HI ALL Well after enjoying my foray into Strat Squire guitar this year, still having fun. But so taken up by Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd) riffs and sounds I wanted to try his iconic slide guitar sounds . After much research I happened upon what most Floyd tribute bands are using over here, Surprisingly low priced £99 GBP from Thomann. In Germany: The Harley Benton Slider 11 lap Steel W/ Stand. Those of you in the States will find this under the Rogue name who I am told is the actual manufacturer in the east.
I Mentioned it to my daughter and within an hour she had contacted my other daughter and they had ordered it for me for Christmas. (Who is a happy bunny then !) So there could be a bit of noise coming from her house on Christmas day.
I intend to tune it for open, E with lots of reverb, as that suits my type of music will let you know how I get on in the new year.
Looks like a cool unit. I'm sure you'll have lots of enjoyment.
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HI ALL I Mentioned it to my daughter and within an hour she had contacted my other daughter and they had ordered it for me for Christmas. (Who is a happy bunny then !) So there could be a bit of noise coming from her house on Christmas day.
Excellent.... It does look like a learning curve from this old bird's POV Best to you on taking on a new instrument.
Any thoughts on string gauge to use for open E tuning (E B E G# B E) .
Not certain we have many lap top slide players on here. But thought I would run it by you. I did contact Thomann reply below:
“Thomann HB slide strings
Dear Customer, thank you for your inquiry !
The original strings on that lap steel are way too thin for a guitar like this. The last one I`ve measured a few months ago was strung with 010" If you want to tune the guitar to open-E I would suggest using 012" gauge like https://www.thomann.de/gb/ernie_ball_2626.htm?ref=intl&shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6IjQiLCJsYW5ndWFnZSI6ImVuIn0%3D You can of course try to play the original strings but if you use a heavy slide you will have trouble achieving a good intonation.
Kind regards”
However when I checked around a bit on the net, I see most folk recommend 13s 013”. Your thoughts appreciated.
Mike
Last edited by Mike Head; 11/14/2006:15 AM. Reason: scale notes corrected
I can only relay what I do, and it may be something nobody else does. When I DO play slide on anything, lap or strapped on guitar, I use open D. I would rather tune strings down than up, but that is more of a consideration about stressing the neck tension by tuning up. Especially on that 3rd string. Because it's a thicker string that move from G to G# always made me nervous. Same logic for D to E on the 4th.
But open D, tune 1 down to D, 2 down to A, G down to F#, 4 and 5 don't change and 6 down to D. All down. And in that kind of band I also had one on stage tuned in open G, from top down D, B, G, D, B, G, but the string on the 5th string was a thick D string rather than an A, and the string on the 6th string was an A rather than an E, so again, all the detunes were down. The only drawback there was that when I had to change to that guitar the front man had talk to the crowd because it always required tuning from song to song. If I used the open G early in the second set and needed it again late in the second set, it was badly out of tune by that second use.
Lap guitars are meant to be played with a slide though, and the construction is probably completely different. I know they are much beefier than a standard guitar. Never had one so I don't really know. I have played a lap steel I borrowed but never owned one.
I might buy a pedal steel. They have always intrigued me. Knee lever this, pedal that, volume swells... Sho-Bud, Fender, whatever. Just to learn how to play it.
Eddie I hope there wont be problem as the neck /base is at least 4 x 2” on the HB. Don’t think I should bend that, might well break a few strings on the way.
Mind you I wouldn’t like to try it on the Squire. But I could always tune down to open D tuning. Then capo the second fret for open E without the neck strain!
Mike
Last edited by Mike Head; 11/14/2012:19 PM. Reason: extra text
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