Quote:
Originally Posted by J-Doug
Hi guys,
I think what I am experiencing is that most feared form of GAS, the dreaded National Reso GAS. Like most GASes it is irrational but now, after decades of suffering, it must be thoroughly explored. Accept no substitutes. My wife has agreed to a road trip to the "local" National dealer within the next 60 days so I can try out a roomful. I've decided against used. I've been burned one too many times and I have very little practical experience with used resos to know what to watch out for.
Thanks for all the great input, pics and videos. It"s been really helpful. I'll report back after our trip!
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But the wife is deciding which National?
Or wait in the car?
Kidding, good news.....
When I got my metal Dobro, you couldn’t get a new National, not invented yet and occasional music acquaintances bought a beaten old 30s National but one local guy had some special Tricone.....you could GAS all you like but not expect to ever have one. Then National Resophonics started and you could GAS away on all kinds of funny things.
Now as far as showmanship, the only National to get is a shiny one, doesn’t matter what or how many cones, because as I have mentioned, people come from everywhere just to look at it! Run a slide down my metal Dobro and get a huge cheer! True! Bizarre! Run a slide down a Gibson and nobody will even notice, ever. Run a slide down a wood body National and a few National fans may notice
. Like Steve James said, if the guitar has a hubcap on it, people expect you to play slide on it. So keep these points in mind when shopping.
So, if you want to sit quietly at home and plunk some standard tuning stuff on a National but don’t want the happy shiny people to annoy you, and you don’t want everyone to ask you to play Mark Knopfler, go for the plain wood body with minimal adornment. They may sound the same as a shiny!
If you want to play at the Ritz in your best tux and the lights come up and you want everyone to gasp at your shiny National Silver Tricone #4, well....you know what to buy. I went to see Mark Knopfler in Dire Straits years ago BECAUSE of his National. And in the middle of the gig, the lights went down and when they came back up, he was sitting there playing the famous National with “Romeo and Juliet” and the sound.....and the lighting...made it look like spun gold, and it could have been...and everyone did gasp with a capital G! GASP! Just magic.
I played my shiny Dobro at 2 or 3 clubs and people waved to me in the street! I kid you not. A guy that worked in one of those clubs yelled out to me across a busy intersection: “Ya still got that Dobro?” I had only been fingerpicking for a couple of years so I certainly hadn’t blinded them with my skill.
I now want a custom Koa National Estralita I saw on the Nat site...rats. And....and..and.
Good luck with your shopping!
P.S. there is a forum by Michael Messer for resos.
BluesKing777.