The Body Design
We decided to try to keep the design simple for my first attempt, so we did some research on-line for basic ideas. We ended up going with a pretty straight forward design based on a set of plans we got from this web site. We bought the .pdf of the plans, and modified them a bit to fit some existing pickups we had, and also to work with a set of bridges and nuts that we got on eBay. We got a nice 7' piece of 2" x 10" Mahogany from a local lumber yard, ripped it down to 6-1/2" wide, and cut it in half, length wise, for the two bodies. After modifying the .pdf plans in Photoshop, We printed them out, and cut out the various pieces to use to trace the outline of the body.
.PDF plans for lap steel
We will need to modify these a bit in order to use my pickups and bridge.
My Gibson P94 Pickup and Bridge on .PDF plan
Based on our pre-existing parts, we modified the plans somewhat. We extended the butt end a bit to accommodate the bridge and tail piece, and modified the head stock to a more desireable (for us) shape. We also decided to make a pickguard that would hold both the pickup and controls, so the control cavity would be top routed. Our nut, bridge, and tail piece were also not as tall as those in the plans, so they would have to sit up from the body. The nut would have to be mounted on top of the neck, and, therefore, we needed to raise the bridge and tail piece as well.
We cut out the profile of the modified plan, and placed in on the piece of mahogany. This picture was taken before we ripped the boards down to 6-1/2" wide, and trimed them length wise.
Modified plan on the mahogany board
After tracing the outline of the guitar onto the board, and ripping it to the maximum width of the guitar body, we were ready to start cutting out the basic shape.