Resonator Guitars

guitarjack66

Anybody got one and would you recommend them? Worth having one in a collection?
I put this in the Acoustic forum as I see them more as acoustic than electric.

JJMan

I have a  Michael Messer Blues '28 wooden body with a pickup - fantastic guitar. Makes you play better

guitarjack66

JJMan said:

I have a  Michael Messer Blues '28 wooden body with a pickup - fantastic guitar. Makes you play better

Nice. I have seen and heard Mark Knopfler playing one and it sounded great,really different. Like a cross between a Blues and Country sound. Do they have a budget friendly market for them?

Tannin

Jack, I've probably posted this here before, but it is my notes on resonator guitars. (I'm obsessive about writing things down. Have you noticed?) 

Several modern resonator guitar brands pretend to be the authentic original, or claim to have a corporate history steeped in resonator guitar design and manufacture. None of them do. The resonator guitar was invented in 1925 and manufactured from about that time by three main companies: National, Dobro, and Regal. Although competitors, they happily bought and sold components from each other and retailed under their own individual brand names. The last original resonator guitar was made in 1941. Production stopped to preserve strategic material for the war effort, and was never restarted.

Decades later, people stated making resonator guitars again, and all three of the famous old names were taken up by new owners. None has any connection with the original companies, which are long gone. Saga Musical Instruments of Korea started making Regal-branded resonators in 1987. National Resophonic of California started in 1989, and Gibson bought the rights to the Dobro name in 1993.

Resonator guitars are easier to manufacture than orthodox wooden acoustics. The resonator itself needs careful attention, but the body construction is far less critical, and precision neck construction is not always considered important. As a result, most resonators sell new for about $1000, give or take.

Current products fall into two groups. The first is hand-made, mostly in the USA and very expensive - particularly when you remember that a lot of the expense that normally goes into a good guitar isn't really relevant to a resonator. Fine tonewoods are not required: most either have all-metal bodies, or are crude plywood boxes because the resonator itself (imagine something looking like a hubcap and acting like a metal speaker cone) is the important part so far as sound quality goes. Tonally, the rest of the guitar doesn't matter very much. Given that most resonators have a fairly high action and are mainly used for slide, you could also argue that it is not necessary to put so much care and attention into the neck and fretboard. I don't agree with that view, but you can see the point.

This leads us to the second, much more common, group of resonators. These are made in Asia, mostly China, and sell for around about $1000, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. There are many brands. The interesting thing is that you basically never see really cheap and nasty ones (under $600, say) and you never see premium ones in the $2000 and $3000 range. You either buy an Asian one for about $1000, or go stupidly expensive with something like a National or a Mule at a double the price of a good acoustic non-resonator. The lack of $300 crapola models at the bottom of the market makes sense: you wouldn't expect anyone who can play enough to want a resonator to be ignorant enough to buy a $300 one. But why the lack of quality models in the $2000 to $3000 range? It's a mystery.

There are essentially three kinds of resonator design (two different single cones, plus triple cone), and these can be built into an all-metal body or a wooden one. Metal bodies have more zing, wooden ones more honk. A more subtle difference arises from the degree of acoustic coupling or isolation between the resonator cavity and the remainder of the body.

* Biscuit resonators were invented first. These have a single large resonator cone facing inwards like an upside-down speaker cone. At the apex is the round wooden "biscuit" which acts as the bridge and has a conventional saddle mounted on it. Biscuit-cone resonators have the most attack and the least sustain.

* Tricones have three small cones arranged in a triangle, linked together by a rigid T-shaped metal bar, on which the bridge is mounted. Tricones have the most sustain and the smoothest attack, and usually cost a little more than single cone instruments.

* A spider cone is essentially an upside-down biscuit cone. A large single cone is mounted facing out (like a speaker cone); a multi-legged alloy "spider" contacts the rim in several places and provides a central mounting point for the saddle.

