborn guitar for a couple of years. Was first interrupted by surgery, then we purchased a home in Daylesford for our move out of Melbourne and have been over occupied trying maintain two properties.

I want to re-commence work on the guitar and feel I need to allow for a pick-up before the top goes on. Any ideas anyone?

Kim

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Kim,

Hmmm, Daylesford, nice part of the world. I lived in Bendigo for many years and I know your area well.

I have fitted the K&K Mini Western Bridge plate pickup to my weissenborn and love the tone. If you want to use the guitar in a band environment then I would suggerst a soundhole pickup. For home use, or solo gigs the K&K is a great pickup. Good idea to fit the pickup before closing the box too.

Cheers

Alan

[kiwigeo]

Hey Kim,

Great to see you back on the forum...it's been too long mate.

[ozziebluesman]

This weekend the box was closed. I had been preparing to do this over the past few weeks. Satisfied I was ready I decided to switch on the airncon, establish a good humidity level in the workshop and get into it. I have never been able to close the box in one session before but it is managelable although it did take me a very long day yesterday and today.

Here are a few pictures for you:





I am happy with the outcome. The Xmas tree bridge patch is 2.5 mm thick as is the top. I have another patch the footprint of the bridge as well 1mm thick. In the MIMF plan there is a patch 4mm thick that fits into the bottom of the X brace. I decided to go for the extra thickness under the bridge footprint. Now the box is closed the tap tone is similar to my other two weissenborn copies. Probably not as lively but the sustain is there. The Xmas tree patch sure does add more stiffness in the bridge area. I just hope I have not compromised too much tone and volume by improving the bridge rolling issues with this style of bridge patch design. Time will tell but I am confident that this is guitar is going to sound good with plenty of sustain and volume. As good as the other two weissenborn copy instruments I have built and I am very happy with ther tone, sustain and volume.
Thanks for looking.
Cheers
Alan

[Allen]

This is the first one I've seen built like this Alan. Will be really interesting to hear this one. We're going to have to plan a trip down the coast when this one is finished.

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Allen,

It would be good to see you if you get a chance to come down.

The bracing on this one is almost the same as the MIMF plan except for the bridge patch and the two tone braces, finger braces are 8mm wide where the MIMF plan is 10mm. So nothing all that different! IMO the MIMF plan makes a good sounding instrument however it is the bridge area where the issues arise. The bridge size will be small, I will use wire for a wire saddle and make the bridge about 7 to 8 mm high. During bracing over the weekend I brought the humidity down to a low 35% and the whole guitar has been in the drying box for two weeks to make sure all parts where as dry as possible. That's a much lower humidity level than you would close the box on a guitar. When you look at the top brace pattern on the MIMF plan which is a copy of an orginal weissenborn and see how heavy it is it makes you think it will never work but the guitars sound good. I think the weissenborn top is very different to a standard guitar.

This is just my thoughts on building a weissenborn copy and I am by no means an expert in the field. The proof is in the pudding so it will be interesting to get this fella strung up to see how it sound!

Cheers

Alan

[Gwenn]

Congratulations Alan!

Your instrument already looks great and I can see the benefits from the first two copies you have built: everythings looks really neat and cared for!

I am now in the binding process with my own project. I'm doing better than with my first guitar, but still imprefections remain...

You stressed the importance of humidity: one thing I did not forsee is that my appartment is heated by collective huh...floor elements... I don't know how you call it, but the heat comes from pipes of hot water in the floor, and I have no control over the amount of heat. The result: humidity is at 27% in the building... I have had a small crack issue on my soundboard.. nothing too serious but I was really pissed. Guitars are one thing, but you realise how unhealthy 27% can be when you breathe or look at you skin dryness...

Well keep up with the good work Alan!


Gwenn

[Dave White]

When you look at the top brace pattern on the MIMF plan which is a copy of an orginal weissenborn and see how heavy it is it makes you think it will never work but the guitars sound good. I think the weissenborn top is very different to a standard guitar.

I'm not sure that I agree with that - it's pretty much the same beast to me from the soundhole downwards.

It looks great though and gives you the sound you are looking for so rock on

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Gwenn,
Buggar about the top split. Easy fixed! On my sassafrass weiss copy it also developed a split on the back along one of the black fungi grain lines in the wood. On a close look it was an imperfection in the wood. No more cracks though! Thanks for your encouragement.

G'day Dave,
Yes that was a bold statement there. What I was meaning to say is not so much the design is different between a guitar and a weissenborn but the brace widths on the original weissenborn guitars where much thicker and flatter than what are used on a modern day acoustic guitar. Thanks you for your interest. It will be interesting to hear this one when it's strung up! There will be a sound file posted a little later on.

Cheers

Al