Archtop steel guitars

[Bert Graham]

Has anyone ever heard of an archtop lap steel or Weissenborn guitar?

[Noah Miller]

Someone posted this Scott Walker steel just a few days ago:

[Bert Graham]

That is very interesting, and beautiful, too. I inquired because I am building an acoustic archtop, Weissenborn. I thought someone before me must have done this and I wanted to see what they did. Thank you for posting.

[Steve Lipsey]

Built by Ben Bonham...the arch top aspect is more obvious in person....check out the eye (and ear) candy on https://www.bonhamdesign.com

[Greg Forsyth]

Hi Bert,
If your interested would you please make a posting in the Builders Corner section of the forum about your build process incl.photos as you go. I think it would be beneficial for us to see your process and also to be able to advise you with your questions.

[Bill McCloskey]

HowardR commissioned an archtop dobro from Carroll Benoit. Maybe he will post a picture if we ask him nicely.

[Steve Lipsey]

I have lots of construction pictures, also....

[Jeff Highland]

Ben Harper is playing one on an album released a couple of years ago.
https://acousticguitar.com/how-a-new-la ... tal-album/

[K Maul]

Jeremy Wakefield recently got an 8 string archtop acoustic steel guitar.
https://www.fretboardjournal.com/podcas ... wakefield/

[David Ball]

The Mohan Veena is an Indian archtop slide guitar that's been around for a while.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... att_03.jpg

[HowardR]

The late Carroll Benoit built a hand carved 9 string archtop resophonic for me......probably about 15 years ago.....

[Lloyd Graves]

So yummy!

Berninzio Vintage Instruments has this art deco, Lloyd Loar beauty:

Link to image: https://bernunzio.com/product/vivi-tone-guitar-27514/

Full link: https://bernunzio.com/product/vivi-tone-guitar-27514/

They had it strung up as a Spanish guitar when I was there, but the action was too high to play. I should have tried it out Hawaiian style.

I believe that when I first saw it, in 2020, it was $2-3k cheaper.

[Paul Seager]

Has anyone ever heard of an archtop lap steel or Weissenborn guitar?

My first acoustic was a converted archtop. General problem is that, acoustically, even in a "jam-around-the-table" setting, no one can hear the thing when it's on your lap! Probably why they've not caught on - one will always need a pick-up and amplify it.

A friend of mine is one of Europe's best known Archtop builders for jazz guitar enthusiasts (but not lap steel!) He strives for strong acoustic volume and tone and I'm always surprised at how loud his instruments are (and know that I can never afford one!). I now have a National Tricone which is loud and can keep up with him acoustically but if the audience are maybe 10 feet away, I know that I'm looking like a Mime!

[Bert Graham]

When I started building guitars, I built electric and flat-top acoustic guitars from kits. When I was ready to build something from scratch, I researched and discovered the Weissenborn Guitar.

If you are reading this post, you already know that building a guitar is not a simple, easy process. Building a square-neck slide guitar does have two advantages over a flat-top guitar. First, it does not require a hand-carved neck. Second, the frets do not have to be spaced and leveled to within a thousandth of an inch.

[Brooks Montgomery]

That Monteleone of Ben Harper’s is pretty sweet looking

[Bert Graham]

I bet it sounds as good as it looks.

[Gil James]

Thanks for posting these guys! I've been wanting to try to find something acoustic that was more mellow sounding than my dobros, thinking weissenborns or Oahu types. I've had a Gretsch New Yorker hanging on the wall for a while,that I rarely play. I popped a nut riser on it and tuned it to E7, and wow! Gonna fashion a straight bridge for it and play it. The flatwound Chromes I have on it sound great. It's loud enough for our small acoustic jam sessions in our living room. But what really surprised me was how good it sounds plugged in. That monkey on a stick pickup slides from bridge to neck. All the way to the bridge is best to my ears. Thanks to the Forum, I've got a new toy,without the GAS.

[Bert Graham]

I think I have the same Gretsch New Yorker. I bought it three years ago from Amazon. It is great as an acoustic but really shines when it is plugged in. The only thing I didn't like about the guitar was the satin finish. After three months, I put a gloss finish on it. Now, I could not be happier with how it looks and plays.

When I saw your post today, I hadn't played it for a while. I took it out of its case, plugged it in, and gave it a tickle. Thanks for posting the photos

[Joe Kaufman]

Some of the NIOMA guitars were archtop acoustic lap steels with a round sound hole. I had one for a while.

[Lee Rider]

My friend David Dart builds unique lap steel guitars. He has done them for Ben Harper, David Lindley and Ed Littlefield. David built a few bowl back steels, one for Ben Harper that has sympathetic strings like a harp guitar. Headstock is a carved head of a lady....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMSFBnpuqCg

https://luthier.com/bowl-back-steel-guitar-lady-steel/

[Bert Graham]

Lee,

Your friend does amazing work. His instruments are lightyears beyond my humble efforts. Thank you for posting the links.

Bert

[Levi Gemmell]

I don't have any photos of it, but Glenn Ross Campbell plays an archtop converted into a non-pedal steel these days - I heard him play some jump blues in a tuning of his own devising, on it at his house.

It has the beautiful anodised fretboard off an old 8-string Commodore lap steel on a new-built neck.