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I recently purchased Eric Clapton's DVD-CD combo Sessions for Robert J. Watching this DVD has re-kindled my interest in the resonator guitar. Just wondering if anyone here builds or has built a wood body resonator. Great CD DVD if your a blues fan.

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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I built one Bob, Actually it's not finished yet but it's strung up and I have played it. One of these days I'm gonna get it done. I've only been working on it for about 8 years of Zoot that you got. Maybe some of that fine Eucalyptis!
John How38433.0480324074

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Hi Bob,
Good for you!!! Resonators or dobros are really fun instruments to play. As you know there are specific open tunnings and a very special method of using a slide bar.
Many years ago I owned an all metal National. Great fun. It's primarily a solo instrument when you play the blues.
It's a personal experience. It's been years since I have played one but I'm sure it would all come back to me.
I have been toiling with idea of buying one.
Let me know what you are going to do..
Have fun my friend.
WalterK

I have built a few over the years, a friend and I built a metal Dobro in 1989 he done the metal and I made the neck and put it together. I built a wooden single cone national ,after much difficulty I made the metal cover plate. The latest is a all Walnunt "tricone" it has a maple neck that runs through the body.

I knew some one here had to build one. Both nice looking guitars. John I know your a blues guy. Do you have that Clapton DVD? Does anyone know of a source for plans to use as a guide. Of course I already have 5 acoustic bodies collecting dust from cutting all that zoot. Walter I have fooled around with my Martin OM 15 tuned to open D and G tunings and a glass slide. Sounds pretty cool but doesn't have that resonator growl that I like so much.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

I am just about to start one, I am building this one for my good friend Stephen Couch who is a great slide player.

I am buying a kit and plan to swap out the back and side set for sumthin more zoot than the laminate sides and back that the kit comes with.

I have no reso experience yet, but found some web sites that are helpfull.

http://www.benoitguitars.com/index.htm

http://www.beardguitars.com/index.html

If you guys like a mix of rootsie blues, bluegrass, and country....then check out Stephens group "the Betweeners" and their c.d. Matador Karma www.thebetweeners.com   

Matt

   

Matt thanks for the links for the resonator. Are you planning on documenting your build with pic's? I'd like to see them if you do. I'll check out the cd too.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Bob, there are two basic styles of reso guitars, the National and the Dobro, although they were designed by the same guys the Dopyera brothers. The National which is what I built is the simplest I think to build and to set up. It just has a resonator cone that sits in a well and the strings ride across a biscuit that has a saddle on top making the cone vibrate to produce sound.
The Dobro also has a cone but the bridge sits on a spidery afair that I'm not real familiar with. Anyway the Dobro is perhaps a little more musical than the National style but if your lookin for that authentic slide blues sound then then National is the one. If I can give you any assistance I certainly will.John How38433.3682638889

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Thanks John. I will be picking your brain on this one. I'm thinking I would like to do a burst so maybe mahogany is the wood of choice.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

[QUOTE=Bobc] I'm thinking I would like to do a burst so maybe mahogany is the wood of choice. [/QUOTE]

Of course it is!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I'm sure mahogany would be great for a reso guitar. I'm gonna do a burst on mine too one of these days.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

OF course I knew what Colin's reply would be.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Actually Bob I just couldn't resist, but the resonator guitar I built was all Koa! It's a long story!

ColinColin S38433.541875

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I build both types (also resonator travel guitars, resonator basses and resonator mandolins), and I think the dobro style is actually a little easier to build than the National style. The hardware is a little more expensive, though, at least it is if you get the good quality stuff. If you're building a roundneck it's critical that you get the neck angle right - it's a bigger angle than on a regular flattop, and if you don't have enough break angle over the bridge the guitar just won't work.

Gary Dusina has an article on building a squareneck dobro over on www.reso-nation.org/viewtopic.php?t=254

If you need any help you can mail me off list as well.

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Pete
http://www.petewoodmanguitars.com

The Dobro has such a beautiful sound. Woner why it is not used more instead of petal steel?

Peter thanks for the offer. I want to be build a round neck. I assume a flat neck is played like a lap steel guitar and round neck with a slide and fingers or pic's. As you can see I'm not very knowlegeable on the subject.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

That's right, Bob, a squareneck can only be played lap-style, whereas a roundneck can be played either way.

