Another Art Deco Lap Steel

ramonet

Senior Member
Messages
314
Hi everybody, as I told you the success of my first lap steel brings me a customer interested in another one. As I don't want to make an exact copy of the first one, I changed some things here and there.
The main wood is padauk, because I have used only the half I've bought for the first one. The accent stripes are still sycamore, but the contrast stripes are made of ovangkol (also known as mongoy). For the fingerboard I've used pao ferro (I love this wood). Pickup ring is a sandwich of ovangkol and sycamore; I've tried a pijama version using padauk, sycamore, onvangkol, sycamore, padauk... but near it's finishing it breaks. The nut is, again, buffalo horn and it's fixed with a pao ferro sculpted strip. For the control plate I've also used ovangkol, the same wood for the nameplate on the headstock, with the name burned. As I felt the body was a little thin, I've glued a layer of honduran mahogany with some accents of sycamore.
 

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Some details of the headstock and the body
 

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If you are going to work with padauk TAKE CARE!!! For some people it's irritating and can cause some diseases. I've ended working all covered in plastic, wearing glasses and respirator mask and two pairs of gloves. The skin between my fingers goes away and I've changed most of the skins of my hands, I've had a severe irritation at the neck and forearms (stronger in the arm articulation), eyes even the head.
I repeat: if you are going to use padauk TAKE CARE. In the first lap steel I built I have no issues, but the padauk dust contains an oil that's (put here the worst bad your you want); it has an accumulative effect, so maybe the first instrument you made causes you no problems, but stay away from this wood for a long time.
I've ended working like this
 

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I know what you mean.  I has a nasty reaction to padouk as well.  I just stopped working with it.  Too dangerous.
 
ramonet said:
If you are going to work with padauk TAKE CARE!!! For some people it's irritating and can cause some diseases. I've ended working all covered in plastic, wearing glasses and respirator mask and two pairs of gloves. The skin between my fingers goes away and I've changed most of the skins of my hands, I've had a severe irritation at the neck and forearms (stronger in the arm articulation), eyes even the head.
I repeat: if you are going to use padauk TAKE CARE. In the first lap steel I built I have no issues, but the padauk dust contains an oil that's (put here the worst bad your you want); it has an accumulative effect, so maybe the first instrument you made causes you no problems, but stay away from this wood for a long time.
I've ended working like this

I've been covered in Padauk sawdust a few times, never bothered me.
You get a sink full of red when you wash your hands. :blob7:

Then again, I've yet to find a wood that bothers me. I've never had any allergies to anything. :dontknow:
 
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