what style of National reso?
 

Hi guys,

for you reso experts, what style of National reso would be appropriate for my style of play? I mostly play ragtime and Piedmont blues, fingerpicked with bare fingers. Here's an example:



Single cone or Tricone? Brass or steel? I'd prefer a 12 fretter. I have played a few over the years but I'd like to hear your opinion.

I know you'll say play a bunch which I will but the nearest National dealer is 9-10 hour drive round trip.

....nice playing on that...my first reaction is to say your playing will sound great on any National...I have owned three of them and became pretty well acquainted with my buddies Style O....of the three I owned..a steel single cone Delphi Deluxe was my fave and I actually prefer the punchier raw sound of steel over the more compressed refined tone of a brass Style O....a steel tricone retains some of rawness of a single cone but tempers the punch with crazy sustain...killer for more open playing styles...a brass tricone is a Cadillac...the smoothest ride in town...wood bodies....I had a custom walnut Estralita....is as one would expect woodier sounding and less brash than a metal body....

...if I was you I would be looking at an NRP steel single cone or maybe have a look at their new Raw series...good value there...

Thank you! Gives me a place to start.

No expert here, but I immediately thought of Steve James when I heard you play. If you haven't already, check him out on YouTube. He's usually playing a single cone in either steel or the wood bodied resorocket with the cutaway he helped design.

The 12 fret NRP has such a hauntingly beautiful sound that I got hooked playing mine last year, but then my addiction switched over to the mandolin given my taste for bluegrass. I haven't played my NRP in months and thought about listing it on Reverb in order to upgrade the mandolin. If you settle on a 12 fret NRP, feel free to send me a message.

Thanks for your input! I'm a long time away from a purchase so I'm still gathering info.

Hard for me to imagine playing a resonator without picks, but given that kind of playing I'd go for a single resonator brass body, preferably a vintage Style O, because that's what I have...

Hi,
I'm hearing more melodic that slidey wailing.
Therefore I'd suggest Bell brass rather than steel.

Or woodbody.
i had a perfect Style "O" deluxe, maple neck etc., great tone but sooo heavy made my back ache.

IMO - Tricones are a little "sweeter" than Style O.

I now play an Estralita, which has my required nut with of 1 & 13/16", but I see they have dropped the model, but made the El Trovador with the wider neck now. (older versions had a 1 & 3/4" nut).

Thanks guys! Those Style Os are beautiful. Need to try some in person.

Hey J Doug, I think the Style O is one of the best all rounders that National makes. And I recommend the bell brass for the same reason Silly Moustache did. It's just a sweet sound. Although if you think you're going to use the National for other stuff, than maybe, I would look at the TriCone because of the extra sustain for single note lines that it adds to the mix. Don't but one of these through the internet though, go listen to them in person!

I'm a National endorser, and own 4 Nationals, so you can take that for what it's worth.

Bought a 12 fret O Deluxe couple months ago. I’ve have been playing an OMI Dobro brass body I bought 40 years ago, there is no comparison. Also do not use fingerpicks, only on squareneck and lap console.

I’ll chime in with another vote for the Tricone. Those instruments are most impressive and musically versatile.

I’m also a fan of the sweeter tone of their wood-bodied instruments. I began my own association with National when I was given a very rare pre-WWII National wood-bodied mandolin, which was falling to pieces when I got it. During the long and difficult restoration process Don Young, who was then president and co-owner of National, heard about it and told me it was one of only about a dozen made, and when the restoration was completed they really wanted to see it.

For a long time they’d wanted to put a wood-bodied mandolin into production, and Don told me if they were able to use mine as a model they’d give me one of the new ones.

Long story short, I ended up serving as their primary mandolin consultant on what became their RM-1 mandolin. These days my National mandolins are about the only ones I play, they’re such extraordinarily good instruments.

So don’t rule out National’s wood-bodied instruments - I think they’re even making a wood-bodied Tricone these days, which might be the best of both worlds.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

Thanks for all the responses guys. Now it's up me going and playing a bunch!

When I bought my first National, I found it totally by accident. I was looking at acoustic guitars, and I accidently bumped a guitar off of a stand, which I caught before it hit the floor. The price tag on it said $3800, so as you can imagine, I was glad I caught it:) Funnier yet, when my hand brushed against the strings (it was tuned to open G) I heard a sound I'd been looking for. That sound was something that would blend well with my acoustic guitars. I bought it on the spot. It's a National model Western D spider cone reso.

https://i.imgur.com/GhtxQ6C.jpg

That was many years ago, and after a few years of owning it, it was stolen from me. Fortunately a close friend of mine found it, and the guitar was returned to me. Unfortunately there was some damage to the body. But as luck would have it, right after that, I was asked to do a gig in LA (I live in Utah). I told the people I would do the gig if they would lend me their car when I got there, so that before the gig, I could drive to San Luis Obispo and drop off the guitar to National for repair. When I got to National I met the late Don Young, who along with MacGregor Gaines, was a co-founder of the newly reformed National Resophonic, and one of the coolest cats ever. I also got to meet all of the people that were going to work on my guitar. And to Don, and all of the other guys, I gave a copy of a CD I recorded which was filled with songs that I used my National on. Long story short, Don liked it so much, that he wound up giving me an endorsement deal! And on top of that, he rushed the work on my reso so I had it back in just a few weeks, and it was as good as new!!!

The best thing out of it all was that I became close friends with Don. He and I would talk on the phone a lot when I was out on the road for gigs. He liked to hear stories from actual gigging musicians, and he had quite a few stories of his own!

Great story, Rockabilly. That sounds like Don, all right.

During the surprisingly long and complicated process developing the National RM-1 mandolin, I dealt with both Don and Mac, but probably spent at least twice as much time interacting with Don as I did Mac. I came to think of Mac as “Inspector Gadget,” because he was SO good with the technical side of things, the hands-on logistical and practical ways of creating these designs, while Don represented more of the heart and soul and artistic side of their company.

In reality, both were very good at both sides of that equation, but as a team, together they were great.


whm