Republic guitars

[blues1964]

Hi i have been playing acoustic blues for a few years,and would like a M M blues guitar but have no cash ,but i can do a swap for a republic tricone does any body have one ,is there any love for these guitars are they any good

[gaucho]

I have one and I like it very much. Someday I'll have a National, but in the meantime this one's great!

[fibrebundle]

My Republic guitars are fantastic. They are well set-up, and sound great. There are people who have had issues with them, though, ranging from neck problems to sharp frets. Mine are great.

[blues1964]

thanks for the feed back,i will go and test it out,,they look great are they made at the same place M M guitars are made

[mrbiff]

I bought a Republic tricone from the US a couple of years back and it was a total turkey, it clearly hadn't been quality controlled or set-up before shipping. I haven't thought much of the ones I have seen in the local shops either... That said, they get some good reviews so I'd assume a few are making it out with a proper set-up.

Go and play the guitar and you will know soon enough, Hope it works out for you!

[DaveRed]

I'm wondering if there's some confusion here. I think what blues 1964 is asking/saying is that he has a Republic Tricone he's willing to swap for an MM Blues. In which case are the MM Blues any good, i.e. is it worth the swap.

[fibrebundle]

Yes, I'm a little confused, too. It did seem to me as well that he wanted to exchange a Republic Tricone for an MM blues. As for Republics, I think there have been quality control issues lately, so its best to play one before buying one. I had got hold of mine almost two years back, and they are excellent.

[blues1964]

Sorry to confuse you all,i have an electric guitar and somebody is willing to do a swap for a Republic tri cone.As i dont play electric any more it seems a good idea.Rebublics apear ok if you get a good one it is about 2 years old so may be a good one

[fibrebundle]

Because of inconsistent setups associated with them, I suggest that you try it before you take it.

[Quarterquay]

I'm new here so hello everyone.I just bought a Republic Resolian Parlour. As I'm new to resonators I read a lot on various forums trying to get a feel for what I should look out for. Well I couldn't afford a National by a long chalk so that seemed to leave me with Busker and Republic but I picked up a Messer Blues in Denmark Street as I understand it is made in the same factory as the Buskers and Republics before being set up in their respective workshops(North Wales and Texas,how different could you get.) The Messer was well balanced and seemed to play well as opposed to the piece of junk next to it (make forgotten) which wanted to fall floor wards off my leg all the time. But still,I thought the Messer Blues to big for me.I decided to leave it a while.
Then I found The Republic Resolian and the size appealed.I was right,found a dealer selling them who had three or four. I tried them all,and my amateur ears picked out one. I'm not very knowledgeable about construction but for the price it seems fairly well put together (mind you haven't looked inside.Don't intend to either for a while,it aint broke so I'm not going to fix it!) I've tried a few different tunings and I have to say I love it,can't put it down. I was up until four this morning,good job the neighbours are on holiday.
I have one problem.It's an 'aged' steel body and to be honest I don't think it's very well done.In the shop which has quite low light I thought yea okay rather it was just plain mat steel but I'll live with it but I just noticed what is clearly a hunking great rubber gloved thumb print first and second joint on the side of the body.Now that's not skilled aging that's plain cack handed.
My question is,how is this aging done in the first place,and is there a way to remove it and get back to just plain mat steel?
Has anyone here ever done this and if so ,what sort of problems did you encounter?
Cheers

[Michael Messer]

Hi Quarterquay,

Welcome to our forum.

The Resolian is a brass-bodied nickel-plated guitar. The so-called 'aged finish' is done on top of the nickel-plating with some kind of chemical process and then varnished. It can be successful and look good, but ion many cases it is not good. We have occasionally ordered aged finish guitars; some are lovely, but many have been badly done and returned to the factory.

I believe that my business partner, Robin at Busker Guitars, has removed this finish on one or two guitars, but I am not sure how he did it or how successful it was. I will ask Robin and let you know.

Meanwhile, you could try using T-Cut, or a very fine wire wool. The T-Cut will not go through the nickel-plating, but might remove the aged top layer. I think I would test it on the coverplate which is easy to replace if you destroy it.

Shine On
Michael.

[Quarterquay]

Hi Michael and thanks for the welcome.
Thanks too for speaking to Robin about the finish,much appreciated I look forward to hearing what he says.

But I'm confused though.I thought I had a steel body Resolian with the aged finish not nickel on brass.Certainly looks like steel.

I asked the dealer,or rather one of the assistant guys to check a couple of times on the data base in the shop as I wasn't sure how to tell the difference between brass bodied and steel.I'm not sure if it's really obvious or subtle since I've only seen a few so can't compare.
But now I just checked the code on the ticket and that says 316 and I can't find a 316 on the Republic website.I can see a 315 a 317 and a 314. Mine looks like the 314 reso relic with the diamond cover plate which would make it steel,it has the pearlized effect headstock of the the 317 though (but that's steel and polished nickel with chicken foot plate)

I'm guessing though that mine's just a variation.Reso relic steel body with pearlized effect headstock ,maybe that's what a 316 is.

Please someone tell me it's not brass under there! That was the one thing I didn't want even though I know very little about resonators.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Quarterquay,

I may be wrong about that. The way to check is to use a magnet.

Even if it is steel it will still be nickel-plated.

Shine On
Michael

[Quarterquay]

Of course,the obvious solution and even though for some reason I can't even remember now, there's a magnet right in front of me here on my table, it didn't even occur to me to use it!

Magnet applied and It's steel! Phew at least that mystery is solved. So is the nickel matted and distressed in some way,maybe acid etched,something like that? Then a lacquer of some sort over the top?Or is it the lacquer itself that's the distressed effect or maybe a bit of both? Sorry for all the questions but this thumbprint on the side is really nagging at me whenever I see it.

[Quarterquay]

On another point,can anyone give me an opinion on this. I've been examining the new baby in more detail over the weekend and last night I discover something odd.Around where one of the tuner spindles enters the centre vertical of the headstock I noticed what at first looked like some sort of grey epoxy filler. There was evidence of this stuff around other parts of the routed out sections of the headstock too.Some of it was dried out and some sticky to the touch and smeary like plasticine. I probed around where the spindle enters the hole with a matchstick and the grey stuff came away revealing this.

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s937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/Quarterquay/?action=view¤t=tuner-shot1.jpg&

Now I have no idea what this stuff is ,it might just be part of the manufacturing process but clearing it away from around the spindle hole reveals a very badly drilled hole to my mind.I only bought this guitar on Friday,am I storing up structural and tuning problems for the future by holding on to it in this state? I've really enjoyed playing this guitar over the weekend and I like this model,the size of it etc but adding this messy tune hole to the rubber glove thumb print I mentioned above I'm not so sure I'm getting good quality control for my cash and worried that should I wish to sell it in the future and upgrade, the resale value isn't going to be so good with flaws like this.Any thoughts anyone?