Resonator Guitars

Tannin

KDS said:

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

Cheers @KDS It was just a list of makes commonly available in this country (Oz), plus a handful of others which seemed to be notable for one reason or another. 

So tell me about Beltona. Where are they made? Where is the company based? Where are they sold (e.g., UK & Europe only, worldwide, whatever)? What price bracket do they fit into? What quality bracket? Is there anything else notable about them? I'll add them to my list.

Lewy

Tannin said:

KDS said:

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

Cheers @KDS It was just a list of makes commonly available in this country (Oz), plus a handful of others which seemed to be notable for one reason or another. 

So tell me about Beltona. Where are they made? Where is the company based? Where are they sold (e.g., UK & Europe only, worldwide, whatever)? What price bracket do they fit into? What quality bracket? Is there anything else notable about them? I'll add them to my list.

There's also Fine Resophonic which are arguably the best new built resonators out there - at a premium price. All hand built (including spinning the cones) by Mike Lewis in Paris. The only modern built resos that stand up to pre-war Nationals in my experience.

malcolmkindness

guitarjack66 said:

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.

I've never played one but they have a very good reputation. I believe they are manufactured in China and then checked over and set up in the UK, which is a very important step in producing a good resonator. 

Lewy

malcolmkindness said:

guitarjack66 said:

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.

I've never played one but they have a very good reputation. I believe they are manufactured in China and then checked over and set up in the UK, which is a very important step in producing a good resonator. 

I don’t know if they still are, but they were being set up in Dave King’s workshop. Dave’s probably not hands in with them himself but even so, he’s the best reso repairer/restorer in the land so it will be done right. 

DavidR

A lot of resonators originate in China and are then branded in the west +/- given a final tweak. A lot of them look so similar that I have sometimes wondered if they don't all originate in the same factory hidden somewhere on the Chinese mainland! The reason I say 'hidden' is that it is very very difficult to establish via www where your resonator actually comes from originally. I mean down to the specific factory, town etc. All part of the slightly misleading business model I suspect. But, fair do's, they're giving us what we want, or at least a facsimile of it, at a distinctly sub-National price. Glad I bought my Regal anyway. Wouldn't have bought a National.

guitarjack66

It seems a lot more difficult to nail down a 'best value for its price point' with Resonators as it is with guitars,probably due to them being regarded as a specialist type of instrument. What I mean by specialist is not really the playing side but more 'type.' For instance I have made a wish list to acquire over the coming years; OM,Parlour,Archtop,12 string,electric and Resonator of course etc, but do many guitarists do this? Or are most just more about brands or their dream Les Paul,Strat or equivalent acoustics?

bertie

if you're just "contemplating/dipping your toe"  to see if you get on (cos its a lot "different" ) Id get used, get cheap  -  if you like it - then upgrade

steer

I could not justify spending a lot of money on one, but picked up a used Fender Brown Derby for around £ 200 or so, which I like. It may not be a resonator for purists / traditionalists with its telecaster headstock and fairly slim neck, but it is nice to play. 

Tannin

This idiotic pandering to lamebrained "purists" is why the majority of resonators on the market today are so crappy. Baseball bat necks, horrible slotted tuners ... hey! You know, it's a new century, you are allowed to improve things. Just because no-one knew any better in 1934 and if they did they didn't have the metallurgy, that is no excuse.  

And @steer I'll bet you London to a cracked brick that those six-a-side tuners on your Fender work better than the tuners on 95% of the cheap Asian resonators in the shops today.

Lewy

Tannin said:

This idiotic pandering to lamebrained "purists" is why the majority of resonators on the market today are so crappy. 

You can't moan about purism when the entire family of instruments is a sort of steampunk anachronism. If the message is "ignore the past, it's a new day daddy-o" then that's perfectly valid, but in that case ignore resonators altogether.

Alternatively accept that most people like the sound of resonators because they are evocative of the bygone age they emanate from, and that naturally carries over into construction and aesthetics. It's hardly 'lamebrained'

TheBigDipper

Lewy said:

Tannin said:

This idiotic pandering to lamebrained "purists" is why the majority of resonators on the market today are so crappy. 

You can't moan about purism when the entire family of instruments is a sort of steampunk anachronism. If the message is "ignore the past, it's a new day daddy-o" then that's perfectly valid, but in that case ignore resonators altogether.

Alternatively accept that most people like the sound of resonators because they are evocative of the bygone age they emanate from, and that naturally carries over into construction and aesthetics. It's hardly 'lamebrained'

I'll disagree on a personal level, if I may. I don't play slide and I don't use open tunings on my Hound Dog. I play solo finger style pieces on it just because I like the way they sound. Although, to condemn myself, I bought it to learn to play country blues, never did and found another use for it that I enjoy! :-) 

DavidR

Ditto  -  my Regal plays fine. I can play everything on it that I would play on an ordinary acoustic. Some pieces sound pretty good.

ICBM

DavidR said:

A lot of resonators originate in China and are then branded in the west +/- given a final tweak. A lot of them look so similar that I have sometimes wondered if they don't all originate in the same factory hidden somewhere on the Chinese mainland! The reason I say 'hidden' is that it is very very difficult to establish via www where your resonator actually comes from originally. I mean down to the specific factory, town etc. All part of the slightly misleading business model I suspect. But, fair do's, they're giving us what we want, or at least a facsimile of it, at a distinctly sub-National price. Glad I bought my Regal anyway. Wouldn't have bought a National.

I certainly had an Ozark which was identical to a friend’s Regal other than the headstock logo.

equalsql

From my experience be careful with Gretsch, their cheap cones are 'pants', I've had two collapse on my Honey Dipper and I'm not using heavy guage strings.

JohnPerry

equalsql said:

From my experience be careful with Gretsch, their cheap cones are 'pants', I've had two collapse on my Honey Dipper and I'm not using heavy guage strings.

Mine did that twice too. It's a pretty decent guitar now it has a decent cone in it though

JJMan

Sourcing a good cone is the secret to all resos

uberscott

I've got a Vintage AMG1 reso that I bought back in 2002/2003. It's been a fun little guitar to pick up every now and then. From what I gather it was this model that inspired Michael Messer to introduce his own range. If you're after a Knopfler lookalike then this one ain't bad - although from what I can see you'd have to buy used as the new ones have a different cover plate to the old 'chicken foot' one. 

One thing that made a huge difference was putting Michael Messer strings on, it made a huge improvement to the sound - took the top end harshness off it for a sweeter, more mellow sound. 

ICBM

uberscott said:

I've got a Vintage AMG1 reso that I bought back in 2002/2003.

I'm reasonably sure that's the same guitar as the Regal/Ozark as well.