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I picked up an old Goya lap steel recently. The nut was broken off at the seat of the high E string (assuming standard guitar tuning), so I machined myself a new nut from a piece of ebony I had sitting around. That worked out quite well, but now it seems like the bridge saddle - which is essentially a piece of light plastic screwed to the body - is eating up sustain.
Given that the body is so light, my gut tells me that heavy bridges - a benefit on many guitars - are likely counterproductive on lap steels. But maybe it was a saddle that worked well with THAT nut, and not somethng denser
Since lap steels are a slightly different beast, in terms of their physics, and are more like one continuous vibrating body, is it important to have the same relative density for the nut and bridge on such an instrument? Have I invited a drop in sustain by installing this "improved" nut? Alternatively, since I never strung it up prior to making the new nut, have my expectations of sustain been unrealistic? I'm disinclined to accept the latter since there is no problem with sustain on the wound strings. That's what leads me to ponder the issue of relative density, because it feels like thr bridge is eating up ther sustain of those top 2 strings.
Given that the body is so light, my gut tells me that heavy bridges - a benefit on many guitars - are likely counterproductive on lap steels. But maybe it was a saddle that worked well with THAT nut, and not somethng denser
Since lap steels are a slightly different beast, in terms of their physics, and are more like one continuous vibrating body, is it important to have the same relative density for the nut and bridge on such an instrument? Have I invited a drop in sustain by installing this "improved" nut? Alternatively, since I never strung it up prior to making the new nut, have my expectations of sustain been unrealistic? I'm disinclined to accept the latter since there is no problem with sustain on the wound strings. That's what leads me to ponder the issue of relative density, because it feels like thr bridge is eating up ther sustain of those top 2 strings.