After completing the restoration of the Selmer I moved on to other projects while only occasionally playing it.
All that changed when I joined Moonshine Coyote where I play lap steel as my main instrument.
Although the term lap steel implies that it should be played while sitting down, I much prefer to stand. I have a National lap steel which has it’s own legs but the bright red and white 60’s look didn’t fit with the cigar box guitars that the band is renowned for. The Selmer on the other hand, with it’s brass and dark mahogany, felt right at home.
I happened to have a laptop tray that fits onto a heavy duty music stand base, so I covered that with a piece of plywood and a non-slip mat and away we went. The guitar didn’t slide on the stand and all went well at the first gig.
At the next gig though there was a scary moment right at the beginning of the show as you can see in the images below…
As you can see in the lower picture the guitar almost went flying until I managed to catch it and push it back down onto the table.
I obviously needed to find a way of holding the guitar securely on the stand without damaging the body.
I decided to build a horizontal clamp that would hold the body at four points and prevent it from moving in any direction. The clamp would consist of a fixed end with a clamping wheel on a threaded rod, a static guide piece with aluminium tubing guide rails and a movable clamp end. The body would rest on the clamp parts and be held by tabs attached to the clamp.
Then there was the problem of how to hold all this to the stand. Luckily I was able to use the bottom part of the laptop tray which attached to the music stand, and then designed a bracket to fit it. With the designs completed it was time to 3D print the parts.
While the various pieces were printing, I traced the shape of the body onto a piece of plywood and cut it out. This would be the piece that tied everything together – the clamp for the guitar would mount to the top side and the two brackets and stand top to the underneath.
Finishing touches included painting the plywood base black and installing non-slip silicone pads to both the base and the swivel tabs to make sure the guitar can’t move at all and to protect the finish.
In conclusion, designing and building something myself was immensely satisfying – especially when there were no commercially available alternatives – and I can now concentrate on what I’m playing rather than getting ready to catch a falling guitar.
If you’d like to see the Selmer on it’s stand in action with Moonshine Coyote, go to https://www.moonshinecoyote.co.uk/baby-please-dont-go/
