Chords for Martin Harley: how to convert an acoustic guitar for lap steel or slide
Tempo:
115.7 bpm
Chords used:
D
G
A
Dm
Eb
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Dm] [D]
[F] [D]
[G]
[A] [D]
Well, this [N] fine instrument originated somewhere in Japan, I would guess somewhere in the 70s
and it was my first attempt to make a lap style guitar.
The thing that makes this guitar different from a regular guitar is pretty straight forward.
The original nut has been taken off the end here.
It's probably sitting around somewhere actually.
When it was made it would have had this nut sitting at the end of the fretboard to guide
the strings down the fretboard.
This section here would have been quite a lot lower to keep the strings close to the
fret so you can play it this way around with your fingers as you would for a regular guitar.
What I did, because I wanted to play across my lap, is take those original sections out
and I just bought some bone blanks which you can probably get pretty easily online now
and just cut them to size.
You can see I have [A] not been trained as a luthier [Eb] at any point and it's a real kind of to do
the job [Ab] kind of conversion.
So if you're thinking about getting your priceless Gibson or Taylor and converting it into a
lap steel maybe don't take my advice about everything.
So I just knocked the old nut off, put this in, vaguely gauged the kind of space I wanted
[D] the strings to be, put this razor in here, strung it up, tuned it up and hoped it wouldn't
snap in half, which it didn't.
So I'd say one of the good things if you want to do a cheap and cheerful acoustic lap slide
conversion, 12 strings are usually quite good things to start with.
Quite often because there's so much tension on the neck from a 12 string, [Bb] necks often
bend or the back of the body often starts to raise up and it doesn't make it a very
playable and usable instrument.
But it makes it a great donor as a slide guitar because the neck is wider and the body is
actually built to take quite a lot of tension.
One of the things that you would probably want to do if you're converting a guitar is
change the gauge of the strings to be slightly heavier.
Personally I use these John Pierce Weissenborn strings that start at about 60 on the bottom
[N] and about 15 on the top, which is obviously not a gauge that you would use on your regular
guitar unless you had the biggest, strongest hands in the world.
So yeah, that's going to give a lot more body to the sound.
It's going to give you more tension on the strings and your intention by having the strings
up this high, [D] which you can probably see if I
You know, the strings are set way, way high.
When you're playing with a slide, [Db] you're trying to avoid [Dm] this happening.
Trying to get a nice, clean, [G] uncluttered sound.
So the higher the action, the [Eb] less likely you're of that [Dm] unwanted
[D] rattles and clangs.
[A] But yeah, [E] I mean, if you're looking at starting to play slide guitar and you want to try something
out, I mean you really can pick up old twisted neck guitars for next to nothing.
I mean, car boot sales, junk shops, just [N] even eBay.
And the tools you need to do it are fairly straightforward.
You know, something to knock this nut off.
The original nut off, usually just a piece of wood and a little hammer, a little tap
will get it loosened up.
This is just bone.
I've glued it on with EvoStick.
And that's generally worked for me.
And I might be going into all of this a bit too much for one shot, but these bone parts
probably won't come to fit exactly in the gap [Eb] that's on your guitar.
It probably is [A] what I prepared earlier.
[Abm]
[B] Yeah, you're probably going to find that when you buy a blank, it could be as thick as that.
But I found the bone one sounded really good.
So what you're trying to do is make that fit into there.
And you know, I don't have a workshop at home.
I'm in the kitchen sanding it down.
So I found the best way to get it down to size is get a big sheet of fairly coarse sandpaper,
put it on a totally flat surface and just sand it down bit by bit until it fits in your slot there.
You don't really particularly need always to cut grooves for the strings to go over.
They sometimes can just settle on their own.
But if they do need a little bit of guidance, work out what the spacing is that you want,
make a little nick in the top of these, top of the bridge part here, maybe with a Stanley knife.
And then you can use fret files, very thin files, just try and get that little notch to the right size.
You definitely need to do that up here at the nut end.
You'll see these tuning pegs rolled the wrong way because they were cheap from somewhere, I think.
You can see that [G] to get the string to sit where you want to,
you really need to file down the appropriate size,
taking care that all the [A] strings come up to the same [D] height.
If you [G] cut one in too low, [Ebm] you'll find that string might rattle
[Gm] when you're covering all the strings with [D] the slide.
Yeah, in a [G] nutshell, that's what differs on this guitar from a regular guitar,
is that the action has been raised up to about [F] 5 or 6mm by using a nut and a new saddle piece.