I am only interested in conventional round neck resonators - i.e., ones that you can play in the normal way the same as any other guitar. You'll also see square neck and hollow neck instruments: these can only be played on your lap with a slide and don't have functional frets. Just like round necks, they can be metal or wood-bodied, and have a biscuit cone, a spider cone, or triple cones.

You will see a number of confusing resonator-specific names thrown around as if they were meaningful terms. "Triolian" for example. This was a trade name applied by National to a model first made around 1928. It was going to be a tricone (hence the "tri" in the name) but they ran out of parts or changed their minds or something after the first ten, so from that time the National "Triolians" had a single cone. "Duolian" is equally meaningless. Both terms are no longer protected by trademarks and are used willy-nilly by any manufacturer who feels like it. Just ignore them.

Almost all resonators have a non-removable metal guard over the bridge which seriously restricts palm muting. The rationale is that the resonator itself is fairly delicate and a blow onto an unprotected bridge will crush it, resulting in an expensive repair. If I ever have one made for me (which I very well might) I'll specify a removable guard (screw on or similar) and simply take care not to impact the bridge with anything. I can replace the guard when necessary for transport.

I need to play more resonators before deciding which one to go for. My current view is that there is not a lot to choose between the common Asian-made ones: Gretsch, Dobro, Regal, Bourbon Street, and so on, but I might have to look into this more closely on the other side of Bass Strait. While there is a good selection of orthodox acoustic guitars in the various Hobart shops, right now (as representative a time as any other) there are only three resonators: a silver Regal single cone which I don't much care for; a silver Bourbon Street 3/4 size single cone which is way too trebly for my taste, and a pretty brass Bourbon Street tricone which I rather like. I might buy that one. Or I might order a custom from Donmo in Adelaide. Or I might run into something unexpected next week or next year and buy that on impulse. Or I might do nothing. Or I might get a 12-string instead. Who knows?

Tannin

NATIONAL RESOPHONIC: The Gold Standard in resonator guitars. Made in the USA and priced around four to six times the going rate. No connection with the original National String Instrument Company which closed up in 1941. Yes, I fancy owning a National, but $6000 plus for a tin box with strings on it is ridiculous and I'm not paying it.

MULE: American, very expensive, not sold in Australia. US orders only, and you have to pay up front and wait two years.

BEARD: American and quite expensive. Very rare in this country.

MICHAEL MESSER: Well-regarded UK brand which manufactures somewhere offshore. Not sold here except by private import.

DONMO: Don Morrison of Adelaide makes resonator guitars by hand. They are quite reasonably priced for a custom-built instrument: somewhere between $2000 and $3000. I have my eye on a brass tricone, maybe even a baritone tricone, though I'd really like a chance to play a Donmo first.

AMISTAR: A small Czech outfit which hand-built high quality instruments until the main man died in 2015.

LEEWALD: Czech company which claims to have been involved in making components for Amistar, now custom-building instruments under its own name.

GOLD TONE: Asian. Beard handles them in the USA so they might be fairly decent. Or might not.

BOURBON STREET: Claimed to be Australian designs, owned by an Australian wholesaler, made somewhere overseas - China, I suppose. Priced a bit higher than most and the couple I've played have been a little better made.

REGAL: The brand has been around in various forms practically forever. The current Regal line goes back to 1987 when Saga bought the name and started making instruments more-or-less along the original lines. I had one for a while around 1990 or so. Pretty good sound but detail lets then down - the one I played in Hobart recently had a good sound but clunky neck and low-fi tuners. (Mind you, "clunky" seems to be part of the resonator job description: people tend to venerate the 1930s ones and regard anything which actually improves on them - such as nice necks and well-engineered tuning machines - as a drawback. Look at the number of modern resonators with pain-in-the-arse slotted headstocks for example.) Overall, Regals are a bit crude but you could do worse.

GRETSCH: Made somewhere cheap, probably China like most of their other products. Apparently not bad, I'd like to try one.

DOBRO: The original name, but nothing else remains. Just a brand of Epiphone now, which is itself a brand of Gibson. The last real Dobro was made in 1941. Gibson bought the Dobro name in 1993 and sells a range of Dobro-branded resonator guitars made in China. They are priced about the same as Gretsch and Regal and Recording King. Pending finding one to play, I have no reason to imagine that they are significantly different.

