Hi, I'm new and let me introduce myself with this National.

[rockabilly69]

I'm a new member as I just found out this forum exists. My name is Daniel Weldon and I'm a professional guitarist who still happens to love the instrument. I'm alway looking for new sounds, but one thing that I consistantly love is, National resonator guitars. So here is a custom built National Triolian that I just had built. What makes it custom is the more detailed neck than other Triolians. This one has a flamed maple neck, rolled binding, diamond inlays, and ebony fingerboard. It also has a factory Highlander pickup, and on the way is a Flatbucker magnetic pickup from Germany that I'll use for my electric guitar amp send. It's a great sounding guitar no doubt, and National sprinkled the mojo dust on this one!

[SuperB23]

Welcome to the AGF Daniel!! Very sweet National I love the inlays!

[Neal]

Welcome, another National fan here. Estralita Deee-luxe.

[jacothedog]

Absolute beauty!!!! Welcome to the forum.

[Taylorplayer]

Yes - welcome to the forum. That National is a beautiful looking instrument.... how's the sound on it?

All the best ~

Peace,
Bill

[rockabilly69]

Thank you guys. The acoustic sound on this is vintage Triolian and this is coming from somebody that had a 1931 Triolian. It has a very quick attack which I need for the type of music I play. I also have a Tricone, and Western D, but the Triolian is in your face with a shorter sustain, and gives up a little of the complexity of tone of the tricone and spider bridge models to get that attack. It is basically the gutbucket model and the perfect sound for live blues. The sustain of those other models really doesn't work for the rhythm feel that I'm looking for. But this new thinner Triolian body with the Hot Rod cone gets exactly what I want! This is not the reso to get when you want pretty

As for the electric sound...The Highlander sounds a hair compressed, but very nice through the PA. I have Highlanders in all of my resonators, so I'm very used to them. And although I love them for what they do, I don't like the Highlanders through electric guitar amps, as they are more of a HI-FI sounding pickup. I ordered a Tom Gassel Flatbucker pickup to get a dirty tone from my electric guitars amps, but I haven't used one yet, so I'll let you guys know what I think when I try it out. The Flatbucker is basically a recreation of the old Barcus Berry reso pickup that Chris Whitley used to tape to his guitar. My style is very similiar to the way he played, so I'm hoping it will work out for me. I will run both pickups all the time.

I've used this National exclusively for my last 4 gigs, and with every gig, I'm getting more and more used to it's feel. This is the first new National that actually sounds and, more importantly, feels like a vintage model. As a matter of fact this one walks on my old '31 Triolian. The intonation is dead on and I'm using a regular set of LIGHT Martin SPs, how National does this is beyond me.

[jpbat]

I dig the magnetic PU's. I put one on any of my acoustics.

Let us know about the Flatbucker. I'm curious about it.
Particularly the height.
(I have National Lace on my two resos, but they are not available anymore, and I plan another reso soon. 12 strings tricone...)

[rockabilly69]

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I just got into using the Flatbucker, and I think it's a great pickup. I almost wrote it off after trying it with bronze wound strings because there was a big inbalance in volume. The B and E strings were way too loud. But recently I switched to electric guitar strings (.011 -.052), and now, the pickup sounds GREAT. If you're looking for the dirty Chris Whitley type reso sound, this is it. I still use the internal Highlander for cleaner reso sounds, but for the dirty stuff I couldn't imagine anything better than the Flatbucker. I'm glad I have them both in this guitar.

[Rick Jones]

Hi there,
Do the nickel strings have any negative effect on the unplugged tone?
Dreaming of a reso myself, and pretty much have the same requirements as yourself.
I always put a mag on my acoustics as well as a more hi-fi source too, love that sound. Your National is my dream guitar lol!

[Neal]

Originally Posted by Rick Jones

Hi there,
Do the nickel strings have any negative effect on the unplugged tone?

No, it's the cone mainly that affects the sound/tone. I use nickel on mine also, as well as mags on both.

[jay7347]

That's a beautiful guitar! Thanks for sharing the pics.
-jay