[F] [D]
[G]
[A] [D]
Well, this [N] fine instrument originated somewhere in Japan, I would guess somewhere in the 70s
and it was my first attempt to make a lap style guitar.
The thing that makes this guitar different from a regular guitar is pretty straight forward.
The original nut has been taken off the end here.
It's probably sitting around somewhere actually.
When it was made it would have had this nut sitting at the end of the fretboard to guide
the strings down the fretboard.
This section here would have been quite a lot lower to keep the strings close to the
fret so you can play it this way around with your fingers as you would for a regular guitar.
What I did, because I wanted to play across my lap, is take those original sections out
and I just bought some bone blanks which you can probably get pretty easily online now
and just cut them to size.
You can see I have [A] not been trained as a luthier [Eb] at any point and it's a real kind of to do
the job [Ab] kind of conversion.
So if you're thinking about getting your priceless Gibson or Taylor and converting it into a
lap steel maybe don't take my advice about everything.
So I just knocked the old nut off, put this in, vaguely gauged the kind of space I wanted
[D] the strings to be, put this razor in here, strung it up, tuned it up and hoped it wouldn't
snap in half, which it didn't.
So I'd say one of the good things if you want to do a cheap and cheerful acoustic lap slide
conversion, 12 strings are usually quite good things to start with.
Quite often because there's so much tension on the neck from a 12 string, [Bb] necks often
bend or the back of the body often starts to raise up and it doesn't make it a very
playable and usable instrument.
But it makes it a great donor as a slide guitar because the neck is wider and the body is
actually built to take quite a lot of tension.
One of the things that you would probably want to do if you're converting a guitar is
change the gauge of the strings to be slightly heavier.
Personally I use these John Pierce Weissenborn strings that start at about 60 on the bottom
[N] and about 15 on the top, which is obviously not a gauge that you would use on your regular
guitar unless you had the biggest, strongest hands in the world.
So yeah, that's going to give a lot more body to the sound.
It's going to give you more tension on the strings and your intention by having the strings
up this high, [D] which you can probably see if I
You know, the strings are set way, way high.
When you're playing with a slide, [Db] you're trying to avoid [Dm] this happening.
Trying to get a nice, clean, [G] uncluttered sound.
So the higher the action, the [Eb] less likely you're of that [Dm] unwanted
[D] rattles and clangs.
[A] But yeah, [E] I mean, if you're looking at starting to play slide guitar and you want to try something
out, I mean you really can pick up old twisted neck guitars for next to nothing.
I mean, car boot sales, junk shops, just [N] even eBay.
And the tools you need to do it are fairly straightforward.
You know, something to knock this nut off.
The original nut off, usually just a piece of wood and a little hammer, a little tap
will get it loosened up.
This is just bone.
I've glued it on with EvoStick.
And that's generally worked for me.
And I might be going into all of this a bit too much for one shot, but these bone parts
probably won't come to fit exactly in the gap [Eb] that's on your guitar.
It probably is [A] what I prepared earlier.
[Abm]
[B] Yeah, you're probably going to find that when you buy a blank, it could be as thick as that.
But I found the bone one sounded really good.
So what you're trying to do is make that fit into there.
And you know, I don't have a workshop at home.
I'm in the kitchen sanding it down.
So I found the best way to get it down to size is get a big sheet of fairly coarse sandpaper,
put it on a totally flat surface and just sand it down bit by bit until it fits in your slot there.
You don't really particularly need always to cut grooves for the strings to go over.
They sometimes can just settle on their own.
But if they do need a little bit of guidance, work out what the spacing is that you want,
make a little nick in the top of these, top of the bridge part here, maybe with a Stanley knife.
And then you can use fret files, very thin files, just try and get that little notch to the right size.
You definitely need to do that up here at the nut end.
You'll see these tuning pegs rolled the wrong way because they were cheap from somewhere, I think.
You can see that [G] to get the string to sit where you want to,
you really need to file down the appropriate size,
taking care that all the [A] strings come up to the same [D] height.
If you [G] cut one in too low, [Ebm] you'll find that string might rattle
[Gm] when you're covering all the strings with [D] the slide.
Yeah, in a [G] nutshell, that's what differs on this guitar from a regular guitar,
is that the action has been raised up to about [F] 5 or 6mm by using a nut and a new saddle piece.
Key:
D
G
A
Dm
Eb
D
G
A
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Well, this [N] fine instrument _ originated somewhere in Japan, I would guess somewhere in the 70s
and _ it was my first attempt to make a lap style guitar.