RECORDING KING: American brand, made somewhere in Asia.

REPUBLIC: American brand manufacturing in China.

AIERSI: From China. Make a range of instruments.

bertie

yes and yes -  everyone should try one/have one  at least once.

mine is a cheapo................"drum roll"...........................Harley Benton !!! 

 I use a mix of glass and ceramic slides

Ozark used to make one of the better low-end ones   - otherwise you can spend a "lot" of money for something you might not get on with

@Lewy is (or was) "the" authority on everything reso...........

Tannin

Someone once commented that I was a little unkind to Dobro insofar as they did restart and make a few things in the 60s before Gibson bought them out and used the name as something to slap on the usual cheap Chinese stuff. Fair enough. 

Are they fun? Yes. Do you have to play slide on one to benefit from owning it? Not really, but it helps a lot. 

Beware: they are BLOODY loud! Consider your domestic circumstances before purchase. 

As mentioned above I owned a Regal for a few years back in the 1980s or early '90s. I had a lot of fun with it, but then I played slide in those days. 

DavidR

I'd definitely get yourself a resonator guitarjack. They're fun.

 I have a Regal RC51 Tricone. It's a Chinese knock-off of a National Style 1 at 22% of the price. I would play it a lot more if it wasn't so HEAVY. It's a monster. It's loud but not too loud. Tone wise it's interesting and different. Good fun and so different to any of my other 4 acoustics. It plays well but I did get a luthier friend to adjust the action after I bought it. The neck feels very solid and is comfortable to play. It holds tuning very well. I don't play slide guitar. (I've never played an actual National Style 1 but I do know they're not a lot lighter!)

Regal RC-51 Tricone Resonator Guitar | Hobgoblin Music

National Guitars Style 1 Tricone (projectmusic.net)

If I was buying it again I would get one with a wooden body.  And this would tempt me.

PR-180E Resonator | Bluegrass & Ukes (fender.com)

Its the new resonator from Fender in their recent update of the Paramount range which seems like quite a lot of thought has gone into it. That being said, there are loads. 

Top Resonator tip - never take all the strings off. It's only the pressure of the strings on the bridge and the cone/cones which holds the mechanism together.

Hope you find what you're looking for.

Kilgore

Recording King produce several resonators in the sub £300 range. 

TheBigDipper

I tried all the "entry level" models and bought a Dobro (Epiphone) Hound Dog Deluxe. Spider cone, wooden body and the nastiest pickup I've ever heard. I like it! 12 frets, decent to play without a slide and sounds acceptable in the room. £400. An easy upgrade would be to change the cone. 

Oasis Music in Ringwood (close to me) are the UK importers for Beard. They're all lovely, but I wasn’t looking to spend £2k. Easier to play, more sophisticated/complex sound. 

malcolmkindness

I think there is a lot more to a good resonator than Tannin has suggested, if they are not set up properly they can be a nightmare for rattles and buzzing.
The National Resophonic style 1 Tricone is a gorgeous guitar, but they are expensive. There was one for sale here a while back at a good price, but it still took ages to sell, I played it and was very tempted.
I have owned several resonator guitars over the years and in my experience the best one without spending a lot of money would be a Regal. Tricones have a very different sound to single cones, it's worth trying both if you can.

Tannin

DavidR said:

 I have a Regal RC51 Tricone. It's a Chinese knock-off of a National Style 1 at 22% of the price.

I have to pick you up on this. Regal is an older company than National and have been making resonators for longer. any "knock off" can only go the other way.

paulnb57

I have a Messer Lightning, its fabulous!

Soupman

Never played a resonator. Saw Bob Brozman several years ago playing a steel bodied resonator when he toured small UK venues. He was good but by the end it all sounded very 'samey'. 
I would look at a resonator the way I view my 12 string Fender - nice now & again but (for me) more furniture than instrument, meaning I've only picked up the 12 string a couple of times this year, prefer my 6 string.
Personal opinion of course.
I'm sure there are those who can make one sound great. It's all personal choice. 

