Use a 5/8” drill bit to drill the tuner holes.Ġ5. I went in about 5/8” in on each side and spaced the tuners roughly an inch apart. Drill tuner holes: Mark your tuner holes on the underside of the headstock. Optional: I smoothed out the underside of the headstock on my belt sander. (Still unsure? Here’s a link to a quick tutorial.)Ġ3. You can also do the same thing by running the saw in multiple passes over the shaded area and then using a chisel to remove any extra wood chips. Cut away the bottom portion in the headstock area (shaded are in the picture).
Mark a horizontal line 5/8” from the top (as pictured). Cut out the headstock: Turn the 2×4 on its side and mark a vertical line 4” from the left end. Cut a standard pine 2×4 into a 32” length.Ġ2. Electric drill + two drill bits: 3/32” and 5/16”Ġ1.
One pack of medium-gauge electric guitar strings.Pre-wired acoustic soundhole pickup (such as the $13.49 Gold Foil pickup here).One pack of guitar tuners, three-to-a-side (such as this $8.29 pack of tuners).Two (2) 1/2” diameter allthread rods, 3.5” long (Allthread rods are like bolts without a head.(Note: Due to harmful chemicals, do not use pressure-treated lumber!) Look for a followup column on installing better pickups and adding some cool “hobo” mods.
I have a second one on the shop table right now. This is my first prototype 2×4 lap steel. You are basically just marking down a few lines, making a couple cuts to the 2×4 and installing simple hardware. It might look like a lot of steps, but trust me, this instrument is easy to build. These plans will give you a very basic, yet absolutely playable lap steel. (I built it so that I could learn how to play it). Here’s a quick video (below).Īs you can tell, I’m still learning how to play this properly. It’s set up with a standard 23-inch scale, just like the store bought-lap steels! The whole thing feels great on your lap and looks absurdly cool. I even used a pre-wired acoustic sound hole pickup, so there was no wiring needed.Īnybody can build this lap steel guitar! The lap steel plays great, too. This lap steel was made from an extra 2×4 I had in my shed, with just a few saw cuts to the wood. This is one of the easiest homemade guitars I’ve ever built, and it took me only an hour to make. The DIY Musician: How to Build a 2×4 Lap Steel Guitar
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