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resonators / Dobro/National.....
Now that I've finished my acoustic Les Paul, I'm thinking about a new project.
A resonator sounds like a good idea as they're a bit off the wall uncommon type of things....... SO, never having ever spent enough time near one to pull it apart....... I'm under the impression that the body & top can be ANYTHING, steel, brass, plywood, even MDF without any reall appreciable affect on tone as this all comes from the bridge & cone(s). It that right? If so, is the cone system just a stack inside the soundwell? well - cone - spider - bridge - coverplate or well,- cone - biscuit bridge - coverplate....... or have I missed the point completely? Ta!!
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#2
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i'd suggest spending some time at:
beardguitars.com paul publishes some building guidelines and sells the materials. stewmac.com has a kit as well. i think you're right to some extent on materials. most of the sound comes from the cone, tho an experienced builder and/or player could probably i.d. a maple vs. a mahogany vs. a rosewood dobro. personally, i play a cheap regal with a quarterman cone upgrade. place nice, sounds good. beard sells an entry-level dobro these days that's essentially the same deal. |
#3
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Go over to the Musical Instrument Makers Forum. There are a number of folks building resonators of various shapes and sizes out of various materials.
I've taken an old one completely apart to refinish it and made jigs to straighten the coverplate. I assume you are going to buy the coverplate, spider or biscuit, cone, etc. You'll have issues with different types of sound wells, posts, etc. To answer your question, however, is that both the construction of the body (material, sound well, etc), the type of cone (spider or biscuit), as well as the number of cones (one or three) will dramatically affect the sound and sustain of a resonator. Of course the type of playing will affect the neck you choose - square for lap style or round for blues. The type of neck also comes into play if you are going to play primarily fretted or bottleneck style. Before lanching into this you might want to do a bunch of research and play a lot of reso's. They are kind of addictive... Here's a couple of guitars with a hub cap in the middle |
#4
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You also should pay a visit to the IGS (International Guitar Seminars) forum, probably one of the most reso centric places on the net, hang out for several VERY experienced builders and restorers of reso's and hosted by Bob Brozman, one of the premier National players on the planet. There is some serious amount or resophonic knowledge there for sure.
http://www.guitarseminars.com/cgi-bi...Forum&number=1
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GDB Yeah, a bunch of guitars without names and some other stuff too... |