Artisan EA-2 Lap Steel Guitar Reviews 
2 / 5 based on 1 reviewsPrimarily a singer, I've been playing guitar for about 10 years, been in a band (drummer!), and have continued to record and play with other musicians on a non-professional basis. My styles range from folk to hard rock, with heavy power-pop leanings -- Big Star, not Green Day.
Bought at Musician's Friend for $80.
Well, it's a lap steel that costs only $80, and it has a decent sound. Not a bad finish, either.
For such a low price, would you be surprised to find that the construction is poor? The tuners are the worst I've found on any instrument -- the knobs are loose even after I took a screwdriver to them, and tuning is an utter nightmare. The output jack is in a terrible place, right where your palm or arm would be. And the detachable legs that come with this particular model are useless -- the screw heads on the legs are so poorly threaded that they don't go in all the way, and even when you do have the legs in, the instrument doesn't stand on its own with any degree of reliability. I gave up on the legs after 10 minutes and just played this thing on a table and in my lap.
Mediocre to poor.
Well, for such a low price, the poor design, construction and materials are to be expected. However, if you're just playing around and want to explore lap steel, I'd suggest getting the even cheaper EA-1 lap steel. It costs $30 less than this one, has plastic volume and tone knobs (not a major problem), and trust me, you will not need those detachable legs.
Derek Mok rated this unit
on
2006-01-16.
