Just saw this Ibanex Piccolo guitar with steel strings. It's about 27" long and would need a nut extender. This could be an option?

I’m excited about the new Beard Road-a-phonic, with the Hipshot Double shot. Not all that small, but smaller than my dobros, and it appears to do it all. With a gig bag it would be somewhat compact.

In the past Beard made the E Minor, a 3/4 size reso using a mandolin cone and spider, if you can find one.

Jack Stepick, a member here,  makes high quality short scale Resos and Weissenborn guitars. Check out his website or Facebook page. 

I've mentioned before and am happy to do so again- I've gotten a lot of mileage out of a 30s Oahu Hawaiian guitar. It's small (3/4 size) and light, and the lower volume is nice when playing to not disturb others.

Those are good ideas.

I'm looking for even smaller and lighter options than those.

I had a chance to demo a Ibenez Piccolo. It is a tenor size ukulele with stronger bracing to handle steel strings. I did not love the sound of it played as a guitar. It is tuned to A verses E so it has a higher pitch.

The nut raiser DID work! It was playable as a lap style dobro but the volume and tone were just OKish but NOT great!

My next option to try is a Traveler Ultra Light Acoustic guitar. Anyone have one of these that they have tried playing lap steel. It is a 24.5" scale but only 28" in length and less than 3 lbs and it has a piazzo pickup.

--Doug

You risk permanent neck damage with any round neck instrument. Also a myriad of other issues that'll make many of these instruments either non-playable or severely damaged.

Good luck to you.

An old student model Oahu square neck, a couple hundred bucks and super cool.

I had commented to the luthier from whom I bought my Oahu that I was surprised at how well it was holding up after so many years. He reminded me that they were built for kids, and kids aren't always careful.

So...super cool and super sturdy.

I realise this is an old thread but for future readers, my solution is a Washburn Rover. I bought one whilst on a business trip in the US, many years ago.

Within months after bringing it back home, the neck developed a twist. It wasn't worth spending money on so I just put a raiser on and it's been like that for years. 

Right now it's in open G. I had it in C6 for a long time, when I was learning lap-steel. To Howard's point, I have shown care with string gauges and currently have the lighter D'Addario EFT set on.

As instruments, they don't sound at all good but of course that's not their purpose. Mine came in a soft box-case which is useful. I've taken it on cycling-camping trips, strapping it on top of my tent et al.  The cased instrument was outside in all weathers - from sweltering midsummer Provence to a cold, wet Bavarian autumn. Seems to survive!

\ paul

I hadn't seen this thread before, but there are a couple of videos here youtube.com/channel/UCukt8nhLY...4x8k5eQFA which demonstrate my experimenting.

I am a relatively new player coming over from other instruments, and learning fairly fast. I would like a lap steel that I could travel with, but most of them have a 22.5 inch scale. I think my Beard R is roughly 25 inch. Is this change in scale length likely to trip me up as I practice?

I like the idea of wearing headphones to avoid subjecting my family to the noise of someone learning a new instrument, but I travel fairly frequently and just want to be able to keep my fingers nimble, if switching instruments (and scale size) isn't going to trip me up.

Thoughts?

quote:

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Originally posted by Kilo Bravo

I am a relatively new player coming over from other instruments, and learning fairly fast. I would like a lap steel that I could travel with, but most of them have a 22.5 inch scale. I think my Beard R is roughly 25 inch. Is this change in scale length likely to trip me up as I practice?

I like the idea of wearing headphones to avoid subjecting my family to the noise of someone learning a new instrument, but I travel fairly frequently and just want to be able to keep my fingers nimble, if switching instruments (and scale size) isn't going to trip me up.

Thoughts?

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In my experience, the scale length isn't a major factor unless you're practicing slants.  The bigger watch item in using a lap steel as a "travel/practice Dobro" is the string spacing.  Grooving your practicer reps on a more narrowly spaced lap steel (as many are) can cause some transition clumsiness when you get back to your home-based Dobro.  For some, this is a non-issue.  For me, it was a bit of an annoyance.

Some lap steels (like the Asher) have more "Dobro-like" (wider) string spacing at nut and bridge.  Although that may be pricier than you want for a travel lap steel.

Many players successfully transition between the two with no difficulty.  But if you're building muscle memory for Dobro playing, you may want to pay attention to string spacing on whatever lap steel you have in mind as a travel/practice instrument.  Good luck!