How to Make an Electric Guitar Into a Lap Steel Guitar

So you want to play slide guitar but keep getting fret noise? Well, turning a standard electric guitar into a lap steel isn't as hard as you would think. With a few simple tools and replacement parts you can be playing blues, bluegrass or Hawaiian-style guitar in no time flat.

Things You'll Need

• raised replacement nut flat screwdriver super glue allen wrench set replacement strings razor knife

Instructions

1. Remove the old strings from the guitar.

2. Using the razor knife cut the old glue from under the nut located above the first fret. Use the flat head screwdriver to help pry it up if necessary being careful not to scratch the fret board or finish.

3. After the old nut has been removed, you can install the new nut. This is done by applying a thin bead of super glue to both the nut and guitar and simply placing the new raised nut in place of the old one. Clean off any excess glue that might push out from underneath the nut.

4. Let the glue cure for at least 12 hours.

5. Restring your guitar and check the bridge height. You want the height of the bridge to be equal with that of the nut, no measuring tools are necessary and eyeballing it is okay as the strings will be high enough to clear all the frets. Many guitar bridges can be adjusted with a flat head screwdriver while others require the use of allen keys.

6. Tune the guitar. Most slide players like to play in an open tuning such as open D or open A but this is all preference.

Tips & Warnings

• If you notice that the volume of the guitar has somewhat diminished, raise the pickup height until the tone returns to normal.