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Welcome to Bluestem Strings!
Bluestem Strings is the web's most extensive source of information related to electric lap steel guitar construction and also serves as a platform to display a few of my instruments. Ordering information is provided if you wish to purchase a Bluestem electric lap steel guitar or perhaps purchase one of the detailed instrument construction guides which feature full size printed plans.
You'll find lots of free information related to lap steel construction including free detailed plans and construction information, as well as plans for open back 5 string banjos and mandolins. I'll also be adding to the material in the future, so check back once in a while.
I have been an avid experimenter/builder of musical instruments for over 30 years, and it is my hope that this site will provide those who desire to construct a professional grade lap steel, open back 5 string banjo, or mandolin some of the inspiration to do so.
I have maintained a website for several years with free plans and construction guides for various musical instruments (see link at the bottom of this page); but that site is advertisement-supported and it has reached to cap on the amount of free space provided. That site continues to offer a valuable source of information, and this site builds on the original site concept by providing information relating to musical instrument construction without the annoying banner ads. This site sees an average of 70 megabytes of daily use, and the sale of lap steel, banjo, and mandolin CD construction guides serve as a way of covering the expenses of providing advertisement free information for prospective builders. Hopefully the ad-free nature of this site will be appreciated.
Please note the enhanced menu system at the top of each page. The menu system is designed to streamline the site information to the particular flavor of instrument that you are interested in. All of the material on the site can be accessed by selecting the other fields of interest from the top line menu choices.
Enjoy your pursuit, and good luck in your instrument construction endeavors!
If you desire to contact me about Bluestem Strings products:
Due to scoundrelous spammers actively mining sites for e-mail addresses, I'm forced to include the following text version of my e-mail address meant to confuse the automated robo-search of websites for e-mail addresses. Please e-mail me at:rcordle (substitute the at symbol here) fastmail (substitute the dot here) fm
Please include "Bluestem Info Request" in the subject line, Thanks!
Please visit my other website designed to provide information on musical instrument construction. There are free plans as well as construction tips and techniques available at:
Rudy's Sketchbook of Musical Instrument Plans, Ideas, and Inspiration