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Post by snakehips on Mar 23, 2022 23:13:54 GMT
By the way, that arched back is a work of art ! That's THE best reproduction arched back I have ever seen on ANY reproduction resonator guitar. The sides are fab too.
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Post by Bo Grohl on Mar 23, 2022 23:34:46 GMT
Mark Makin is the bird a Louisiana Heron? - Looks really good. Maybe a lyre bird?? TT
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Post by ken1953clark on Mar 23, 2022 23:36:28 GMT
Hi Michael,
Nice job (making the guitar and keeping it secret)
Will the sand blasting be done in China or the UK?
Is the fretboard radiused?
Deffo interested in one
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Post by simonf on Mar 23, 2022 23:41:03 GMT
I would love to hear what the biscuit cone version sounds like.
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 24, 2022 7:54:32 GMT
Hi Michael, Nice job (making the guitar and keeping it secret) Will the sand blasting be done in China or the UK? Is the fretboard radiused? Deffo interested in one Hi Ken, Thanks. It has been hell keeping this a secret for six years! The sandblasting will be done in the UK by Dave King. The fretboard is just a fraction off being flat, the slightest radius. It feels great. Shine On Michael
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 24, 2022 8:02:30 GMT
By the way, that arched back is a work of art ! That's THE best reproduction arched back I have ever seen on ANY reproduction resonator guitar. The sides are fab too. Thanks Richard. The body was "just" copied by skilled people, painstakingly, piece by piece. It took months and months of tests and drawing to get right. The only parts that were laser scanned were the coverplate and tailpiece. This was because the coverplate needed some adjustments, but also needed to be just like the real thing. The tailpiece too, same thing. Laser scanning is also a very expensive process, especially on something as big as a guitar body, so the factory assured me it could be copied. The beautifully copied back and sides, in fact all the body, was done by the skilled team at the factory I worked with to create these bodies. A company that are masters at working with metal, but had never made a guitar body before. Lovely people and amazingly skilled. I can't tell you how long this took and how many times it wasn't quite right. It just had to be right, or scrapped. Shine On Michael
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 24, 2022 8:06:31 GMT
I would love to hear what the biscuit cone version sounds like. Hi Simon, All in good time I will get sound samples online. Rather weirdly and typical of this type of thing, after six years of preparation for this moment, I wasn't ready and the last few days have been a bit crazy trying to get ready for the launch. I have one here with a 9.5" biscuit cone. It sounds great, Style O -ish, but more open because of the body shape and different construction. Shine On Michael
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Post by ken1953clark on Mar 24, 2022 8:20:34 GMT
Hi Michael, Nice job (making the guitar and keeping it secret) Will the sand blasting be done in China or the UK? Is the fretboard radiused? Deffo interested in one Hi Ken, Thanks. It has been hell keeping this a secret for six years! The sandblasting will be done in the UK by Dave King. The fretboard is just a fraction off being flat, the slightest radius. It feels great. Shine On Michael Super! Email sent
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Post by slidefever on Mar 24, 2022 9:15:52 GMT
Hi Michael, Still can’t quite believe it’s true! I saw your announcement whilst scrolling through my FB news feed. I literally did a double take. I thought it may be a hoax or someone fraudulently using your name again. I sent you an email last night but can you tell me how heavy it is please? Thanks Chris ‘I love slide me’
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Post by Michael Messer on Mar 24, 2022 10:10:02 GMT
Hi Michael, Still can’t quite believe it’s true! I saw your announcement whilst scrolling through my FB news feed. I literally did a double take. I thought it may be a hoax or someone fraudulently using your name again. I sent you an email last night but can you tell me how heavy it is please? Thanks Chris ‘I love slide me’ Hi Chris, Me too! Not a hoax, it's not April 1st yet!!! Although for me it is not such a novelty because I have had a few prototypes kicking around the house since before the pandemic hit us all. I have also had some production models for a year or so. I had not weighed one until just now, it weighs approximately 3.6kg, if my luggage scales are accurate. Thanks Chris, Shine On Michael
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Post by slidefever on Mar 24, 2022 10:43:07 GMT
Thank you Michael 👍
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Post by snakehips on Mar 24, 2022 10:47:55 GMT
THAT my was my first thought too !!! I had to check the date, to make sure it wasn't April 1st !!!
Actually, HAD it all been an elaborate April Fools joke, I know we would all laughed about it, and not really considered it could be true.
Which makes is triple cool that the story is real !
It is real, yeah ??? !!!!
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Post by slide496 on Mar 24, 2022 10:48:12 GMT
WOW! Congratulations!!!!
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Post by snakehips on Mar 24, 2022 10:53:49 GMT
So, are the bodies already nickel-plated ? I thought originally they sand-blasted first, then plated ? If your guitars will be done that way, will they be nickel-plated here in the UK ? Dave King sent an old National of mine (one he was making a baritone neck for, circa 20yrs ago) to Vernon Moss Platers Ltd to be nickel-plated. Vernon Moss company used to plate the Beltona guitars - and they did a lovely job on mine - which was a steel body - and they were only used to plating brass bodies. They hadn't done any for years but still had the jigs to hold the guitar bodies, whilst dipping into the electrolye solutions. The owner was more-or-less retired at that point BUT took it upon himself to watch over his son & other workers to make sure my guitar was processed & polished correctly, to get the best possible plating results.
Maybe it will turn out great doing it the other though. I'm sure it will be great. If Dave King is doing the etching/blasting, it IS gonna be great ! (and you can tell him I said that !)
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Post by Mark Makin on Mar 24, 2022 11:02:22 GMT
Hi Snakehips/TT/'Stevie
I'm with Louisiana Heron Steve! Although Michael thinks there's a budgie in there somewhere with its head buried under its wing!! (There you are, you can't unsee that now can you!) We considered sandblasted patterns for quite a time. Quite simply we didn't want to plagiarise the instrument totally. There comes a point when something is SO close, it' s a forgery. Dobro, of course, went down the 'Spanish' route and National the 'Hawaiian'. We just felt that a period Art Deco styling would represent the mid 30s just as well and still make it completely a 'new' product. The designs are a paraphrasing of various bits of wood veneer panelling from places like the Chrysler building restaurants etc..
I have never been a fan of randomly covering an instrument in drawings like railway engines and statues of Liberty etc.. It is not meant to be a drawing board for pretty pictures. The design is meant to be added to the instrument so I always like to produce a symmetrical and mirrored design. I think it helps blend to the shape.
While I'm here, - now that it has finally arrived and is 'common knowledge', I would like to add my comments about the MASSIVE, MASSIVE, amount of work this was. The knockbacks that Michael sustained were considerable. Many times, as people and engineers realised what the job entailed, there were calls to stop it. I personally found out a lot about the original fiddle edge guitars. It was always assumed that 'edge popping' problems at National resulted in the Dopyeras looking for a 'simpler' way of assembly ie. the fiddle edge pieces being 'crimped' together. Because of the vagueries of Dobro serial numbers, we have never really had any idea about how many originals were made. Yes they were made in steel, brass, german silver and aluminium but in what quantities- hundreds or thousands? I am of the opinion there were far fewer made than anyone realises. I recently spent a few hours on the phone with John Quarterman and he told me that he had spoken about 'fiddle edges' to both John and Rudy when they were at OMI. - "They were a total pain in the Ass" they both said!
Over the last few years, I have seen and played quite a few of the prototypes and tests that have arrived and have to say that these 'finished' instruments are really, really stunning. I think they are easier to play and way more responsive than the originals. As you are probably aware, there are ONLY 220 in the production run. I urge you all to consider getting one of these while they are available
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