[The Bard Rocks]

Among brands, there are none that compare with National, in quality or price. Resonator guitars were developed to be loud, to be played in big bands before the advent of microphones. A few years after they were introduced, microphones came to be and they were largely abandoned. It is ironic that the people who picked them up were not the big band players but bluesmen, Hawaiians and, to a lesser degree, old time country players. They were cheap and rugged as well as loud, good for bar fights. My Duolian sold for $27.50 when new.

Incidentally, it's resonator wore out and was replaced this year. 80 years was not bad. For some reason it was hard to find a proper replacement and the one we did find is inferior in sound to the original.