Rubbish resonators

[athrorog]

Do you think we should address the situation where there are so many resonators out there recording king, fender, ozark.....etc. Are they good or are they bad

[slide496]

There's probably good ones in any brand, or ones that members have worked on that sound great when they play them so it might be overgeneralizing.

I have found that the forum has been helpful if a member posts pictures of a resonator that they are interested in an opinion on, the more experienced resonator users and builders will point out good and bad things about the item.And if a member has question about or needs help with a non MM then this is a friendly place to be.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Athrorog,

If you do a few searches you will probably find threads discussing all the various models.

Here....for example, is a review I wrote in 2001 of the Fender & the Regal....

CLICK ON THIS >>> REVIEW OF FENDER FR50 & REGAL RD3

Shine On
Michael

[Brad Bechtel]

I would not put Recording King into the same family as Fender, Ozark, Flinthill, Danville, etc. in my opinion. Some of the Recording King and new Regal models are quite nice when properly set up.
I agree with Michael's review of the Fender FR-50. I haven't yet heard a good sounding Fender resonator guitar, unfortunately.

[Michael Messer]

Thanks Brad. I wrote that review in 2001. Along with reviews I wrote of Tanglewood and Ozark resonators, it was one of the main factors that contributed to the starting up of MM guitars. Someone had to do it properly!

Shine On
Michael

[Brad Bechtel]

It's complicated by the fact that many brands available in the USA have equivalent products in the UK but under different names. You never (or rarely) see Tanglewood, Vintage, or Ozark resonator guitars in the US, but Johnson, Flinthill, and Dean among many others. A search on ebay.co.uk for "resonator guitar" lists 660 items currently, vs. the 1,066 available on ebay.com (US).

In general the well reviewed lower end instruments actually look AND play like a real resonator guitar. There will definitely be compromises, but you'll end up with something that works well for a beginner or someone on a budget.

[jreading]

It's a funny subject 'budget' resonators. I find it incredible that company's like Fender would allow such poor quality guitars especially when alot of people with little knowledge or research would assume Fender to be a safe buy. Same applies realy for Dean guitars, whether or not you like their pointy heavy metal axe's or not is irrelevent as alot of rock and metal players highly rate them. The Dean reso' is also unique in the fact, in my opinion at least, that looks wise they are very nice looking reso's but as we know when it comes to reso's looks can be deceiving.
Interesting to read Ozark's not readily available in the U.S especially considering the name! Or is that to con people into belieaving it's an American inspired intrument!

[oldmanblue]

i have 2 guitars of what are considered budget makes both single cone one is a vintage A.M.G.1. single cone & an ozark single cone i spent £150 pounds upgrading the vintage i could not justify spending & did not want tospend the same on the ozark ,i bought an M.M.BLUES & a BUSKER TRICONE & although the trcone was B stock it knocked spots of the budget pair ,you get what you pay for you dont expect to get a gold watch for £20 ,so you aint going to get a national quality guitar for £300.

[jreading]

Old man Blue,
If i can pick one fault in your point..... £350 however on occasion can buy you a second hand MM Blues so therefore you can get a National quality guitar for the money!!

[oldmanblue]

jreading i was voicing an opinion on budget resos as i stated i own an M.M Blues & a Busker i dont consider those 2 makes budget guitars ,also i was talking of new guitars not 2nd hand.

[jreading]

I do agree with you with regard MM guitars not being budget instruments. I know they are in that price bracket where they are affordable but the build build quality, finish and sound as far from budget standards. I actually think other company's (electric, acoustic or otherwise) should be embarrased at what Michael and Busker are achieving for the money.

[oldmanblue]

could not aggree more with the points about other companys just goes to show when guitars are made with the player in mind & not just units of production & income.

[macloud]

If I may put in my two-penneth into this discussion.

Michael's Guitars and the Busker branded instruments are sold directly to the end user (there are a couple of shops that sell them but for the purpose of this discussion, we shall ignore them).

Most of the other brands of resonator instruments available in the UK are importedby Distributors and then sold to Music Shops.

 Who in their turn sell to the end users.

Now if you look at the 'recommended retail price' of most of those guitars they are nearly £200.00 more expensive than a comparable Busker.

However in order for the retailers to be competitive they sell at 'discount' prices. ie: a £749 guitar at RRP is sold at £499.00 'in the shop'.

The discounting is killing the high street and the music shops are in a parlous state but this is a separate discussion.

Not one of the budget metal bodied resonators has anything to be ashamed of at the price points they are available at.

With a little adjustment most can be respectable instruments for a beginner or someone on a limited budget.

It is just that they are compared to Buskers (a superior machine) which in reality are sold directly from the IMPORTER

and with no other intermediary between them and the end user.

Apples and Oranges says I :-)

It is not that the 'competition' is poor, it is that Michael's and Busker's are good and inexpensive.

To compare like with like the Busker should have an RRP of approximately 50% more than their current prices.

[Matt]

Even so, the guitars in shops priced at 150%+ of the price of an MM guitar are usually (and I have tried several whenever I get the chance) are inferior, and often could probably be build better at no extra cost, just with more stringent quality control demands from the importers.

[bod]

Jan 16, 2014 21:14:27 GMT macloud said:

...Not one of the budget metal bodied resonators has anything to be ashamed of at the price points they are available at.

With a little adjustment most can be respectable instruments for a beginner or someone on a limited budget.

It is just that they are compared to Buskers (a superior machine) which in reality are sold directly from the IMPORTER

and with no other intermediary between them and the end user.

Apples and Oranges says I :-)

Interesting; but I think you abstract rather too far off some significant details in characterising a transaction with Busker simply in terms of buying direct from 'the IMPORTER'. When it comes to making these superior machines available, Robin and Michael have done (and continue to do) rather a lot more than simply import products and flog 'em - we could talk here about design specifications, product development, quality control, set up and support - it's not very like buying from an importer or a retailer as we know it. It is like buying from a business run by fellow resonator enthusiasts, who have considerable expertise and detailed involvement at every stage, and in my book, that's why it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges.