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  #1  
Old 09-22-2004, 05:24 PM
sunburst sunburst is offline
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Default Need Help Selecting Resonator

Here's the deal. Down the road a bit I'd like to get a wood-body resonator, mostly to indulge that Delta Blues Slide Guitar gene that I was hard wired with that won't leave me alone.

My ideal resonator would be a National Estralita, but the cheapest I've seen them for is $1,500. Does anyone know of an Estralita-wanna be that approaches the real thing in sound and craftsmanship but costs under $1,000? Or, should I just save and get the Estralita later?

Thanks...Paul
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  #2  
Old 09-22-2004, 05:47 PM
PeaVine PeaVine is offline
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A good question to ask here:
http://www.bigroadblues.com/cgi/dcforum/dcboard.cgi
and here:
http://www.guitarseminars.com/cgi-bi...e=5&LastLogin=

Lots of slide folks
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Old 09-22-2004, 06:50 PM
FNG FNG is offline
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http://www.beardguitars.com/deluxernd.html

These are inports fixed up by Paul Beard, supposed to be pretty good.
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Old 09-22-2004, 07:11 PM
Ian Anderson Ian Anderson is offline
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National makes the Radio-tone Bendaway 12 fret wood body with a cut-a-way. They are killer resonator. I know where there are one used. e-mail me if your interested.

See http://www.nationalguitars.com/bendaway.html
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  #5  
Old 09-23-2004, 01:25 PM
Freeman Freeman is offline
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Paul, my $0.02. I'm lucky enough to own two resonators, both round neck Dobros, which have entirely different sounds. One is a 1932 Type 27 wood body, spider bridge, 12 fret slot head,, the other is a 1980's metal bodied Type 37 with biscuit bridge and 14 fret neck and solid head. Both guitars have Quarterman cones - a recommended upgrade for any resonator.

The wood body is a much mellower and sweeter guitar - I tend to keep it in D and play both bottleneck and fingerstyle blues (Blind Blake, etc). To my ears D is a "prettier" tuning and seems to fit this guitar. The metal body is loud and nasty - and I tend to play open G slide (Walkin' Blues, Roll 'n Tumble) as well as some Blind Boy Fuller songs in standard tuning. I typically tune the metal body down two half steps to make it growl even more, while the wood body stays near concert.

The reason I say all this is that depending on the genre of music you want to play the Estralita may or may not be the right instrument. I would recommend playing every resonator you can before you buy and A/B as many as possible. National has a great little cd with Bob Brozman playing different models and Fingerstyle mag produced a similar cd some time back when they did an article on National. I could burn you a copy of the Fingerstyle cd and copy the article if it would help.

If it is the pure raw delta sound you want also consider a tri cone. That would be my first choice for a bottleneck blues guitar. Also try different necks with you slide - the fingerboard on my Type 37 has a slight radius that makes playing with a flat slide more difficult. I have a couple special wine bottle necks with a slight curve that I use with it, and straight necks for the other guitars.

If you look into the cheaper guitars by all means replace the cone with a Quarterman and set it up to eliminate all rattles. If you are going to plug in or want the cut away I can't help you - my only experience is directly mic'ing the cone.

Like any other guitar purchase, take your time and play everything you can. If its just going to be a second axe for the occasional slide tune you might be very happy with a cheapie - otherwise pick the one that calls out to you. For some reason most resonators hanging in a store will be in standard tuning - don't be afraid to retune it and pull out your bottleneck.

Freeman

one other little tidbit - I like an unwound third string for slide playing - I think it is about 0.020 or 0.022 with medium set.
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