The console steel guitar is a type of electric steel guitar intermediate between the lap steel guitar and the pedal steel guitar. Console steel guitars typically have multiple necks and/or more than six strings per neck, and are too large to be easily played in lap steel fashion.
They are particularly favoured in Hawaiian music, especially the twin neck eight string per neck configuration. Don Helms played a Gibson Console with Hank Williams.
Console steel guitars most commonly have eight strings per neck, with six or seven strings less common and mainly on older instruments. Up to four necks is not unusual, as without the benefit of pedals, the player has only as many tunings available as there are necks, but two necks are most common. As with the pedal steel guitar, the neck closest to the player is most commonly C6 tuning, and the next closest E9 tuning.
The line between electric lap steel guitar and console steel guitar is fuzzy, with a great deal of overlap. Some makers and authorities do not use the term console steel guitar at all, but refer to any steel guitar without pedals as a lap steel guitar. In 1956, Gibson was selling an 8+8 string with folding legs as a lap steel guitar, but this particular instrument is unplayable in lap steel fashion; The Fender Stringmaster with up to four necks was also described as a lap steel guitar in some Fender catalogs, while in others it was simply described as a steel guitar.
Read more about Console Steel Guitar: Makers
Famous quotes containing the words console, steel and/or guitar:
“The vanity of the sciences. Physical science will not console me for the ignorance of morality in the time of affliction. But the science of ethics will always console me for the ignorance of the physical sciences.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Man you ought to see his plans for allsteel buildins. He’s got an idea the skyscraper of the future’ll be built of steel and glass. We’ve been experimenting with vitrous tile recently... crist-amighty some of his plans would knock you out... He’s got a great sayin about some Roman emperor who found Rome of brick and left it of marble. Well he says he’s found New York of brick an that he’s goin to leave it of steel... steel an glass.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“Swiftly in the nights,
In the porches of Key West,
Behind the bougainvilleas
After the guitar is asleep,
Lasciviously as the wind,
You come tormenting.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)