_ _ The thing that makes this guitar different from a regular guitar is pretty straight forward. _
The original nut has been taken off the end here.
It's probably sitting around somewhere actually.
_ _ When it was made it would have had this nut sitting at the end of the fretboard to guide
the strings down the fretboard. _ _ _ _ _
This section here would have been quite a lot lower to keep the strings close to the
fret so you can play it this way around with your fingers as you would for a regular guitar.
What I did, _ _ because I wanted to play across my lap, is take those original sections out
and I just bought some bone blanks which you can probably get pretty easily online now
and just cut them to size.
You can see I have [A] not _ been trained as a luthier [Eb] at any point and it's a real kind of to do
the job _ [Ab] kind of conversion.
So if you're thinking about getting your priceless Gibson or Taylor and converting it into a
lap steel maybe don't take my advice about everything.
So I just knocked the old nut off, put this in, _ vaguely gauged the kind of space I wanted
_ [D] the strings to be, _ put this razor in here, strung it up, tuned it up and hoped it wouldn't
snap in half, which it didn't.
So _ I'd say one of the good things if you want to do a cheap and cheerful _ acoustic lap slide
conversion, 12 strings _ are usually quite good things to start with.
Quite often because there's so much tension on the neck from a 12 string, [Bb] necks often
bend or the back of the body often starts to raise up and it doesn't make it a very
playable and usable instrument.
But it makes it a great donor as a slide guitar because the neck is wider and the body is
actually built to take quite a lot of tension.
One of the things that you _ would probably want to do if you're converting a guitar is
change the gauge of the strings to be slightly heavier.
_ _ Personally I use these John Pierce Weissenborn strings that start at about 60 on the bottom
[N] and about 15 on the top, which is obviously not a gauge that you would use on your regular
guitar unless you had the biggest, strongest hands in the world.
_ _ _ So yeah, that's going to give a lot more body to the sound.
It's going to give you more tension on the strings and your intention by having the strings
up this high, [D] which you can probably see if I_
You know, the strings are set way, way high. _ _
When you're playing with a slide, _ [Db] you're trying to avoid [Dm] this happening.
Trying to get a nice, clean, _ [G] _ _ uncluttered sound.
So the higher the action, the [Eb] less likely you're of that [Dm] unwanted _
_ [D] _ _ _ rattles and clangs. _
[A] But yeah, [E] I mean, if you're looking at starting to play slide guitar and you want to try something
out, I mean you really can pick up old twisted neck guitars for next to nothing.
I mean, car boot sales, junk shops, just [N] even eBay. _ _
And the tools you need to do it are fairly _ straightforward.
You know, something to knock this nut off.
The original nut off, usually just a piece of wood and a little hammer, a little tap
will get it loosened up.
This is just bone.
I've glued it on with _ _ EvoStick.
_ And that's generally worked for me. _
And I _ _ might be going into all of this a bit too much for one shot, but these bone parts
_ probably won't come to fit exactly in the gap [Eb] that's on your guitar.
It probably is [A] what I prepared earlier.
[Abm] _
[B] Yeah, you're probably going to _ find that when you buy a blank, it could be as thick as that.
But I found the bone one sounded really good.
So what you're trying to do is make that fit into there. _
_ _ And you know, I don't have a workshop at home.
I'm _ in the kitchen sanding it down.
So I found the best way to get it down to size is get a big sheet of fairly coarse sandpaper,
put it on a totally flat surface and just sand it down bit by bit until it fits in your slot there.
_ You don't really particularly need always to _ cut grooves for the strings to go over.
They _ sometimes can just settle on their own.
But if they do need a little bit of guidance, _ work out what the spacing is that you want,
make a little nick in the top of these, _ top of the bridge part here, maybe with a Stanley knife.
And then you can use fret files, very thin files, just try and get that _ little notch to the right size.
You definitely need to do that up here at the nut end.
_ You'll see _ these tuning pegs rolled the wrong way because they were _ cheap from somewhere, I think.
You can see that [G] to get the string to sit where you want to,
you really need to file down the appropriate _ size,
taking care that all the [A] strings come up to the same [D] height.
If you [G] cut one in too low, [Ebm] you'll find that string might rattle
[Gm] when you're covering all the strings with [D] the slide. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Yeah, in a [G] nutshell, _ that's what differs _ on this guitar from a regular guitar,
is that the action has been raised up to about _ [F] 5 or 6mm by using a nut and a new saddle piece. _ _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Well, this [N] fine instrument _ originated somewhere in Japan, I would guess somewhere in the 70s
and _ it was my first attempt to make a lap style guitar.
