Make a 2×4 Lap Steel Guitar [EASY project] – The How-To Repository for the Cigar Box Guitar Movement!
This lap steel was made from an extra 2×4 I had in my shed, with just a few saw cuts to the wood. I even used a pre-wired acoustic sound hole pickup, so there was no wiring needed. Anybody can build this lap steel guitar! The lap steel plays great, too. It’s set up with a standard 23-inch scale, just like the store bought-lap steels! The whole thing feels great on your lap and looks absurdly cool. Here’s a quick video (below). As you can tell, I’m still learning how to play this properly. These plans will give you a very basic, yet absolutely playable lap steel. It might look like a lot of steps, but trust me, this instrument is easy to build. You are basically just marking down a few lines, making a couple cuts to the 2×4 and installing simple hardware. At the end of this article, I have included a few mods to this design. Parts needed • 32” section of 2×4 pine lumber. (Note: Due to harmful chemicals, do not use pressure-treated lumber!) • Two (2) 1/2” diameter allthread rods, 3.5” lo