Freddie Roulette, a musician who helped bring the lap steel guitar — an instrument long associated with Hawaiian music — into blues, rock and funk to dazzling effect, died Dec. 24 at his home ...

Megan’s first lap steel, a Rickenbacker, was made of heavy Bakelite. “My back was starting to kill me,” she said. She designed her own instrument, made of lightweight poplar: the Beard ...