Now you have a lap steel and a lap, where do you put your lap?
Lap Steel Seat with storage:
The seat ready for action:
The seat folded for travel:
In the past, gig seating always meant finding whatever armless chair was available at the venue so I could sit down to play lap steel. Having played as a Tele slinger for several years, seating was not much of an issue until I found myself playing lap steel in a new band. Imagine my disappointment when I arrived at a venue I had not played before and found there was absolutely nothing to sit on. I decided that it was time to pack my own seating from now on, so my quest to find the perfect portable seating commenced. After years of hauling around various too-heavy pieces of equipment, one of my prime objectives was weight. My new seat had to be light, double as a means of storage, easy to construct, and cheap. Ok, that’s a pretty tall list of requirements if you include the cheap parameter. I looked at the various commercially available steel guitar seats, loved the models with fold down back rests, but didn’t particularly like the look of the legs or the price. (Did I mention that I was cheap?) As I was casually wandering the isles of my local Wal-mart; I gazed upon the perfect solution. It appeared in the form of a Wise fold-down boat seat with great padding and nice vinyl covering. Perhaps a little nautical-looking, but everything else appeared to be perfect. I probably looked somewhat odd as I perched the seat somewhat precariously upon another container of the appropriate height and proceeded to play air lap steel in the store aisle. It felt pretty darned good. Price tag? Twenty-five bucks and change. (January 2007) Decision made. The difficult part was getting past the greeter while carrying a boat seat. “Going fishing?” she asked. “I don’t own a boat.” was my reply. There were no further questions, but I could tell by the blank look that the answer did not entirely satisfy her.
All I needed now was a base. Plywood and a few quick saw cuts would get me there. The base measures 15” wide by 14” deep by 14” tall and was made of scraps 1/2” plywood assembled with 45 degree matching edge joints at the corners which were reinforced with several splines to increase their strength. The splines were done using several quick plunges from a biscuit joiner. The corner slots were then fitted with biscuits formed by cutting regular #20 biscuits in half diagonally. This is a technique I use regularly for assembling quick boxes from plywood. Edge-glued plywood is not strong, but in this case the glued corners are only necessary until the splines are glued in place. The box then becomes very strong, and can withstand lots of banging around as it is further refined.
Top and bottom panels were added next, using glue and short drywall screws. All corners were rounded, and the box was then cut into two sections with the top section being about 2” high. The two sections of the box were then covered in gray carpet of the same type that covers speaker cabinets; it is sold as automotive carpeting at my local big box home improvement store. The carpet was glued on with regular carpenter’s wood glue, starting by gluing the bottom of the split box to the upside-down carpet. After the glue has dried for a couple of hours you can proceed to cut and glue each side section. Each side is wrapped over the top and extends into the box about 1”.
After top and bottom are covered, temporarily secure the two sections together by wrapping tightly with shipping tape and attach the rear hinges. Remove the tape and you now have a neat box that opens and closes!
The seat is screwed to the top section and a simple hasp latch fastened to the front. The strap that holds the folded seat down actually comes with the seat. That was convenient! Add the chest handles and you’re almost done.
I was going to add corner trim, but found that careful cutting yielded an almost invisible corner joint. After the entire seat was finished I ran a small bead of glue under the edges at the corners and wound shipping tape tightly around the entire box to draw the corners tightly together.
If desired, additional shallow boxes can be made that fit inside for storage of small items. Fit them with formed metal brackets that fit snuggly over the top edge so they can be moved to the outside of the box when they are needed. The metal brackets should allow the side boxes to extend about half way down the side of the box. If it's too close to the top you'll wind up hitting the top of your beer bottle! (A cup holder incorporated into whichever one of these is at your drinking side is definitely a worthy addition.)
Mine was taken out for its maiden voyage the very next night, and I can report that I’m a much happier man as a result of this $70 expenditure!
Lap Steel seat materials
- Wise folding boat seat ($26)
- 1/2” Birch plywood box, 14” deep by 15” wide by 14” high (Adjust height if you have long legs! $15)
- 4’ by 6’ Gray “Autobond” car carpet (24 square feet @ 50 cents a foot, $12)
- 1 pair 2-1/2” broad butt hinges with screws ($6)
- (1) 2-1/2” steel hasp ($2)
- (1) Spring clip to keep hasp closed ($2)
- (2) 4” steel chest handles ($6)
- (8) #8 by 5/8” flat head screws to attach the chest handles (<$1)
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 the present time.
Rudy's Sketchbook of Musical Instrument Plans, Ideas, and Inspiration
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