Looking for a 12-string resonator
 

Hello all,

I'd like to summon the collective wisdom of the AGF to help me with my quest with finding a 12-string resonator.

AFAIK there doesn't seem to be any models currently in production so I'd welcome suggestions of older models (that aren't impossible to find rarities), or even custom builders who might be able to produce such an instrument.

Thanks in advance

Catfish Keith has an El Trovador 12-string available now.

National says that they'll configure a Style 0, a Triolian Polychrome, and a Style 1 Tricone (as well as others) as a 12-string. Expect to wait a few months.

Vase,
Both Dobro, and Mosrite (when they owned the Dobro company) built 12 string models. I actually have owned 2 of them.

One was the thin double cutaway version with 2 pickups and the other was the typical 12 fret model. The electric version, of course, sounded nothing like a resonator when it was plugged in.

They are definitely out there if you search Reverb and eBay, and perhaps Craigslist.

In the end you'll probably get the most satisfaction having National just build one for you, because it won't require any setup work, especially if you're intent on fretting it!

At the time I bought mine I was very much a fan of Tut Taylor, who played 12 string Hawaiian style with a flat pick.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

:)! I still have a copy of the "Dobrolic Plectral Society" LP around someplace.

I agree that ordering one from the National Reso-Phonic Guitar Company is your best bet, if you can afford it and are willing to wait for the time necessary to build it. 12 string resonator guitars are few and far between in real life: I think I've seen precisely two in all the years I've been playing.

So good luck finding one that's

1.) Already made;

and

2.) Actually playable.


But getting National to make you one will ensure that it's the best quality and most stable of any you could get.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

Thank you all. I guess a custom National is ahead!..

I have two 12 string Nationals, M1 and an Estralita. They can be expensive. I haven’t recorded the Estralita. It has a just slightly over 1.75” nut width, I’d like it wider, but it’s still very nice. The M1 is the prototype, the Estralita is somewhere early 2000’s. Neither is baritone, but I also have a Dell’Arte Leadbelly 12 string which is. Nice instruments all.

Just listened to some of the songs on your youtube and the two with the M1 sounded great, pretty convincing case for a 12 string National...!
The two six-string M1s that I've tried both played and sounded a little too tight and dry for my liking, but you've got your 12-string singing real nice.

Thanks joe, 12 string resos are real fun playing slide. Hardly play them anymore.

I’ll add another recommendation to order a National if possible. I have a Triolian 12 string and a Smith & Young 12 string, both steel bodies. They have a haunting sound unlike anything else. Charlie Parr had a 12 string El Trovador for a couple years and there are a lot of videos out there with him playing it. He also had a 12 string neck put on his Triolian for awhile, which gave me the inspiration for mine. Good luck!

FYI Elderly has a National Estralita 12 string in stock

https://www.elderly.com/products/nat...-string-guitar

I had one about 12 years ago...fantastic guitar. Maybe not as versatile as other 12's but what it does...it does really well!

That's a gorgeous Estralita at a very fair price!!

Needs a neck reset according to Elderly.

Well, that explains the price. :)