My Weissenborn-style hollow neck lap slide is finished and I decided to call it Red Kite after the majestic birds that I see around my workshop every day. I’ve had the most fun for a long time in building this one. I feel excited but at the same time daunted. I’ve played guitar for 40+ years and when I string them up I can usually play them pretty well and put them through their paces. I’ve only dabbled with slide though so it’s like going back 40 years and being a complete learner again – the nearest I’ve come is when I started playing bouzoukis and citterns. This is going to be my “playing development” for the next year or so and it’s going to be a gas. I’ve done a couple of sound clips. For the first I decided to do what I normally do when stuck and puzzled – put the instrument in DADGAD and play what I hear in my head, so this is called Red Kites to go with the guitar and give a feel for the sight and sound of these wonderful majestic birds. There’s lots of clunking with the bar slide and missed intonation and damping but it gives a flavour of the guitar:
Red Kites
When I went to Martin Simpson Workshops and he taught slide he talked about how people new to slide used to dive in real hard and make noises like “Two skeletons ******* in a dustbin” so for the second clip I put it into Open D and did just that:
Skeletons
Now for some pictures. The top and back are both 4 piece Sapele, the sides are English walnut, the binding is Lutz spruce that Shane Neifer made up for me, the headstock veneer and bridge are Old Rio Rosewood, snakewood bridgepins, ebony fingerboard with rope fret markers, mini Gotoh tuners with ebony buttons. The finish is 4-5 coats of pre-catalysed lacquer over Z-poxy rubbed back to a natural finish.
Front:
Back:
Side:
Fingerboard with rope fret markers:
A closer look at the binding:
Front bracing:
Back bracing:
Thanks for looking and listening.
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