Rogue resonator..actually not bad

[cyclistbrian]

Just spent a couple hours picking a friends new Rogue round neck resonator. I was surprised that it is actually a well made good sounding instrument. I liked it a lot better than a Gretsch Roots and a Regal that have passed through my hands. It's no National but for the price I don't think it's possible to do better. Considering Rogue is a bottom of the barrel brand I was not expecting anything good at all. I was pleasantly surprised.

Which model was it? Brass body? Wood body? Just curious.

[stratplexi]

I had a Rogue with a wooden body...cut away with a pickup and it was marginal at best. I bought it used from Dave's and promptly traded it back in on something else.

I just picked up a Gretsch Alligator and I can't find a single flaw anywhere. It plays and sounds killer.


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[cyclistbrian]

Originally Posted by m-thirty-great

Which model was it? Brass body? Wood body? Just curious.

It was the basic wood body model. I might pick one up since I have only occasional interest in playing resonator.

I had very low expectations for it and no, it is not a killer instrument, but this particular one is more than decent for the price.

[Bikewer]

I had one of the brass-bodied instruments and it was suprisingly good. They are up to about 400.00 now, but I got mine for a little over 300.
Fit, finish... Very good. I could find no flaw with the brass body which was quite striking. Action from the factory was a good compromise... Fingerable but no slide rattles.

My only complaint was that the tuners were not very slick... But they worked.

I recently sold the thing because I've gotten into fingerstyle jazz and just don't have time to play much else.

[blue]

The story on all the imports still hasn't changed. The original design of the resonators was art. But the construction is pure industrial. If you get one that was put together right, they can sound as good as their cone. Which means a cone transplant can make one sound pretty darned good.

But the less you pay, the higher the chance it won't be put together right. Some things are easily fixed by the owner (nut slots/bridge slots out of line, sharp fret ends, etc.), and some things like neck angle are likely fatal flaws requiring return shipping.

Nobody in their right mind can say no imports play well. Just as nobody in their right mind can say they all do.

[stratplexi]

Good points in the import quality variance. I will say the last few years I have seen pretty decent consistency. Most of the cheaper imports have needed a little setup work but nothing major. The Gretsch Alligator didn't need any setup work.


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[frank4001]

For the wood body ones, and this was a few years ago, the well that that the cone sits in were not done well on the imports. Lots of voids or cracked wood. Just not built well. I found the imports to mostly have narrow string spacing.

I ended up with a used National and it's excellent and never given me a minutes trouble for the last 4 odd years. Gigged 9 months of year weekly plus a few...

Things may have changed and I did like some of the Gretsch's I came across but the Republics, Regals, Deans (which I own and had to return the first one for the neck coming undone, good replacement experience though) weren't there at the time...

Disclaimer... I am old.

[blue]

Originally Posted by frank4001

For the wood body ones, and this was a few years ago, the well that that the cone sits in were not done well on the imports.

Well (no pun intended), the early national wood ones like the radiotone you and I both own had metal wells. Much easier to get it right. They have models with wood now.

[frank4001]

Originally Posted by blue

Well (no pun intended), the early national wood ones like the radiotone you and I both own had metal wells. Much easier to get it right. They have models with wood now.

Oh yea, I agree, but some of the imports had metal wells on top of bad wood working or just no metal at all. The point was, either way, it was an issue being found on the imports...

[pszy22]

I bought mine, brand new for $199 a little over a year ago. It suits my purposes just great

[cattzap]

I've been thinking about a Rogue Lap Steel. I've heard they are actually great, especially for the price. It may be a bit till the wife will allow it. I've actually got two little mini strat copys that are in bad shape but were free and my plan for these is to someday cut them up and make a lap steel. My dad has a Gibson resonator that he went ot the factory and had built years ago. Whoever he dealt with helped him somehow fit it to him. I wish I was there to see it and to see the place. He's never touched it. I've messed around with it a small but and it seems like it would bee really fun. Maybe I'll get it some day. I encouraged him to keep everything about it. Even the box they put it in with his name had written from the factory with other things that were hand written at the factory on it.

[maxtheaxe]

Originally Posted by cyclistbrian

Just spent a couple hours picking a friends new Rogue round neck resonator. I was surprised that it is actually a well made good sounding instrument. I liked it a lot better than a Gretsch Roots and a Regal that have passed through my hands. It's no National but for the price I don't think it's possible to do better. Considering Rogue is a bottom of the barrel brand I was not expecting anything good at all. I was pleasantly surprised.

I've had the same experience with my Rogue brass-bodied resonator...surprisingly good ax for a $300.00 reso! I sanded the 'Rogue' gold paint off the headstock (looked too cheesy), gave it a nice polish and replaced tuners with Gotohs (the factory ones weren't reliable). I also plan to do a very fine sanding on the fretboard, and I've got a National 'Hot-rod' cone ready to install. At that time I'll also be installing a K&K Pure Resonator pup, which is a single pad sensor that screws onto the biscuit.

When I'm done I should have a screamin' good resonator for about a quarter the price of a National!

[Chordchunker]

I bought a brass Rogue as well on the-bay a few years ago for $200. Since then I have added a national cone, ebony biscuit bridge, better tuners and a bunch of tweaking/tinkering around (why I bought it in the first place). It is at least twice as loud as it came new with a great tone. Very "National like".

I just bought a Gretsch Bobtail steel body, spider bridge, rnd/neck with a Fishman pickup for playing gigs and busking in the park. Very cool guitar with a little different sound.