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SONNY RHODES LAP STEEL
The Sonny Rhodes lap steel was built from the ground up by me. It was modeled after a 1940’s Gibson EH-150. Chris Martin and Dick Boak at Martin Guitar Company allowed me to go through their stock pile of mother of pearl, and flame and birdseye maple for the body. My good friend Roger Blake fabricated all the metal parts in his machine shop, and Chris Hofschneider at Kramer Guitar Company gave us a hand with the final finish work.
I constructed the body with a tubular steel tone bar through its center to increase sustain. Sonny Rhodes used the instrument for several years until it burned up in a bus fire with the rest of his band’s equipment and possessions during a Canadian tour.
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