What resonator did I play?

WordMan · #1 09-03-2011, 10:01 AM

Don't you hate that? I stumbled into a guitar store I hadn't seen before in Carmel, California - a nice respite - but was so worried about my limited time and my kid wandering loose (he was fine) that I didn't get the information I needed about the model of guitar and can't find the business card of the place.

It was a new model acoustic resonator guitar. All-wood body, sunburst, with no body binding; the sunburst just kept going around the edge of the guitar. HUGE neck - as big as a Nocaster Tele or a Martin Authentic. I want to say it was a Regal and it seemed to not be an entry level - more of the type that would price in at >$1,000. I've done my share of online searching but no joy - and I am not sure how often Regal models change, so maybe I saw something done a few years ago.

Really marvelous, woody tone - much closer to a loud,brassy acoustic than to a metal-bodied Dobro tone.

Any clues?

MarkC · #2 09-03-2011, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WordMan

Don't you hate that? I stumbled into a guitar store I hadn't seen before in Carmel, California - a nice respite - but was so worried about my limited time and my kid wandering loose (he was fine) that I didn't get the information I needed about the model of guitar and can't find the business card of the place.

It was a new model acoustic resonator guitar. All-wood body, sunburst, with no body binding; the sunburst just kept going around the edge of the guitar. HUGE neck - as big as a Nocaster Tele or a Martin Authentic. I want to say it was a Regal and it seemed to not be an entry level - more of the type that would price in at >$1,000. I've done my share of online searching but no joy - and I am not sure how often Regal models change, so maybe I saw something done a few years ago.

Really marvelous, woody tone - much closer to a loud,brassy acoustic than to a metal-bodied Dobro tone.

Any clues?

Was it one of these http://www.nationalguitars.com/instr...ltrovador.html but in a sun burst?

National has a number of wood bodied resos, this is one of their more recent releases.

Mark

WordMan · #3 09-03-2011, 12:22 PM

Thanks, but that has a bound body...

WordMan · #4 09-06-2011, 05:52 AM

*bump*

To give it a shot back from the holiday in the US - any ideas?

#5 09-06-2011, 06:10 AM

Why not call the store and ask them what model it was?

WordMan · #6 09-06-2011, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by m-thirty-great

Why not call the store and ask them what model it was?

Little place, new in town (one guy with a few guitars on the wall and a workshop in a little plaza), looking for the business card I took away...

Gypsyblue · #7 09-06-2011, 06:16 AM

Was it a National Estralita? Like this one? Sweet guitars. Used to have one.

WordMan · #8 09-06-2011, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gypsyblue

Was it a National Estralita? Like this one? Sweet guitars. Used to have one.

Hey - so that's wood? It was darker-stained that that, but seems close in terms of how the stain wraps over from the top to the sides without a binding strip...

Gypsyblue · #9 09-06-2011, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WordMan

Hey - so that's wood? It was darker-stained that that, but seems close in terms of how the stain wraps over from the top to the sides without a binding strip...

Yep...wood. Mine was a much darker sunburst.

WordMan · #10 09-06-2011, 06:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gypsyblue

Yep...wood. Mine was a much darker sunburst.

Most likely it, then - thank you. And it had a predominantly woody tone? Or, better put: what did you like about it?

ETA: Oh - and the neck was really large?

I always worry about the covered bridge - I damp with my picking palm a lot when I play slide on an electric...

Thanks.

Gypsyblue · #11 09-06-2011, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WordMan

Most likely it, then - thank you. And it had a predominantly woody tone? Or, better put: what did you like about it?

ETA: Oh - and the neck was really large?

I always worry about the covered bridge - I damp with my picking palm a lot when I play slide on an electric...

Thanks.

I prefer the steel bodied Nationals and prefer my National Tricone over all other styles of resonators. But the wood bodied Nationals sound warmer and less like a metal garbage can.

Also, the wood resonator guitars are usually not as loud as the steel resonators. You might want to read up on the differences between resonators: there's the Dobro style "spider" resonator, the single cone Nationals, and then the Tricone Nationals with three smaller cones.

L20A · #12 09-06-2011, 07:24 AM

It may have been one of these.
http://www.beardguitars.com/
Nice guitars at a very good price.

Neal · #13 09-06-2011, 03:34 PM

What kind of cone, spider, biscuit, tri? You know that no one here will be able to diagnose this on the information given, and that a correct answer will be simply due to chance and luck.

But good luck! The resonator bug is a large one with venomous fangs. Once bitten, forever smitten.

tdq · #14 09-06-2011, 06:20 PM

Then there's the M1 wooden tricone.
Was it single cone or tricone?

http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/NGTM1.htm

WordMan · #15 09-07-2011, 06:14 AM

It was a single, not a tri. I think it was a dark-stained Estralita, non-Deluxe. Big neck and non-brassy, more woody-sounding tone. Not sure what kind of spider, cone or biscuit - or what the implications are in tone. A bit of a noob here.