The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Other Musical Instruments

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #31  
Old 06-07-2010, 08:51 AM
Alex W Alex W is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 265
Default

Freeman that koa reso you built is beautiful.

Anyway, this thread is a few days old, and the OP may have already made up his mind, but I'd like to chime in on the subject. I own a National M2, which is a wood-bodied, single-cone, round-neck resonator guitar. My brother owns an Epiphone Biscuit, which is essentially a much cheaper version of the same guitar. Having played both, I think the Epiphone is pretty good for the money. (It only cost about $300.) It appears that Epiphone has stopped making this model, which is a shame. If you can find one then I recommend looking into it.

As far as other inexpensive resos, I would look into Busker Guitars in the UK. They are more medium-priced than "cheap," but at least the exchange rate between US Dollars and British Pounds is not quite so bad as it was a few years ago. Honestly I don't know if they even ship to the U.S., but any company that makes a recreation of this old art deco National design must be worth investigating:


http://www.buskerguitars.co.uk/shop/page/12?shop_param=
Reply With Quote
  #32  
Old 06-07-2010, 02:13 PM
Neal Neal is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,507
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex W View Post
Freeman that koa reso you built is beautiful.

Anyway, this thread is a few days old, and the OP may have already made up his mind, but I'd like to chime in on the subject. I own a National M2, which is a wood-bodied, single-cone, round-neck resonator guitar. My brother owns an Epiphone Biscuit, which is essentially a much cheaper version of the same guitar. Having played both, I think the Epiphone is pretty good for the money. (It only cost about $300.) It appears that Epiphone has stopped making this model, which is a shame. If you can find one then I recommend looking into it.

As far as other inexpensive resos, I would look into Busker Guitars in the UK. They are more medium-priced than "cheap," but at least the exchange rate between US Dollars and British Pounds is not quite so bad as it was a few years ago. Honestly I don't know if they even ship to the U.S., but any company that makes a recreation of this old art deco National design must be worth investigating:
The Busker are from the same Chinese shop that makes the Republic. Either of these would be a second choice from a National, with Republic probably being a little better value for us on this side of the ocean. Michael Messer, Busker, from the buzz on these, sets them up much nicer than Republic, but they cost a few bills more too. And then there are those that say the opposite!

But having played them, they are nice. Not as nice as a National, but good enough for the money. Haven't played an Epiphone biscuit, just the spider. Weak resonator, skinny neck, no sound. Biscuit one sounds like it's different than that, would love to try one.
Reply With Quote
  #33  
Old 06-07-2010, 02:42 PM
Alex W Alex W is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 265
Default

OK I didn't know that about the Buskers. I had the misimpression they were actually made in the UK. Thanks for the info.

The Epiphone Biscuit definitely falls into the category of cheap, and in terms of tone and power it can't hold a candle to the National. OTOH the National costs nearly 7 times as much money as the Epi. In a cheap reso I would expect to find a fairly bland or weak cone, and the Epi is more in that direction than not. It would be interesting to replace the cone with a National and see what that did.

It's about as good as an experienced consumer could possibly expect a $300 instrument to be. The Epi didn't have any truly awful qualities that would make it totally unacceptable, such as horrible frets, terrible intonation, buzzing notes, or unplayable action. It's fun to sit on the porch and play, and I wouldn't hesitate to take it to the beach or camping. It's not a guitar to bring along to the Ryman Auditorium, however.

I think just about any resonator that you can get to stay in tune works great in a duo, with the other person strumming a regular flat top.
Reply With Quote
  #34  
Old 06-07-2010, 02:46 PM
JohnZ JohnZ is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: La Quinta, CA
Posts: 2,095
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mountain Fever View Post
I have been contemplating a resonator for awhile now, and have tried out many in an attempt to not make a mistake.

At one time, Dobro (an acronym for Dopeyra Brothers...sold to Gibson later) was one of the top two or three makers of resophonic guitars. That is far from the case these days IMHO. National seems to be the top of the heap and others share the rest of the pie.

If you want to inspire your wife, get an Allison Krauss DVD with Jerry Douglas playing the resonator...he is really good.

I have tried maybe 15 resonators accross all price points, up to about $3,500.00. I think for someone who wants to give it a solid attempt without mortgaging the farm, The Beard Goldtone Series is hard to beat. Somewhere around $600.00 street price most places for their entry level model.

Interestingly, resonator sounds are sort of origined from really inexpensive intruments that were built/modified to play mostly blues style music. So, in a way, paying $3,500.00 to get some maker's high quality signature model is counter-intuitive. I have read stories about how some of those first instruments were as crude as a washtub turned upside down with broom handle attached to it with a single piece of wire running from the edge of the tub to the end of the broom handle. The 'string'would be plucked and the tone changed by pushing down on the handle to change the pitch of the wire. Lots of similar things in those days like playing the spoons or washboard for percussion.

For someone who does not know how to play a regular guitar, I think that the squareneck (strings are about 1/2" above the neck) played with a slide is a good way to go. there are lots of tunings and the instrument can be used as an accent to the overall song.
The early Dobros and Nationals were made in the same LA plant with each assembled on one side and common necks coming down the middle. Dobros were sold primarily through Montgomery Ward and Nationals through Sears. They pretty much did in Weissenborne (also from LA) in the early '30's as interest in Hawaiian music continued to build and then died down when lap steels hit the market. They weren't made all that well.

Dobros came back under OMI (original musical instruments) at their plant in Long Beach run by Ron Lazar. They were on Santa Fe right down from Mickey Thompson's shop and Champion Spark Plug's racing division, so when I got my Dobro from Ron years ago it was trip down memory lane from my old racing days. Songwriter Guy Clark work for OMI way back when (maybe '70) when we were putting together his demos.

Anyway, current Dobros and Nationals are much nicer than the old ones, at least cosmetically. And those Goldtones (Paul Beard series) are hard to beat....mine's a metal bodied biscuit bridge.
Reply With Quote
  #35  
Old 06-07-2010, 03:58 PM
Neal Neal is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,507
Default

A Goldtone round neck, love to see those as well. Agreed that the new Nationals are much nicer than the old ones. I don't quite get the draw on the older ones, unless it's a square neck tricone for the cool factor alone, but I don't play square neck...

One cannot purchase "mojo". One must make it themselves, and then, if it truly exists, it would be yours alone.

JohnZ- On the Dobro- I've had 2 Dobros, one from the 60's, and one from the 80's. This was years ago, but I remember they were good instruments. I've since played a few Gibson Dobros, and they were... not nice instruments compared to the 2 I remember. What gives with those? Am I "mis-remembering"?
Reply With Quote
  #36  
Old 06-07-2010, 04:18 PM
blue blue is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: WetSiiiide! WA
Posts: 7,851
Default

Guitar Center's used online store has a Steel Tricone right now for $1295. They say it's a polychrome, but from the picture, which is bad, it looks like one of the new NRPs. Good deal.
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Other Musical Instruments

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:49 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=