Official Luthiers Forum!

To keep the post simple, I play lap steel only, and want to make a baritone (electric/ acoustic later on)
that will work well with a C on the 6th string. That's a C below a standard E on the 6th string would usually be.
I've tried heavier gauge strings on a 25-1/2" scale length and unhappy with the sound.
So, any ideas what scale length to start at?
Thank you,
Alan

A 27 inch scale should work. C is only a whole step below dropped D which many people do on the low E string.

I made one with that exact tuning at around 27” scale length. It works well. I used a Fender bass fretting template from StewMac, but used one of the lower frets as the nut position. I can’t remember which fret on that template gives you a roughly 27” scale; I would have to check.

I have made an eight string acoustic baritone guitar with a 27 inch scale presently tuned in octave pairs CGDA and it works well. I know some lap steel players require tighter strings than what is desirable on a steel string guitar, but I think 27 inches will work O.K. as long as you aren't reaching for low B or A.
The baritone I built joins the neck at the 12th fret, so I can still use a standard case for it (probably not a consideration for a lap steel).

Thank you all. Looks like 27" it be. Sounds right.
Good thing about a lap job is frets don't have to be that accurate, so I'll do it
the old fashioned way with a hundredth of an inch 24" ruler, and go blind.
Thanks again,
Alan

I used a bass guitar fretboard and cut off a couple of frets at the nut end (I bought 50 "rejects" off eBay for $1 apiece some years back)