The Luthier Community

"Indy my good friend; I am so pleased to see that you are not dead!"



E

Thanks for checking in Randy! We miss you sometimes.

Glen

Very cool Randy, I love the sound of a Weissy and I really like the look of yours, nice work. That is an amazing bit of wood you have there (of course) and Dennis is spot on, that will look incredible under a finish. For those not familiar with Weissenborn style guitars, and for those who are but would like inspiration, check out Jeff Lang on Youtube.

You will probably notice that unlike Randy's cool solid body, Jeff Lang's instrument is your common variety of acoustic style of Weissenborn where the body is similar to that of a normal steel string acoustic guitar with the neck also forming part of the sound chamber. If you look close you will see why Randy states there is no steel frets, with an action that high who needs them.

This track: Elvis is dead.




For those who enjoyed that clip, I thought you may also enjoy another piece from Jeff Lang this time played on acoustic guitar, this guy is no slouch with either style of instrument and is one of those artist that will have you spending more time on youtube watching his clips than you planned.

This track is a cover of Richard Thompson's : 1952 Vincent Black Lightning




And as inspiration for Randy another acoustic Weissenborn number from John Butler, this track : Treat yo Mama with Respect.

There's a video on YouTube of Cindy Cashdollar and Sonny Landreth doing "Hard Time Killin' Floor". She's playing a solid body Weiss, and it sounds great. Have no idea who made it though.

Very funny that you should mention Cindy Cashdollar with respect to this instrument, as it was her music that inspired the build. I was first planning a Resonator and scanned the web for some music. I tripped across Cindy Cashdollar's "Slide Show" album and got hooked. I remember writing a PM to Eben asking about her, as he is a resident Texan as well. Guess she's a minor legend in the hill country. So....I checked out her website where her favourite instruments and builders are listed. Cindy's Weiseenborn Lapsteel is made by Asher Guitars, where I promptly went to copy the basic idea of Asher's "Ben Harper" model.

Funny how this stuff works!

I just went and had a look at Asher's web site. Nice lap steels indeed! Even more funny, it was a Weissenborn build that got me started in all this lutherie stuff!

Awesome axe Randy!!!

Glenn

Just to play the Devil's advocate, here's a lap reso built by a fellow I met at the Harp Guitar Gathering in '07.
http://www.bmsguitars.com/index.php?act ... he&fch=23#
He lives in Belgium, and build some very nice instruments, from harp guitars, to solid body electrics.