Lewy

bertie said:

@Lewy is (or was) "the" authority on everything reso...........

Very much “was” I fell out of love with resos for all sorts of reasons maybe a dozen years ago. I’ll still coo over an old real National but probably still wouldn’t want to take it out and play it.

guitarjack66

Harley Benton do resonators? I imagine that would be a first stop if I tried one.

KDS

Can’t go wrong with a messer, I suggest you check out Michaels website, lots of helpful friendly people on there

KDS

Tannin said:

NATIONAL RESOPHONIC: The Gold Standard in resonator guitars. Made in the USA and priced around four to six times the going rate. No connection with the original National String Instrument Company which closed up in 1941. Yes, I fancy owning a National, but $6000 plus for a tin box with strings on it is ridiculous and I'm not paying it.

MULE: American, very expensive, not sold in Australia. US orders only, and you have to pay up front and wait two years.

BEARD: American and quite expensive. Very rare in this country.

MICHAEL MESSER: Well-regarded UK brand which manufactures somewhere offshore. Not sold here except by private import.

DONMO: Don Morrison of Adelaide makes resonator guitars by hand. They are quite reasonably priced for a custom-built instrument: somewhere between $2000 and $3000. I have my eye on a brass tricone, maybe even a baritone tricone, though I'd really like a chance to play a Donmo first.

AMISTAR: A small Czech outfit which hand-built high quality instruments until the main man died in 2015.

LEEWALD: Czech company which claims to have been involved in making components for Amistar, now custom-building instruments under its own name.

GOLD TONE: Asian. Beard handles them in the USA so they might be fairly decent. Or might not.

BOURBON STREET: Claimed to be Australian designs, owned by an Australian wholesaler, made somewhere overseas - China, I suppose. Priced a bit higher than most and the couple I've played have been a little better made.

REGAL: The brand has been around in various forms practically forever. The current Regal line goes back to 1987 when Saga bought the name and started making instruments more-or-less along the original lines. I had one for a while around 1990 or so. Pretty good sound but detail lets then down - the one I played in Hobart recently had a good sound but clunky neck and low-fi tuners. (Mind you, "clunky" seems to be part of the resonator job description: people tend to venerate the 1930s ones and regard anything which actually improves on them - such as nice necks and well-engineered tuning machines - as a drawback. Look at the number of modern resonators with pain-in-the-arse slotted headstocks for example.) Overall, Regals are a bit crude but you could do worse.

GRETSCH: Made somewhere cheap, probably China like most of their other products. Apparently not bad, I'd like to try one.

DOBRO: The original name, but nothing else remains. Just a brand of Epiphone now, which is itself a brand of Gibson. The last real Dobro was made in 1941. Gibson bought the Dobro name in 1993 and sells a range of Dobro-branded resonator guitars made in China. They are priced about the same as Gretsch and Regal and Recording King. Pending finding one to play, I have no reason to imagine that they are significantly different.

RECORDING KING: American brand, made somewhere in Asia.

REPUBLIC: American brand manufacturing in China.

AIERSI: From China. Make a range of instruments.

You missed out Beltona.... I’m lucky to have a single cone and a tricone

Andy79

I think anyone thinking of buying one would be foolish to look anywhere other than a Michael Messer. The guy has devoted his entire like to resonator guitars and the guitars he supplies are built in the proper way and sound fantastic 

bertie

guitarjack66 said:

Harley Benton do resonators? I imagine that would be a first stop if I tried one.

I may have had it for 15 years or so................     got it  used from an old Intermusic forumite.............so that's got to be around 2004 / 2007 ish

guitarjack66

Andy79 said:

I think anyone thinking of buying one would be foolish to look anywhere other than a Michael Messer. The guy has devoted his entire like to resonator guitars and the guitars he supplies are built in the proper way and sound fantastic 

Having had a quick google,they are built in China and come in around £400-600(using a very rough calculation) for their more budget brands.