Hooks on coverplate.

[belfastcowboy]

Hello,
I recently bought a 1931 12-fret Duolian.
Its gorgeous and its all i ever wanted, except for one thing that i don't really know anything about.

Upon arrival i noticed it had hooks to hold the cover plate instead of screws, so now i wonder what pros and cons there is.
Is the value lower on these models?
Do the tend to brake easily?
Is there any fix if they do, repros or something?

I would never drill in such a nice old guitar but is there a way to make a conversion to screws, if i wanna use my hotplate?

Regards // B

[Mark Makin]

Hello Belfastcowboy
The "hook-on" coverplate (as you are aware) was an idea tried by National on single cone plates in the first few months of 1931. On Duolians you will find them with serial numbers from around C2000 to C2800.

The guitars are not necessarily valued less than a 'screwed' plate. They do pose one extra headache though!

They can be VERY fragile. If you exert even the slightest amount of force when you attempt to 'turn' the plate after taking out the screw, you can chop off a few of them. In this event there is absolutely nothing you can do except drill the hole out for oversize (and consequently quite unsightly) new screws.

In themselves, they are no problem, but if you are 'in and out' of your guitar, they WILL break. Most people avoid them, if they have the choice. but if it is a nice guitar (as i expect!) you just have to be careful. It does pose a problem, however, if you are attempting to retro-fit a 'hot plate'. I'm not altogether sure whether they would fit anyway, with a 9 screw vintage National. Hot plates are designed to retro-fit to 'NEW' NRP single cones - not pre-war ones.

The 'Hook' plate was one of National's attempts to cut production time down - 1 screw instead of 9. Like the Bakelite neck, it was a short lived, unsuccessful experiment.

[Michael Messer]

Hello Belfastcowboy,

Most of our forum members are more than happy to share their knowledge of guitars and music, and the case of your question, you would be hard pressed to find a more detailed answer. We are as I said, all very happy to help and share our knowledge that has taken a lifetime to gather, and all we ask in return is some kind of recognition that our replies have been read.

In addition; fitting a National Reso-Phonic Hot Plate pickup to a 1931 (hooks on coverplate) National Duolian, is sacrilege! Drilling screw holes and removing the hooks would be a crime. There will never be any more 1931 National guitars built, and each one that gets 'modernised' is one less for current and future generations to enjoy and appreciate. You have a rare and beautiful antique National guitar - do not butcher it just so you can plug it into an amplifier.

Nothing can amplify your guitar better than these two systems:
1 - a Shure SM57 microphone plugged into a PA or acoustic amp.
2 - a Highlander pickup designed with National to fit into the biscuit and NOT destroy your guitar. This can be plugged into a PA or an amplifier.

Shine On
Michael.

[Deleted]

and the hotplate is so UGLY!
TT

[rbe]

I do not believe that you can easily attach a NRP Hot Plate to a Duolian with a hook mounted coverplate. The hooks are generally in the same place as the screw holes are on the Hot Plate (at the end of each sieve hole pattern). That would mean that there would be problem with the hook holes (which are quite large) in the guitar body being where the screws would need to go.

As a side note. If you look on the Note Cannons site, Colin has an original Duolian with the coverplate rotated 180° from the typical orientation. I have seen several of these (all have been the ribbed style) and found the reason to be, that the hook shapes have been stamped (cut) into the coverplate, but not yet punched out to form the hooks themselves. Their presence is somewhat obscured by the paint finish. They rotated the coverplate 180° to get the ribs in a symmetrical orientation and drilled it to align with the holes in the body that were drilled in the normal position and pattern for the nine screws. This allowed them to avoid drilling through the what might have been considered a structurally less preferable place in the center of the unformed hooks. As far as the coverplate being upside down, you don't even really notice it.

I think the hooks were a two step process (cut and then form) and they had leftover coverplates that had gone through the cutting process, but not the forming process, that they wanted to use up after they went back to attaching them with nine screws. I have seen Duolians like this, but not any Triolians or Style 0s. But that doesn't mean they don't exist.

[wolvoboy]

I think National would have use any parts that were available at the time,my Duolian has the slots in the body,but the coverplate has the hook plates stamped but not punched out ,but drilled so as to take screws, i notice that the coverplate is slightly off centre so the screw holes would miss the slots in the body ,
wolvoboy

[Deleted]

Interesting. I have a 1932 Style 0 with a serial number that falls appx where they reverted to a screwed-on coverplate. My body has slots for the hooks but is also drilled for screws. The holes look quite professional and the coverplate is aligned straight. So can it be assumed that they shipped some guitars from the factory as such?

[Michael Messer]

Hi Fredcapo,

I would say that your drilled screw holes were done at the factory, but before confirming that detail I would like to see a photo or two, just to be sure of what we are saying.

Shine On
Michael

[belfastcowboy]

Almost a year later.

The guitar is loved and left as is.
No modifications done and will be kept like that for generations.

Thanks for your highly appreciated replies!

[Deleted]

Better late than never... Attached is a photo of the Style O I mentioned above that has the hooks receptacles and screw holes on the body...also the bonus signature...

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