Dobro geniuses such as Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss and Union Station, Mike Auldridge or the late Bob Brozman and his metal bodied Nationals have recorded the range of tone and sounds with these instruments. They can also be a Hawaiian type wooden instrument, like a Weissenborn.ĭifferent manufactures of lap steel guitars lend themselves to different styles, and musicians have their preferences. Acoustic lap steels are usually either a resonator type of instrument, such as a Dobro or a Tri Cone. The raised nut and saddle elevating strings are an inch or so above the fingerboard. They also have a squared neck in the form of a hollow block for resonance and strength to hold tuning. While you can play a regular guitar lap style, lap steel instruments are a single slab if electric or if acoustic. The primary types of lap steel guitars are either acoustically hollow or solid electric. The pedal steel guitar is too heavy to play on your lap in spite of its similarities to the lap steel. This was to raise or lower certain strings while both hands were occupied. These guitars became a fixture in the genre when musicians added levers and pedals to them. Lap steel guitars became popular with Country and Western music during the Depression era.

He appeared on stages across America and in films in 1932 and posthumously in 1951. Kekuku became an international star and popularized Hawaiian music at the start of the 20th century. He experimented with a pocket knife and other materials before settling on the heavy rounded bar that is standard now. Joseph Kekuku, a seven-year-old living in Hawaii, found that sliding a railroad bolt across his guitar strings made a sound akin to the human voice.

Lap steel guitars are old instruments dating back to the late 19th century.

Supro lap steel guitar history