National Triolian one week in

Hi guys,

As you may have noticed I received a new National Triolian 12 Fret last Friday. I've been playing it every day since then for 1 hour+ each day. Here are some initial impressions:

- Loud and bright! Great bell like tone with that reso reverb. Yesterday the PBs on it died so it lost a bit of that edge. I restrung it with my favorite 80/20s today.
- Sounds great on most of my repertoire but not all.
- Pretty unforgiving technique wise so I can't play sloppy.
- I'm still learning what is the right amount of right hand attack to produce the best tone. Harder than I'm used to for sure.
- The neck shape is large but pleasant. Perfect in fact for my style of play.
- It feels heavy when I pull it out of the case but I don't notice it on my lap. It is bottom heavy so I'm working through that. I may have to consider wearing a strap.

Overall I'm very pleased with it.

[blue]

Single cones don't like to be babied in my experience. It's easier to play a tricone softly and sound good. There are definitely times when I won't pick mine up because it could impact those around me. For instance my Wife is working from home and is very diligent, putting in FULL days of work. Even though I'm upstairs behind a closed door, I don't pick up the Style N during business hours. If I want to play slide I pick up my reso-tone electric and don't plug in.

You owe it to yourself when life gets easier to try nickel strings. YMMV

Have you experimented with Picks?

Glad you're digging it!

Originally Posted by blue

Single cones don't like to be babied in my experience. It's easier to play a tricone softly and sound good. There are definitely times when I won't pick mine up because it could impact those around me. For instance my Wife is working from home and is very diligent, putting in FULL days of work. Even though I'm upstairs behind a closed door, I don't pick up the Style N during business hours. If I want to play slide I pick up my reso-tone electric and don't plug in.

You owe it to yourself when life gets easier to try nickel strings. YMMV

Have you experimented with Picks?

Glad you're digging it!

Hi blue, thanks for the input. I am curious about nickel so we'll see. Regarding fingerpicks I have used them but I don't like them. Old dude set in his ways!

[blue]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Hi blue, thanks for the input. I am curious about nickel so we'll see. Regarding fingerpicks I have used them but I don't like them. Old dude set in his ways!

It's steep learning curve, but a reso with thumb and fingerpicks, for me at least, is the peak of tone.

Hopefully this reso isn't the slippery slope my first one was... I was dead meat when I first heard they made baritone tricones...

Originally Posted by blue

It's steep learning curve, but a reso with thumb and fingerpicks, for me at least, is the peak of tone.

Hopefully this reso isn't the slippery slope my first one was... I was dead meat when I first heard they made baritone tricones...

I'm officially out of room so unless I sell something I won't be buying. And I like my current gear too much to sell anything. Plus it is pretty much the worst time ever to sell gear.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by blue

It's steep learning curve, but a reso with thumb and fingerpicks, for me at least, is the peak of tone.

100% +1! John Hammond gets great tone and dynamics out of his 1935 National Duolian with his plastic thumb pick and metal index fingerpick. He also uses his finger-pickless middle finger (although his nail is somewhat long) when brushing the strings in conjunction with his pick-clad index finger.

[rockabilly69]

Hey J Doug, most of your observations ring true to me.

I am fluent in playing with and without finger-picks, and I prefer fingers over any picks. As for nickel strings, I like them some of the time, especially when playing electric with a magnetic pickup, but for what you're doing, playing acoustic around the house, I like Phosphor Bronze, hey just work for me. Just goes to show... there are many ways to skin a cat, with no way being more right than another.

Thanks guys.