Official Luthiers Forum!

I've got an old 1934 national duolian that is in weathered yet very playable condition.
I recently taken to upgrading it a bit and fine tuning the old battleship.



One thing that that I would like to do is replace the tuners. Grovers are currently on the guitar but I don't
think that they were the original tuners but I'm not sure, it's just a suspicion - maybe one of you
out there might know. At any rate, they are not the best, they are very stiff and one of the knob posts is bent.



I was considering installing some waverly's, but would be open to any opinions.

Though I do want to maintain the vintage character of the guitar, within reason, I'm more
interested in optimizing it's playability rather than it's collectability.

Any opinions &/or advise will be much appreciated,

john graham

Hello,
I replaced some tuners on a National "Triolian" last year,and I found them at
http://www.elderly.com
They are replacement ones for Nationals. Also I find Elderly a good firm to deal with especially there price and range of strings.

Regards Rick Sellens 1066 country

I did a restoration on one a couple years back. The Grovers are definitely not original. You can order the right ones directly from National. Might be time to replace the cone and biscuit bridge as well.
I'd love to get my hands on one of those old beauties....they're awesome.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Thanks, I checked out the tuners you both recommended and will get a set - should be just the ticket.

I've got a new cone and biscuit. That I hope to spend today installing. I have a question on
the biscuit, the current one is in less then good shape, that you can hopfully advise me on. I recently purchased an extension nut and put it over the nut. It definately makes for improved playing lap style*.

What I'm wondering is - in replacing the biscuit 1) will the height of the bridge be the same for the raised strings of the extension nut as without or are two biscuits going to be necesary for each setup (raised and regular) and 2) the neck has a radius - I think it's in the 16 -20" range - in radiusing the nut to match the neck, will that significantly effect playing of the slide lap style. I really don't think it would be much of a difference, but I'm new to this style of playing and don't know for sure.

The guitar has a worn and been-around-the block look, but the neck is straight as an arrow.
I recently rescued it from my son's closet in Oregon where it has been sequestered for quite a few years.
Like any old guitar, it surly habors many tales, here's the one about my acquiring it -

After getting out of the Peace Corps in the early 1980s, my wife and I traveled across the US
in a rusty old Impala and wound up in Oregon, were we lived in an old school bus under a
big white oak tree on a strawberry farm where I worked as a field hand. Being next to penniless, we were always looking for garage sales to buy what we needed. One day we happened by a barn sale out in the Willamette Valley boondocks, where I spied this guitar. The old couple hosting the sale were cleaning out their barn, clearing out all the riff raff that had accumulated over the years including this dusty curious old guitar. They were asking $40 for it. I escorted my wife back to the old Impala and told her to wait. I returned and offered our last $30** for the guitar which was accepted by elderly couple, probably feeling sorry for me. Then I returned to the car with the guitar and faced the wrath of my now truly penniless and furious wife. I know you guys understand – sometimes there are things you just have to do!


* One of my favorite National Steel players is Baby Gramps out of the NW you refers to these guitars by the palindrome (spelled the same forwards as backwards) - lap pal
**The guitar cost $32.50 new in 1934

Saludos,

johng

Last Sunday I replaced the old cone for a new one with a new biscuit bridge.
The result was a significant improvement in the quality of the sound. The guitar
really rings now. A few things I found out along the way -

The new cone is higher than the old one by about 3/8". I'd lowered the new bridge down
to size based on the old one's height only to find out that it was too high after I'd reassembled the
cone, coverplate and started to string it up. So I had to go back and do it all again. I elected to do
a flat bridge to match the extended nut. I found a very helpful tech sheet on set up @ the Stew Mac
web site.

One thing that I ended up doing that I think is worth recommending is on the extended nut -
I put a thin shim of wood underneath the metal extender so that it won't mar the surface of the neck.



this thing is a lot of fun to play and I'm really enjoying learning a new style of picking.

john