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Permalink Reply by Poorness Studios on August 31, 2019 at 4:54am

Can you post a pic or two. Tabs on a 2x4? I'm having trouble understanding what you mean?

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Permalink Reply by James Pobog on August 31, 2019 at 5:05am

Step #11.

https://cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/make-a-2x4-lap-steel-guitar

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Permalink Reply by Poorness Studios on August 31, 2019 at 7:23am

Okay, gotcha. It's a question about pickups not 2x4s. LOL. I was totally lost. I have no hands on experience with the Tiesco pickups but I could imagine its pretty easy to break those tabs accidentally. I don't think this is disastrous though. The pickup should sit about 1/4 from the strings, so a thin pickup like that might not even need a notch (or maybe just a very shallow notch) in the 2x4.

If I was in your position I'd probably just glue it on or use double-sided tape, or maybe use wire to hold it in place (provided you haven't notched the 2x4 yet). If you've already cut the notch, I'd probably just get a different pickup and save the Tiesco for a later project.

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Permalink Reply by James Pobog on August 31, 2019 at 8:11am

I'm still building proto/patterns. But my question then is, tape or glue is OK? I have several more p/u's coming, a couple 2 coil humbuckers, and I'm going to try fitting one of these
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYMHBYM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_t...
 
Those tabs can be trimmed, just plastic. I'm also getting some of the cheap single coil units.

My second build will be a 2x6, possibly a baritone with a 30" scale. That might be that very nice piece of redwood I found...

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Permalink Reply by Poorness Studios on September 2, 2019 at 1:53am

Hi James. A couple of notable CBG pickups like the Lace Matchbook and the 12 Bar Blues Classic (used by Justin Johnson) use double-sided tape to mount so I wouldn't be concerned about that. It works fine provided you have a smooth surface for the tape to adhere to. Tape doesn't stick well to rough surfaces.

Glue would probably work but again, you'd need a very smooth surface for the glue to adhere to, so I'd be careful with that. You could also try wire. Just drill 4 small holes near the corners of the pickup and run a couple of pieces of bailing wire over the pickup (perpendicular) then down through the 2x4 and twist them on the bottom. Bailing wire fixes a lot of things.

I'm not sure what exactly made you want to use a golf foil pickup for a lap steel, but that would probably be one of my last choices if you're looking for the Nashville sound. I'd use a soapbar/P90 or a strat-style single coil or even a PAF-style humbucker before I'd use a Tiesco. Not that there's anything wrong with them, they sound great, but just probably not my first choice for that style.

The pickup you linked above would work great for a traditional cigar box guitar, but for a lap steel, I'd probably skip the mounting ring and just cut a notch in the 2x4. I recently did a lap steel build and I purposely chose a soapbar pickup. You can see/hear it here: https://cigarboxnation.com/video/2x4-lap-steel-build-demo

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Permalink Reply by James Pobog on September 2, 2019 at 5:05am

Thanks. I'm pretty damn noob, not just to pickups, but to music. Part of this is 'folk art' for me. I'm gonna noodle around and see what I can pick up (no pun intended).

I picked the gold foil because that's what Shane's plan called for. I have 2 humbuckers ordered, and I've decided I like single coils because of ease of installation.

I think I'll use tape. I saw a vid where I guy showed how to use tape and memory foam in a way that secured the p/u, but also made it adjustable for height. I'm gonna try that thin white packing material closed cell foam, it has a nice glossy skin on it, and just rip it out if need be.

This first stick is'proof of concept' for me, a plan-in-progress. It WILL be down and dirty, figuring what works and what doesn't.

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