The first thing is to forget a lot of what you know about what makes a regular acoustic sound good. The box on a resonator needs to be pretty rigid, especially the top.

As most of the tone is produced by the cone the wood makes a limited amount of difference to the overall sound except in very general terms e.g. maple = bright, mahogany = warm. Even then the choice of things like bridge material can change or negate the effect of the body wood. This is good news, because it means that you can pick the wood for its looks rather than its tonal quality. Personally I'm fond of flamed maple for the top wood, which I wouldn't consider for a regular acoustic. I've also used mahogany, Tasmanian blackwood and something my supplier was selling as "Vanuatu cedar", which I think was another form of blackwood - it certainly wasn't any kind of cedar.

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Pete
http://www.petewoodmanguitars.com

Rigidity is the key I think. Think of the box as more of a guitar shaped speaker box. I made mine out of high quality 1/8 baltic birch plywood and then laminated it with the wood I wanted to use. It's still lighter than a metal resonator. I laminated a ring that hangs from the top down inside the guitar that the cone sits in. Most national reso's have a neck rood that goes all the way thru to the tail block but since mine is so rigid it just bolts on like any other bolt on neck. It works great. I like the sound of a wooden national better because it doesn't sound so much like a train wreck as the metal ones tend to (especially when I play them). Actully I think the Dobros sound a little better musically but I really don't know that much about them.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Your history is partially correct. In 1927 John Dopyera did work for National and with his brother Rudi perfected the 3 cone resonator guitar sold by National.

John Dopyera left National in 1928 and began developing a more affordable woodbody guitar with a single cone and a spiderlike bridge base. He introduced his new invention by the end of 1928 under the name DOBRO® -- a combination of Dopyera and Brothers (brothers John, Rudy, Emile, Robert and Louis would play various roles in the production and financing of the company).

National continued to develop and sell a single cone resonator guitar but it was a different design than the spider bridge design of "dobro". The Dobro is a single cone resonator guitar that is easily confused at first glace with the single cone National guitars. But in fact, they are fundamentally different in construction and design. The Dobro resonator is dish-shaped with a spider bridge, opposite of the volcano-shaped biscuit bridge National resonator.

Both National and Dobro sold round neck and square neck guitars in wood and metal bodies. Roundnecks are used more for blues whereas squarenecks are used with a raised nut and are played with the face slat pointing up, much like a lap steel guitar.

The information above can be found at http://www.gibson.com/products/dobro/1996/dobrostory.html , http://www.provide.net/~cfh/national.html and http://www.provide.net/~cfh/dobro.html .

All of that being said, I am finishing up a square neck DOBRO (spider bridge) with solid cherry sides, back and top with a curly maple neck and bindings for my 16 yr old son who is playing in a "newgrass" (bluegrass with a less traditional songwriting style) band.

I agree with John about the body being rigid ,I also think the bar going through the body helps the volume .
The sound well on my single cones are made of very thin steel ,with the cone sitting in this . the sound well is fixed to the bar running through body again adding rigidiy.
The sound well on the Tricone is a bit of a compromise;
the well is made of laminated maple with the bottom being brass. The Tricone was a lot more work than the single cones,the sound with the walnut is a lot warmer and being 3 cones there seems to be more sustain.

It depends which type you're talking about. The bar through the body (the equivalent of the "neck stick" on a metal bodied biscuit bridge) is much more difficult with a spider bridge instrument, where the cone is in effect suspended from the guitar top not set in a soundwell. There are various design solutions these days - originally they had a short neck stick which was braced on the back and did not go as far as the cone, and some people still do this.

On biscuit bridges I used to put longitudinal braces on the guitar back. Nowadays I put a bar under the soundwell instead, because I think there's some benefit in freeing up the guitar back. I don't use National-style mushroom support posts, though.

Don't forget that biscuit bridge design tends to be based on the original National designs, and some of the features have to do with trying to put wood and thin metal together securely using only screws. I think the posts come into this category. I sometimes wonder what the designs would have been like if they'd had epoxy resins in the 20s.LouisianaGrey38434.2630671296

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Pete
http://www.petewoodmanguitars.com