Wooden body reso advice

[Dessery]

Hi Guys

First of all, i have only just joined the forum but from reading back on old posts i just want to say how great it is to have a resource here that is so clearly full of such knowledgable and friendly people. Your doing good work people!! ;D

That being the case, i was hoping to pick your brains. I picked up my first resophonic guitar about 6 months ago, really just as an experiment but i quite quickly became obsessed!! The guitar was a very very cheap dobro copy made by SX. For the money i paid for it, its fantastic, sounds ok and played surprisingly nicely, id still recommend it to anyone starting out. But im starting to get that urge to upgrade but i cant seem to find the right guitar and was hoping maybe someone here could point me in the right direction.

I definitely want something wooden bodied, something dobro-esque. I want it for slide as well as finger style but i guess at the end of the day thats up to the setup. At the moment i am not too worried about the price bracket, if the best option is more expensive, it will just take me longer to save for it first.

I have been looking at everything from the mm busker guitars, republic, through gibson dobro, amistar and all the way up to nationals. I love the busker guitars but there doesn't seem to be a wooden bodied option unless you want a travel sized one. From the comments on the gibson site there seems to be problems with the dobro's. And i don't no if the national is really worth the money, especially when im still starting out.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

Thanks very much
Dave

[Michael Messer]

Hi Dave,

Welcome to our forum. Thank you for your kind words, they are much appreciated.

If you are looking for a Dobro-esque 'spider-bridge' style guitar and you want a good one, these are the options I would look at;

Mid price - I would look at Beard Goldtone spider bridge guitars.
High price - 1930s Dobro, or I would look at Beard and or two hand-built instruments. The leading hand-built resophonic guitars in the world are made by Fine Resophonic Guitars in Paris.

Are you sure you want a Dobro-style guitar, or a wood-bodied National-style guitar? The more information we have, the easier it is to point you in the right direction.

Shine On
Michael

[Dessery]

HI Michael

Thanks very much for your quick response.

Im thinking more the 'national style' guitar to be honest.

The Fine Resophonic Guitars look really nice, sadly though at around 3500 euros i think that is probably a bit more than i can justify spending. Having said im not too worried about the cost, I think probably £2000 is the the max i would be willing to spend.

From what ive been looking at online, i really like the national el trovador, or possibly the m-14 as a slightly cheaper option. I havent really been able to find much in the sort of £1000 to £1500 bracket though. It seem they jump from around £600 up to £1500+.

Hopefully that might give you a better idea of what im looking for.

Thanks for you help.
Dave

[slidenpickit]

Hey Dave,

I have a 2009 National El Trovador and it is a stunning instrument. Its a reissue of the guitar built by Kay for National for one year in the 1930s. I'm sure you've read the spec. With the 4" body and a different body shape to the usual NRP it is very comfortable to play. It also differs from the usual National by having a 1 3/4" nut width and a slightly less chunky neck. Mine is strung with 12s with a 13 on the top and tuned to low bass open G. This make it very easy to play both finger and slide styles. Altogether a fantastic all rounder.

There was one of eBay for 1700ish which may be relisted.

Cheers

Chris

[DaveRed]

Dave,
Have a look at John Alderson's site:
www.deltaresonatorguitars.co.uk/index.htm
he makes high quality wooden single and tricones.

Dave

[Matt]

Dave, I don't know where you're located, but The Guitar Spot in Beeston (on the outskirts of nottingham) has a wooden bodied biscuit bridge ('national style') 'Delta' resonator built by John Alderson, which they were kind enough to let me play with once when I was in. I think it's above £1500, but I also believe it's been in there a while and so haggling won't do any harm!

I've always liked the tuned Mike Dowling plays on his original El Trovador, so that certainly is an appealing option, but if you're looking to spend less I'd say Deltas are worth a look, and it's especially worthwhile to try before you buy if you can.

Cheers,

Matt

[slidenpickit]

If you are anywhere near Darlington you are welcome to try mine. I also have a National Style 0 which you could compare it against.

[Dessery]

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Especially chris, that is a very generous offer, sadly though im down in southampton so it would be a bit of a trek!! Im glad to hear your happy with yours. Its always hard to tell from videos but from what ive watched online it sounds great, and lots of people seem to be very happy with them. Like greedyostrich i have watched the videos of mike dowling playing one and it sounds fantastic.

I also like the option of being able to add a hot plate to it if i went for a national. I saw from another post on here that the national use a slightly different size of plate so it wont fit a lot of guitars.

Thanks for the delta guitars link. I haven't come across those before. They look really nice and the price bracket is good. I will definitely do some more research into that as it could be a great option.

Thanks again!!