_ _ The thing that makes this guitar different from a regular guitar is pretty straight forward. _
The original nut has been taken off the end here.
It's probably sitting around somewhere actually.
_ _ When it was made it would have had this nut sitting at the end of the fretboard to guide
the strings down the fretboard. _ _ _ _ _
This section here would have been quite a lot lower to keep the strings close to the
fret so you can play it this way around with your fingers as you would for a regular guitar.
What I did, _ _ because I wanted to play across my lap, is take those original sections out
and I just bought some bone blanks which you can probably get pretty easily online now
and just cut them to size.
You can see I have [A] not _ been trained as a luthier [Eb] at any point and it's a real kind of to do
the job _ [Ab] kind of conversion.
So if you're thinking about getting your priceless Gibson or Taylor and converting it into a
lap steel maybe don't take my advice about everything.
So I just knocked the old nut off, put this in, _ vaguely gauged the kind of space I wanted
_ [D] the strings to be, _ put this razor in here, strung it up, tuned it up and hoped it wouldn't
snap in half, which it didn't.
So _ I'd say one of the good things if you want to do a cheap and cheerful _ acoustic lap slide
conversion, 12 strings _ are usually quite good things to start with.
Quite often because there's so much tension on the neck from a 12 string, [Bb] necks often
bend or the back of the body often starts to raise up and it doesn't make it a very
playable and usable instrument.
But it makes it a great donor as a slide guitar because the neck is wider and the body is
actually built to take quite a lot of tension.
One of the things that you _ would probably want to do if you're converting a guitar is
change the gauge of the strings to be slightly heavier.
_ _ Personally I use these John Pierce Weissenborn strings that start at about 60 on the bottom
[N] and about 15 on the top, which is obviously not a gauge that you would use on your regular
guitar unless you had the biggest, strongest hands in the world.
_ _ _ So yeah, that's going to give a lot more body to the sound.
It's going to give you more tension on the strings and your intention by having the strings
up this high, [D] which you can probably see if I_
You know, the strings are set way, way high. _ _
When you're playing with a slide, _ [Db] you're trying to avoid [Dm] this happening.
Trying to get a nice, clean, _ [G] _ _ uncluttered sound.
So the higher the action, the [Eb] less likely you're of that [Dm] unwanted _
_ [D] _ _ _ rattles and clangs. _
[A] But yeah, [E] I mean, if you're looking at starting to play slide guitar and you want to try something
out, I mean you really can pick up old twisted neck guitars for next to nothing.
I mean, car boot sales, junk shops, just [N] even eBay. _ _
And the tools you need to do it are fairly _ straightforward.
You know, something to knock this nut off.
The original nut off, usually just a piece of wood and a little hammer, a little tap
will get it loosened up.
This is just bone.
I've glued it on with _ _ EvoStick.
_ And that's generally worked for me. _
And I _ _ might be going into all of this a bit too much for one shot, but these bone parts
_ probably won't come to fit exactly in the gap [Eb] that's on your guitar.
It probably is [A] what I prepared earlier.
[Abm] _
[B] Yeah, you're probably going to _ find that when you buy a blank, it could be as thick as that.
But I found the bone one sounded really good.
So what you're trying to do is make that fit into there. _
_ _ And you know, I don't have a workshop at home.
I'm _ in the kitchen sanding it down.
So I found the best way to get it down to size is get a big sheet of fairly coarse sandpaper,
put it on a totally flat surface and just sand it down bit by bit until it fits in your slot there.
_ You don't really particularly need always to _ cut grooves for the strings to go over.
They _ sometimes can just settle on their own.
But if they do need a little bit of guidance, _ work out what the spacing is that you want,
make a little nick in the top of these, _ top of the bridge part here, maybe with a Stanley knife.
And then you can use fret files, very thin files, just try and get that _ little notch to the right size.
You definitely need to do that up here at the nut end.
_ You'll see _ these tuning pegs rolled the wrong way because they were _ cheap from somewhere, I think.
You can see that [G] to get the string to sit where you want to,
you really need to file down the appropriate _ size,
taking care that all the [A] strings come up to the same [D] height.
If you [G] cut one in too low, [Ebm] you'll find that string might rattle
[Gm] when you're covering all the strings with [D] the slide. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Yeah, in a [G] nutshell, _ that's what differs _ on this guitar from a regular guitar,
is that the action has been raised up to about _ [F] 5 or 6mm by using a nut and a new saddle piece. _ _ _ _