C. B. Gitty 2x4 Lap The DIY Slide Steel Guitar Kit

Great little kit.I picked up a nice cedar 10 foot 2x4 from Lowes for about $12 (enough for 3 kits). You can get a 2x4 stud for only a few dollars if you want a cheaper option.The only tools I used were a circular saw and a standard hand drill.The only really tricky parts were cutting out the notches for the tuners and the pickup. Everything else went well. You can find many YouTube videos showing how to saw the notches with a circular saw. I used a speed square to keep the saw perpendicular to the side of the 2x4.Maybe spent six hours total and I am by no means an accomplished woodworker or DIYer.Only advice is to make sure you strip and solder together the black and white wires before you tape them back to the insulated core.

Interesting fun project... and it works! Instructions were good but check the ones about drilling holes for tuners. Mine were wrong. Rest of project was good. Probably not for a professional steel player.

I had a wonderful time building this. Directions were clear and concise...go slow and take the time to make sure it’s right. I used magic marker for the frets and bought some decals for feet markers. Best part...it really sounds good. I used a cedar 2x4.Just need to learn the tricks of the instrument.

My Son loved building this ! He used a beautiful piece of walnut wood and it turned out great ! The sound is really good as well

This was my first attempt at a lap steel build. I really did not know what was in store. I gave it 4 stars for a couple of reasons. One, I am having issues with the humbucker pickup. It causes hum. It's obviously a ground issue that I haven't been able to reasonably solve. I'm assuming a defective instrument. I've ordered another to try.The other issue is that the instructions didn't include a couple of what I would call important items, i.e. a better explanation on the location and spacing of the tuner keys.I provided the "2x4" by creating a body out of exotic hardwoods I have laying around. Glossed it up with some lacquer, etc.Notching the nut and bridge was tricky and I would recommend taking some extra time to get the notches right. The directions sort of warn the builder to notch the items so that the strings will be the same height. It doesn't take much to make the strings slightly off which, in turn affects the playing of the instrument.Overall, it's a fun project to take on. I modified the suggestions in the directions to use black wire ties for fret markers and embedded the black wire ties into a fretboard I made out of butternut. Quite a bit better looking.